Wheatpaste

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A glue made by mixing flour with water, used to stick paper to walls ; to fix posters or notices onto a surface using this kind of paste
2. A simple adhesive of flour and water used for hanging paper ; to stick printed bills or posters onto a wall with that mixture
3. A homemade glue based on starch and water for pasting paper ; to affix posters or handbills to a surface by applying such a glue

Etymology: Wheatpaste is a compound of "wheat" and "paste," and the name says exactly what it is: a paste made from wheat flour and water, used as an adhesive. Its use is most famous today in street posters, where artists and bill-posters brush it onto walls to stick up flyers, murals and stickers, but the same flour-and-water glue has long been used for pasting paper, wallpaper and bookbinding. The word is written both as one word and as two, and the one-word spelling is the form most commonly used as a noun and verb. Because the word is a plain combination of two English words, its history is simply that of its parts: "wheat" is an ancient Germanic word for the grain, and "paste" came into English from Old French, from Late Latin "pasta," meaning a dough or a mixture of flour and liquid.