Pulp

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /pʌlp/

Definitions

1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of material, often the fibrous substance obtained from wood or other plant material used in papermaking
2. A soft and wet mass composed of crushed organic material, typically derived from plants, used in the production of paper and other products
3. A moist, fibrous substance made from crushed plant material used as the base for paper ; the inner vulnerable tissue inside a tooth containing nerves and blood vessels ; inexpensive literature or media with sensational or lurid themes

Etymology: Latin "pulpa" meant flesh or the soft, fleshy part of something, and English borrowed it through Middle English "pulpe" with that same sense: the soft edible part of a fruit. The sense of a shapeless moist mass came later, and the papermaking sense, a pulped mass of fibre from wood or plant material, is the one most people now meet first. The fleshy original survives in the everyday fruit usage, where a pulp is the soft inside of an orange or a mango. The word has also been used for a pulpy mass in a crushed or macerated state, the way a fruit is reduced to a soft mush, and that idea of something beaten into shapelessness is what connects the fruit to the paper mill. Fibres are broken down and suspended in water until they form the same soft, moist mass, which is then pressed into sheets.

Synonyms: mash, paste, mush, slush, puree

Antonyms: solid, whole, intact, unmixed, undiluted