Repaper

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cover a room, wall, or surface again with new wallpaper or paper after the old covering has been removed
2. To apply fresh paper to walls or a surface a second time, replacing whatever covering was there before
3. Putting new wallpaper or sheets of paper onto a space that was previously decorated or covered in paper

Etymology: Redecorating a room with new wallpaper is the whole story here, and the word is about as plain as English compounds get: "re-" meaning again, joined to "paper," the material. The verb describes covering a surface with paper a second time, which is why it is most often used of walls. The "paper" half carries a much longer history. It goes back to the ancient Greek "pápuros," the name of the papyrus plant, whose pith was pressed into writing sheets in Egypt. Latin took the word as "papyrus," and from there it passed through Old Catalan and Anglo-Norman before arriving in Middle English as "paper." So when you repaper a wall, you are, at one remove, reaching back to a Nile reed.

Synonyms: rewallpaper