PLASTER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Plaster

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/plˈæstər/ Listen

noun

Plaster n. (Formerly written also plaister)

1.

(Med.) An external application of a consistency harder than ointment, prepared for use by spreading it on linen, leather, silk, or other material. It is adhesive at the ordinary temperature of the body, and is used, according to its composition, to produce a medicinal effect, to bind parts together, etc.; as, a porous plaster; sticking plaster.

2.

A composition of lime, water, and sand, with or without hair as a bond, for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions of houses. See Mortar.

3.

Calcined gypsum, or plaster of Paris, especially when ground, as used for making ornaments, figures, moldings, etc.; or calcined gypsum used as a fertilizer.

Plaster cast, a copy of an object obtained by pouring plaster of Paris mixed with water into a mold.

Plaster of Paris. (Chem.) Anhydrous calcium sulphate, or calcined gypsum, which forms with water a paste which soon sets or hardens, and is used for casts, moldings, etc. The term is loosely applied to any plaster stone or species of gypsum.

Plaster of Paris bandage (Surg.), a bandage saturated with a paste of plaster of Paris, which on drying forms a perfectly fitting splint.

Plaster stone, any species of gypsum. See Gypsum.

verb

Plaster v. t. (past & past part. plastered; pres. part. plastering)

1.

To cover with a plaster, as a wound or sore.

2.

To overlay or cover with plaster, as the ceilings and walls of a house.

3.

Fig.: To smooth over; to cover or conceal the defects of; to hide, as with a covering of plaster.

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Etymology of 'Plaster'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plaster" Quotes from Famous Books

... the villages in the canton of Zurich much resemble those in England, being mostly built of plaster, and roofed with tiles. I was pleased with this change, after the heavy wooden houses, and projecting roofs (of nearly three times the height of the building) usually seen in the canton of Berne. They do not tend to enliven ...

— A tour through some parts of France, Switzerland, Savoy, Germany and Belgium • Richard Boyle Bernard

... of logs hewn on two sides. The cracks were chinked and filled with plaster, which had a curious habit of falling out during the summer months, no one knew how; but somehow the holes always appeared on the boys' side, and being there, were found to be most useful, for as looking out of the window was forbidden, through these holes the boys could catch ...

— Glengarry Schooldays • Ralph Connor

... employed as a mobile liquid, but in a quasi-solid form, and it is, therefore, named dry gas battery. It consists of a number of elements, which are formed of a porous diaphragm of a non-conducting material (in this instance plaster of Paris), which is impregnated with dilute sulphuric acid. Both sides of this diaphragm are covered with very fine platinum leaf perforated with very numerous small holes, and over this a thin film of platinum black. Both these coatings are in contact with ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 717, September 28, 1889 • Various

... situation was growing desperate. Fortunately for him, the French squadron brought in three prizes in January, 1810, slipping past Rowley's blockade, much to that enterprising officer's annoyance. The situation was temporarily relieved, but the assistance thus afforded was no better than a plaster on a large wound. Here again we find Flinders accurately and fully informed: Decaen did not underrate his "dangerous" potentialities. "The ordinary sources of revenue and emolument were nearly dried up, and to have recourse to ...

— The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders • Ernest Scott

... found it bore marks of very irregular teeth. While you were gone, I oiled it over, and, rushing down to my rooms, where I always have a little plaster of Paris handy for such work, took a mold of the part where the teeth had left the clearest marks. I then returned the apple to its place for the police to use if they thought fit. Looking at my mold, it was plain that the person ...

— Martin Hewitt, Investigator • Arthur Morrison

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