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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Plaster


PL'ASTER, noun [Latin emplastrum; Gr. to daub or smear, properly to lay or spread on; to daub or to fashion, mold or shape.]

1. A composition of lime, water and sand, well mixed into a kind of paste and used for coating walls and partitions of houses. This composition when dry becomes hard, but still retains the name of plaster plaster is sometimes made of different materials, as chalk, gypsum, etc. and is sometimes used to parget the whole surface of a building.

2. In pharmacy, an external application of a harder consistence than an ointment, to be spread, according to different circumstances, either on linen or leather.

Plaster of Paris, a composition of several species of gypsum dug near Montmartre, near Paris in France, used in building and in casting busts and statues. In popular language, this name is applied improperly to plaster-stone, or to any species of gypsum.

PL'ASTER, verb transitive To overlay with plaster as the partitions of a house, walls, etc.

1. To cover with plaster as a wound.

2. In popular language, to smooth over; to cover or conceal defects or irregularities.