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paper

1. A substance in the form of thin sheets or leaves intended to be written or printed on, or to be used in wrapping. It is made of rags, straw, bark, wood, or other fibrous material, which is first reduced to pulp, then molded, pressed, and dried.

2. A sheet, leaf, or piece of such substance.

3. A printed or written instrument; a document, essay, or the like; a writing; as, a paper read before a scientific society. They brought a paper to me to be signed. (Dryden)

4. A printed sheet appearing periodically; a newspaper; a journal; as, a daily paper.

5. Negotiable evidences of indebtedness; notes; bills of exchange, and the like; as, the bank holds a large amount of his paper.

6. Decorated hangings or coverings for walls, made of paper. See Paper hangings, below.

7. A paper containing (usually) a definite quantity; as, a paper of pins, tacks, opium, etc.

8. A medicinal preparation spread upon paper, intended for external application; as, cantharides paper.

Paper is manufactured in sheets, the trade names of which, together with the regular sizes in inches, are shown in the following table. But paper makers vary the size somewhat.

In the manufacture of books, etc, a sheet, of whatever size originally, is termed, when folded once, a folio; folded twice, a quarto, or 4to; three times, an octavo, or 8vo; four times, a sextodecimo, or 16mo; five times, a 32mo; three time ed5 s, with an offcut folded twice and set in, a duodecimo, or 12mo; four times, with an offcut folded three times and set in, a 24mo.

Paper is often used adjectively or in combination, having commonly an obvious signification; as, paper cutter or paper-cutter; paper knife, paper-knife, or paperknife; paper maker, paper-maker, or papermaker; paper mill or paper-mill; paper weight, paper-weight, or paperweight, etc. Business paper, checks, notes, drafts, etc, given in payment of actual indebtedness; opposed to accommodation paper. Fly paper, paper covered with a sticky preparation, used for catching flies. Laid paper. See Laid.

(Science: botany) Paper birch, any wasp which makes a nest of paperlike material, as the yellow jacket. Paper weight, any object used as a weight to prevent loose papers from being displaced by wind, or otherwise. Parchment paper. See papyrine. Tissue paper, thin, gauzelike paper, such as is used to protect engravings in books. Wall paper. Same as Paper hangings, above. Waste paper, paper thrown aside as worthless or useless, except for uses of little account. Wove paper, a writing paper with a uniform surface, not ribbed or watermarked.

Origin: F. Papier, fr. L. Papyrus papyrus, from which the Egyptians made a kind of paper, Gr. Cf. Papyrus.