wallpaper

[ wawl-pey-per ]

noun

1. paper, usually with printed decorative patterns in color, for pasting on and covering the walls or ceilings of rooms, hallways, etc.
2. any fabric, foil, vinyl material, etc., used as a wall or ceiling covering.
3. Computers. a design or picture in the background of the primary display screen of a graphical user interface:

   Personalize your tablet by changing the wallpaper.

verb (used with object)

1. to put wallpaper on (a wall, ceiling, etc.) or to furnish (a room, house, etc.) with wallpaper.

wallpaper

/ ˈwɔːlˌpeɪpə /

noun

1. paper usually printed or embossed with designs for pasting onto walls and ceilings
2. 1. something pleasant but bland which serves as an unobtrusive background
   2. ( as modifier )

      wallpaper music

3. computing a graphics file that can be displayed in certain applications behind or around the main dialogue boxes, working display areas, etc, for decoration

verb

1. to cover (a surface) with wallpaper

Word History and Origins

Origin of wallpaper¹

First recorded in 1820–30; wall + paper

Example Sentences

In 2000, after a legal career and raising two children, Susan Crater, now 61, opened a fabric and wallpaper business.

From Washington Post

Both Android phones and iPhones can display dynamic wallpapers that change over time, but Android backgrounds offer much more flexibility.

From Popular-Science

I would urge one considering this to use wallpaper that has a removable adhesive backing and not traditional wallpaper.

From Washington Blade

Pick a wallpaper that is primarily blue and Android 12 will change the buttons, sliders, clock, notifications, and settings background to matching shades.

From Ars Technica

The lounge, splashier than ever with floral wallpaper and dusty-rose stools and green leather tiles, is the most noticeable enhancement.

From Washington Post

Tumid and unstoppable, there is little that new wallpaper or re-poured driveways can do to disguise it.

From The Daily Beast

We are going to be very judicious about the use of that video, mindful that its continued use turns it into wallpaper.

From The Daily Beast

As the aging homepage wallpaper peeled away revealing the html beneath, Strong Bad and the gang finally returned to the Internet.

From The Daily Beast

They feature custom wallpaper, system sounds, and desktop icons for My Computer, Recycle Bin, and Network Neighborhood.

From The Daily Beast

The last section, “Orientalism,” is exquisite and gilded, with golden-hued floral wallpaper.

From The Daily Beast

There were garlands of rosebuds on the wallpaper and the furniture was covered with rosebud chintz.

From Project Gutenberg

The only thing which still spoke of old times was the wallpaper with the tiny red and blue flowers.

From Project Gutenberg

I remember now the exact pattern of the wallpaper, a design of pale blue trellis-work with crimson rambler roses.

From Project Gutenberg

The room they now entered was of generous size, with soft gray wallpaper and white woodwork.

From Project Gutenberg

It was very dark, the wallpaper was of a heavy-moulded variety, sombre in hue and covered with meaningless figuring.

From Project Gutenberg