Repapered

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Fitted with fresh wallpaper over surfaces that had been decorated before, giving a room a new look
2. Having been newly covered with wallpaper, replacing an earlier pattern or finish on the walls
3. Decorated anew with wallpaper, so that the walls of a space display a different design than before

Etymology: "Repapered" is simply the past tense and past participle of "repaper", so its history is that of its two parts. The prefix "re-" means "again" and comes from Latin, where it was used the same way. The base is "paper", which reaches English through Old French and Anglo-Norman from Latin "papyrus", the Egyptian reed whose pith was pressed into writing sheets. The ancient Greek "pápuros" supplies the older stem behind that Latin word. Paper's journey from the plant to the wall is what makes this verb unusual. Writing material made from papyrus gave English the general sense of paper, and only later did the word come to cover decorative sheets pasted onto walls. Putting "re-" in front of it produced a verb for the act of stripping old wall coverings and hanging fresh ones.

Synonyms: rewallpaper

Antonyms: strip