Rewallpapering

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Putting fresh wallpaper back onto the walls of a room after the earlier paper has been stripped or damaged
2. Hanging a new layer of decorative paper on interior walls once more, replacing what was there before
3. Redecorating a room by applying wallpaper a second time to surfaces that were covered previously

Etymology: "Rewallpapering" is a plain English formation: the prefix "re-" ("again") attached to "wallpapering," the present participle of the verb "wallpaper." The verb itself is a compound of "wall" and "paper," and the sense is literal: to cover walls with paper. Wallpaper as a noun is recorded in English from the late 1500s, and the verb followed as the practice of papering interior walls became common. The word "wallpaper" was itself a coinage of this older kind, built from two plain English words rather than borrowed, so the whole chain of "wall," "paper," "wallpaper," "wallpaper" plus "re-" is native English throughout. Nothing in its history is unexpected, and the word is best understood as an everyday compound built up one step at a time.