Pat vs Pap - What's the difference?
pat | pap |
The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
* Charles Dickens
To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
* 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
* 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
(Australia, New Zealand) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
To gently rain.
timely, suitable, apt, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken
* 1788, Cowper, Pity for Africans , p 18
trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality
* 2010, New York Times ,
opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
* c''. 1600 , William Shakespeare, '' III.iii
Perfectly.
patent
(knitting) pattern
* 2012 , Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World (page 52)
(uncountable) Food in the form of a soft paste, often a porridge, especially as given to very young children.
(uncountable, colloquial) Nonsense.
(South Africa) Porridge.
(informal, derogatory) support from official patronage
The pulp of fruit.
(slang, South Africa) Spineless, wet, without character.
* He is so pap and boring.
(obsolete) To feed with pap.
* Bible, Luke xi. 27
* , II.xii:
*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98:
*, II.13:
A rounded, nipple-like hill or peak.
(usually, in the passive) Of a paparazzo, to take a surreptitious photograph of (someone, especially a celebrity) without their consent.
As a noun pap is
paste; an adhesive paste.pat
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . For loss of ''l , compare (patch) for (platch); (pate) for (plate), etc. See (l).Noun
(en noun)- It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
Derived terms
* pat on the back (n.) * patter * pitter-pat: a diminutive of footfalls. "the pitter-pat of little feet running around the house."Verb
(patt)- To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
- He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.
- I patted the cookie dough into shape.
- Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
- Do you want to pat the cat?
Derived terms
* pat down * pat on the back (v.)Adjective
(en adjective)- a pat expression
- A story so pat , you may think it is coined.
Editorial: Jobs and the Class of 2010, May 23.
- The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects. ''
Derived terms
* pat handAdverb
(en adverb)- Now might I do it pat
- He has the routine down pat .
Derived terms
* pat in the middleSee also
* strike * hit * feel * nameEtymology 2
Abbreviation.Noun
(en noun)- Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder
Anagrams
* ----pap
English
Etymology 1
Origins unclear. Related to (etyl) pappe, Dutch pap, Old French papa/pape, Latin pappa, Bulgarian , among others. The relationships between these words are difficult to reconstruct.Noun
(en noun)- Pap can be made from bread boiled in milk or water.
- Pap and wors are traditionally eaten at a braai.
- Treasury pap
- (Ainsworth)
Adjective
(en adjective)Verb
(papp)- (Beaumont and Fletcher)
Etymology 2
(etyl) pappe, of uncertain origin. Perhaps form (etyl) papilla; or perhaps compare Old (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- the paps which thou hast sucked
- But th'other rather higher did arise, / And her two lilly paps aloft displayd, / And all, that might his melting hart entise / To her delights, she vnto him bewrayd.
- they doe not onely weare jewels at their noses, in their lip and cheekes, and in their toes, but also big wedges of gold through their paps .
- Adrianus the Emperour made his Physition to marke and take the just compasse of the mortall place about his pap , that so his aime might not faile him, to whom he had given charge to kill him.
- (Macaulay)
Etymology 3
Shortened form of Pap smear from , American physician.Etymology 4
Etymology 5
From (paparazzo)Verb
- Look, that pop star’s been papped in her bikini again!