pap

UK: /pæp/ US: /pæp/ ,(pap)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

pap¹ /pæp/   n. [uncountable]

1. soft food for infants or sick people.
2. ideas, writings, etc., having no real content, worth, or value:
   The book was full of pap.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

pap¹  (pap), n. 

1. soft food for infants or invalids, as bread soaked in water or milk.
2. an idea, talk, book, or the like, lacking substance or real value.

• 1400–50; late Middle English; a nursery word akin to Dutch pap, German Pappe, Latin, Italian pappa

pap′like′, adj. 
Synonyms

• 2. drivel, balderdash, twaddle.

pap²  (pap), n. [Chiefly Dial.]

1. Dialect Terms a teat;
   nipple.
2. Dialect Terms something resembling a teat or nipple.

• 1150–1200; Middle English pappe; compare dialect, dialectal Norwegian, Swedish pappe, Latin papilla (see papilla), Lithuanian pãpas, all from a base *pap-; akin to pap¹

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

pap / pæp/ noun

1. any soft or semiliquid food, such as bread softened with milk, esp for babies or invalids; mash
2. porridge made from maize
3. worthless or oversimplified ideas; drivel

Etymology: 15th Century: from Middle Low German pappe, via Medieval Latin from Latin pappāre to eat; compare Dutch pap, Italian pappa

pap / pæp/ noun

1. a nipple or teat
2. something resembling a breast or nipple, such as (formerly) one of a pair of rounded hilltops

Etymology: 12th Century: of Scandinavian origin, imitative of a sucking sound; compare Latin papilla nipple, Sanskrit pippalaka

pap / pæp/ verb (paps, papping, papped)(transitive)

1. (of the paparazzi) to follow and photograph (a famous person)

Etymology: 20th Century: from paparazzo