pad1
n.
- a thick piece of soft or absorbent material.
▸a protective guard worn over a part of the body by a sports player.
- the fleshy underpart of an animal's foot or of a human finger.
- a number of sheets of blank paper fastened together at one edge.
- a flat-topped structure or area used for helicopter take-off and landing or for rocket-launching.
- informal a person's home.
- Electronics a flat area on a track of a printed circuit or on the edge of an integrated circuit to which wires or component leads can be attached to make an electrical connection.
v.
(pads, padding, padded)
-
[often as adj. padded]
fill or cover with a pad.
-
(pad something out)
lengthen a speech or piece of writing with unnecessary material.
- N. Amer. defraud by adding false items to (an expenses claim or bill).
-
(pad up)
(in cricket) put on protective pads.
Derivative
Etymology
C16 (in the sense ‘bundle of straw to lie on’): of uncertain origin; the meaning ‘underpart of an animal's foot’ is perh. rel. to Low Ger. pad ‘sole of the foot’.
pad2
v.
(pads, padding, padded)
walk with steady steps making a soft, dull sound.
n.
the sound of such steps.
Etymology
C16: from Low Ger. padden ‘to tread, go along a path’, partly imitative.