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REFERENCE

plaster

n. · v.
US //ˈpɫæstɝ// UK //plˈɑːstɐ// plas·ter
  1. 1 wall coating (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    a soft mixture of sand, water, and lime that gets hard when it dries, used to make walls and ceilings smooth.

    a composition of lime or gypsum, sand, and water that hardens upon drying, used for coating internal walls and ceilings.

    Example

    The old plaster on the bedroom ceiling was starting to crack and fall off.

    Example

    The restoration team had to strip away layers of wallpaper to reach the original lime plaster, which required delicate repair work to preserve the ornate cornicing.
  2. 2 adhesive bandage (n.)
    B1 Intermediate British English Medicine

    a small piece of sticky material used to cover a minor cut on your skin.

    a small, flexible adhesive strip used to protect minor wounds from infection and debris.

    Example

    I cut my finger while chopping onions, so I need to put a plaster on it.

    Example

    The school nurse applied a waterproof plaster to the child's scraped knee before sending him back out to the playground.

    Teacher's tip

    In American English, this is almost exclusively called a 'Band-Aid' or a 'bandage'.
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  1. 3 medical cast (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Medicine

    a hard white cover put around a broken bone to keep it still while it heals.

    a rigid dressing, typically made of plaster of Paris or fibreglass, used to immobilise a fractured limb.

    Example

    He had to wear a plaster on his leg for six weeks after the skiing accident.

    Example

    Once the swelling had subsided, the doctor replaced the temporary splint with a heavy plaster to ensure the bone remained perfectly aligned during the healing process.
  2. 4 to cover a surface (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to cover a surface with a thick layer of something, like posters or mud.

    to cover a surface extensively or to coat something with a thick, often viscous, layer of a substance.

    Example

    The teenagers plastered their bedroom walls with posters of their favourite bands.

    Example

    By the end of the election cycle, every available inch of the city's hoardings had been plastered with competing political advertisements.
Origin

From Middle English plaster, plastre, from Old English plaster, from late Latin plastrum, shortened from Classical Latin emplastrum (“a plaster, bandage”); later reinforced by Anglo-Norman plastre. The verb is from Middle English plastren, from the noun.

Word family
Idioms1 entry

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