Beplaster comes from be- ('all over') + plaster, from Old English plaster, from Late Latin plastrum, from Latin emplastrum ('plaster, salve'), from Greek emplastron. The historical trail runs through be- in Old English and emplastrum in Latin. Morphologically, beplaster is transparent: it draws on be- ('all over') + plaster, from Old English plaster, from Late Latin plastrum, from Latin emplastrum ('plaster, salve'), from Greek emplastron. Used as a verb, beplaster now means "cover thickly with plaster or, figuratively, with praise", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as plaster. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.