paste / pāst/ • n. a thick, soft, moist substance, usually produced by mixing dry ingredients with a liquid: blend onions, sugar, and oil to a paste. ∎  a substance such as this that is used as an adhesive, esp. for sticking paper and other light materials: wallpaper paste. ∎  a mixture consisting mainly of clay and water that is used in making ceramic ware, esp. a mixture of low plasticity based on kaolin for making porcelain. ∎  a hard vitreous composition used in making imitation gems: [as adj.] paste brooches. • v. [tr.] 1. coat with paste: when coating walls with fabric, paste the wall, not the fabric. ∎  [tr.] fasten or stick (something) onto something with paste: ads are pasted on the walls. ∎  Comput. insert (text) into a document.2. inf. beat or defeat severely: he pasted the guy and tied his ankles together.

paste flour moistened and kneaded XIV; mixture of flour and water used as a glue XVI; applied to various other mixtures XVII. — OF. paste (mod. pâte) = Sp., It. pasta :- late L. pasta small square piece of a medicinal preparation — Gr. pástē, pl. pastá, pastaí barley porridge, sb. uses of pastós sprinkled, f. pássein sprinkle.
Hence paste vb. XVI. pasteboard material made by pasting sheets of paper together XVI. pasty¹ (-Y1) like paste. XVII.

paste To insert the contents of the clipboard or the paste buffer into a text or graphics object at a desired point.