wallpaper
verbEtymology From wall + paper.
1
To cover (a wall, a room, etc) with wallpaper.
- Synonyms
- paper
wallpaper
nounEtymology From wall + paper.
8 senses
- 1Decorative paper-like material used to cover the inner…
- 2A roll of such paper.
- 3A style or design of such material.
- 4Anything that serves as a background or part of the surroundings.
- 5An image or tiled pattern used as the background of a…
- 6Generic footage of a building or location that may be…
- 7Gaudy mass-produced stamps, typically of little or no…
- 8A radio operator's collection of awards and QSL cards.
1
Decorative paper-like material used to cover the inner walls of buildings.
2
A roll of such paper.
3
A style or design of such material.
- He is letting her select the wallpapers for the whole house.
4
Figuratively, Sometimes Anything that serves as a background or part of the surroundings.
- This was not the wallpaper television that flickered away in the background in every dealing room but was not really watched. This was finely targeted and timely broadcast of stuff dealers would want to drop everything to watch.2004, Brian Mooney, Barry Simpson, Breaking News: How the Wheels Came off at Reuters, page 114:
- Her experiences are too early and too much part of the emotional wallpaper to be grasped in this way.2007, Susan Nathiel, Daughters of Madness: Growing Up and Older with a Mentally Ill Mother:
5
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences An image or tiled pattern used as the background of a computer desktop.
- He chose a Minecraft design as his computer's wallpaper.
- You can design your own wallpaper using Paintbrush. A wallpaper appears on your desktop in tiles. The number of tiles that are needed to cover the desktop depends on the size of the canvas you use to create a wallpaper.1997, Richard Dungworth, Philippa Wingate, Windows 3.1 & Windows 95 for Beginners, page 65:
6
Broadcasting, Media, Television Slang Generic footage of a building or location that may be used in the background of a related news report.
- Scripts that include brief reference to a picture turn stock footage from 'wallpaper' to illustration.1983, Av Westin, Newswatch: How TV Decides the News, page 88:
- News bulletins on television may need general rather than specific footage. This is known as wallpaper — moving pictures over which the news item is read.2002, Kathy Chater, Research for Media Production, page 75:
8
A radio operator's collection of awards and QSL cards.
- Some of my wallpaper includes ORS, OPS […]1960, QST, volume 44, numbers 1-6, page 76:
- So if you are a technical ham and are looking for one more piece of "wallpaper" to put up at the shack, consider […]1994, 73 Amateur Radio Today, numbers 400-411, page 155:
1 more example
- Wallpaper. Hams love awards, and thousands of awards are available.2013, H. Ward Silver, Ham Radio For Dummies:
- Synonyms
- desktop image, desktop pattern, background
- Derived terms
- aural wallpaper, ingrain wallpaper, LED wallpaper, moving wallpaper, tighter than wallpaper, Wallpapergate, wallpaper group, woodchip wallpaper