pad

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A thick, soft piece of material used for protection, comfort, or to absorb liquid.

   He pressed a clean pad against the wound to stop the bleeding.

2. 2
   verb

   To add soft material to something to make it more comfortable or protective.

   They padded the seat of the chair so it was nicer to sit on.

3. 3
   verb

   To make something longer or bigger by adding unnecessary extra material.

   The writer padded her short story with dull descriptions.

4. 4
   verb

   To walk with quiet, soft steps.

   The cat padded silently across the kitchen floor.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Pad is of unknown origin, although its sense “underpart of an animal’s foot” may be related to Low German pad, “sole of the foot.” Its earliest recorded sense was “a bundle of straw to lie on”; this developed into slang for a bed in the early 18th century, into 20th-century underworld slang for premises used for drugs or prostitution, and in the 1970s into a general term for a place to live. Pad in notepad may have a separate origin. The verb pad, “to tread or walk,” entered English in the 16th century from Low German padden, which may have arisen from the sound made.

From Middle English pade, padde, from Old English padde, from Proto-West Germanic *paddā, from Proto-Germanic *paddǭ (“toad”). Cognate with Dutch pad, German Low German Pad (“toad”), dialectal German Padde, Danish padde, Swedish padda, Icelandic padda (“toad”), and possibly to English paddle. Doublet of pode

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External links

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