Definition of "pap"

I hold it not amisse to take Pills in the pap of a rosted apple.

1633, James Hart, The Diet of the Diseased

A child's head is naturally as soft as the pap of an apple.

1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XVI, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], page 72

But I'll so pap him up - nothing too dear for him : What a sweet scent he has !

c. 1619–1623, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Custome of the Countrey”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

But th'other rather higher did arise, / And her two lilly paps aloft displayd, / And all, that might his melting hart entise / To her delights, she vnto him bewrayd […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

they doe not onely weare jewels at their noses, in their lip and cheekes, and in their toes, but also big wedges of gold through their paps [translating tetins] and buttocks […].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]

And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Luke 11:27

Adrianus the Emperour made his Physition to marke and take the just compasse of the mortall place about his pap, that so his aime might not faile him, to whom he had given charge to kill him.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 13, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]

the paps of Jura

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans

His chest hangs like soft tits in his vest. He is pap. I could easily hit him. I could kill him if I wanted to.

1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, page 27

As he made his way from the London hotel to his car, the singer threatened to beat up a pap who got in his way.

2015, “Justin Bieber's top 10's worst moments”, in OK! Magazine

We turn back onto the main road and I'm relieved to not see any paps. They've got to be somewhere though. They don't just leave.

2015, Mira Bailee, Broken Strings

The only aspect of his mother’s death that he finds unforgettable is the identity of those who caused it: the press and the paps, variously referred to as ghouls, pustules, dogs, weasels, idiots and sadists, who after “torturing” his mother “would come for me”.

2023 January 17, Tina Brown, “Spare by Prince Harry review – magical thinking in Montecito”, in The Guardian‎

The star of Netflix’s Wednesday, 20-year-old Jenna Ortega (another Gen Z actor) was recently papped holding an iPhone and chuffing on a straight cigarette (the fact that this was a pap photo is all the more throwback).

2023 June 16, Daisy Jones, “Cool, sexy and stinking of smoke: why are TV dramas giving cigarettes a comeback?”, in The Guardian‎

Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around. Well, about this time he was found in the river drowned, about twelve mile above town, so people said. They judged it was him, anyway; said this drowned man was just his size, and was ragged, and had uncommon long hair—which was all like pap—but they couldn't make nothing out of the face, because it had been in the water so long it warn't much like a face at all.

1884, Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn