pad

¹

[ pad ]

noun

1. a cushionlike mass of soft material used for comfort, protection, or stuffing.
2. a soft, stuffed cushion used as a saddle; a padded leather saddle without a tree.
3. a number of sheets of paper glued or otherwise held together at one edge to form a tablet.
4. a soft, ink-soaked block of absorbent material for inking a rubber stamp.
5. Anatomy, Zoology. any fleshy mass of tissue that cushions a weight-bearing part of the body, as on the underside of a paw.
6. the foot, as of a fox, hare, or wolf.
7. a piece or fold of gauze or other absorbent material for use as a surgical dressing or a protective covering.
8. Zoology. a pulvillus, as on the tarsus or foot of an insect.
9. a lily pad.
10. Rocketry. launch pad ( def 1 ).
11. Slang.
    1. one's living quarters, as an apartment or room.
    2. one's bed.
    3. a room where people gather to take narcotics; an addicts' den.
12. Slang.
    1. money paid as a bribe to and shared among police officers, as for ignoring law violations.
    2. a list of police officers receiving such money.
13. Electricity. a nonadjustable attenuator consisting of a network of fixed resistors.
14. Shipbuilding.
    1. a metal plate riveted or welded to a surface as a base or attachment for bolts, hooks, eyes, etc.
    2. a piece of wood laid on the back of a deck beam to give the deck surface a desired amount of camber.
15. Carpentry.
    1. a handle for holding various small, interchangeable saw blades.
    2. Also . a socket in a brace for a bit.
16. Metallurgy. a raised surface on a casting.
17. a small deposit of weld metal, as for building up a worn surface.

verb (used with object)

, pad·ded, pad·ding.

1. to furnish, protect, fill out, or stuff with a pad or padding.
2. to expand or add to unnecessarily or dishonestly:

   to pad a speech; to pad an expense account.

3. Metallurgy. to add metal to (a casting) above its required dimensions, to insure the flow of enough metal to all parts.

verb (used without object)

, pad·ded, pad·ding.

1. to insure the proper forging of a piece.

pad

²

[ pad ]

noun

1. a dull, muffled sound, as of footsteps on the ground.
2. a road horse, as distinguished from a hunting or working horse.
3. a highwayman.
4. British Dialect. a path, lane, or road.

verb (used with object)

, pad·ded, pad·ding.

1. to travel along on foot.
2. to beat down by treading.

verb (used without object)

, pad·ded, pad·ding.

1. to travel on foot; walk.
2. to walk so that one's footsteps make a dull, muffled sound.

PaD

³

abbreviation for

1. Pennsylvania Dutch ( def 2 ).

pad

¹

/ pæd /

noun

1. a thick piece of soft material used to make something comfortable, give it shape, or protect it
2. a guard made of flexible resilient material worn in various sports to protect parts of the body
3. Also calledstamp padink pad a block of firm absorbent material soaked with ink for transferring to a rubber stamp
4. Also callednotepadwriting pad a number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge
5. a flat piece of stiff material used to back a piece of blotting paper
6. 1. the fleshy cushion-like underpart of the foot of a cat, dog, etc
   2. any of the parts constituting such a structure
7. any of various level surfaces or flat-topped structures, such as a launch pad
8. entomol a nontechnical name for pulvillus
9. the large flat floating leaf of the water lily
10. electronics a resistive attenuator network inserted in the path of a signal to reduce amplitude or to match one circuit to another
11. slang.
    a person's residence
12. slang.
    a bed or bedroom

verb

1. to line, stuff, or fill out with soft material, esp in order to protect or give shape to
2. often foll by out to inflate with irrelevant or false information

   to pad out a story

pad

²

/ pæd /

verb

1. intr; often foll by along, up, etc to walk with a soft or muffled tread
2. whenintr, often foll by around to travel (a route) on foot, esp at a slow pace; tramp

   to pad around the country

noun

1. a dull soft sound, esp of footsteps
2. archaic.
   short for footpad
3. archaic.
   a slow-paced horse; nag
4. a path or track

   a cattle pad

Word History and Origins

Origin of pad¹

First recorded in 1550–60; originally special uses of obsolete pad “bundle to lie on,” perhaps a blend of pack ¹ and bed

Origin of pad²

First recorded in 1545–55; noun from Middle Dutch or Low German pad “path” (originally thieves' and beggars' slang); hence, apparently, “highwayman” and “horse”); verb from Middle Dutch padden “to make or follow a path,” cognate with Old English pæththan “to traverse,” derivative of pæth; path ( def ); pad ²defs 1, 8 perhaps represent an independent expressive word that has been influenced by other senses

Word History and Origins

Origin of pad¹

C16: origin uncertain; compare Low German pad sole of the foot

Origin of pad²

C16: perhaps from Middle Dutch paden, from pad path

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on the pad, Slang. (of a police officer) receiving a bribe, especially on a regular basis.

Example Sentences

It wasn’t exactly clear why the booster wasn’t able to return to the launch tower, but SpaceX said factors include the safety of the launch team, the pad and the public.

From Los Angeles Times

If you were tempted to say that Carpenter was on top of the world, you needn’t have bothered: Set in an imagined Midcentury bachelorette pad high above a city — a penthouse on the 69th floor, she told us with a wink — Friday’s fun and frisky concert made the point on its own.

From Los Angeles Times

“Too many corporations raise prices to pad the profits, charging more and more for less and less,” he said, before nodding to the Shrinkflation Prevention Act, a bill proposed by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey that seeks to “direct the Federal Trade Commission to issue regulations to establish shrinkflation as an unfair or deceptive act or practice.”

From Salon

Countless car commercials were filmed at the Vista Del Valle lookout point, a helicopter landing pad about midway through my walk with sweeping views of the city.

From Los Angeles Times

Silicon Valley billionaires will pad their profits by spewing hate online, various parts of our government will be effectively up for sale to lobbyists and contractors, oppressive regimes abroad will be emboldened to attack their neighbors, and Trump himself will relentlessly attack journalists.

From Slate

Related Words

• notebook
• notepad
• paper