PLASTER OF PARIS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Plaster of Paris

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/plˈæstər əv pˈɛrɪs/ 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.

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Etymology of 'Plaster of Paris'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plaster of paris" Quotes from Famous Books

... instance of a very large building in New York proving unsafe by reason of the dry rot generated in timbers which have been completely sealed up by application of plaster of Paris outside of the wire lath and plaster originally adopted as a protection against fire. Wire lath and plaster is one of the best methods of protecting timber against fire; and, if the outside is not sealed by a plaster of stucco or some other impermeable substance, ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 647, May 26, 1888 • Various

... her lips, her mouth, to breath life into the flesh already meaningless, lost to her. Then the tragedy of existence drew her face into a mask universal and timeless, a staring tearless shocked regard as white and inhuman as plaster of Paris. Emotion choked at Lee's throat; and, in a sense of shame at having been so shaken, he admitted that Mina Raff had an extraordinary ability: he evaded the impressive reality by a return to the trivial fact. In the gloom there was ...

— Cytherea • Joseph Hergesheimer

... prigged raw, and sold to gents in my line of bis'ness, who either manufacters them themselves, or sells 'em to gents as does. Now, if the manufacturer is only in a small way of bis'ness, and is of a mean natur, he merely casts his money in plaster of Paris moulds. But for nobby gents like our friend here (my master here nodded approvingly over his pipe), this sort of thing won't pay—too much trouble and not enough profit. All the top-sawyers in the manufactur ...

— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 • Various

... curiosities; but understanding that they were Englishmen, and recommended to his friends, he was content to submit them to their perusal. So saying, he led them up a dark stair, into a small room, decorated with a few paltry figures in plaster of Paris, two or three miserable landscapes, the skins of an otter, seal, and some fishes stuffed; and in one corner stood a glass case, furnished with newts, frogs, lizards, and serpents, preserved in spirits; a human foetus, a calf with two ...

— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett

... should be first sandpapered. Cracks should be filled with wedges of wood hammered in and planed smooth. They can also be filled with thin paper torn up, mixed with hot starch and beaten to a pulp. This can be pressed into the cracks with a glazier's knife. The use of putty or plaster of Paris for this purpose is not so satisfactory ...

— Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife • Marion Mills Miller

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