pad

Meanings

Noun

• A flattened mass of anything soft, to sit or lie on.
• A cushion used as a saddle without a tree or frame.
• A soft, or small, cushion.
• A cushion-like thickening of the skin on the under side of the toes of animals.
• The mostly hairless flesh located on the bottom of an animal's foot or paw.
• Any cushion-like part of the human body, especially the ends of the fingers.
• A stuffed guard or protection, especially one worn on the legs of horses to prevent bruising.
• A soft bag or cushion to relieve pressure, support a part, etc.
• A sanitary napkin.
• A floating leaf of a water lily or similar plant.
• A soft cover for a batsman's leg that protects it from damage when hit by the ball.
• A kind of cushion for writing upon, or for blotting, especially one formed of many flat sheets of writing paper; now especially such a block of paper sheets as used to write on.
• A panel or strip of material designed to be sensitive to pressure or touch.
• A keypad.
• A flat surface or area from which a helicopter or other aircraft may land or be launched.
• An electrical extension cord with a multi-port socket on one end: "trip cord"
• The effect produced by sustained lower reed notes in a musical piece, most common in blues music.
• A synthesizer instrument sound used for sustained background sounds.
• A bed.
• A small house, apartment, or mobile home occupied by a single person; such as a bachelor, playboy, etc.
• A prison cell.
• A random key (originally written on a disposable pad) of the same length as the plaintext.
• A mousepad.
• The amount by which a signal has been reduced.
• A piece of timber fixed on a beam to fit the curve of the deck.
• A toad.
• A footpath, particularly one unformed or unmaintained; a road or track. See footpad.
• An easy-paced horse; a padnag.
• A robber that infests the road on foot; a highwayman or footpad.
• A type of wickerwork basket, especially as used as a measure of fish or other goods.
• The sound of soft footsteps, or a similar noise made by an animal etc.

Verb

• To stuff.
• To furnish with a pad or padding.
• To increase the size of, especially by adding undesirable filler.
• To imbue uniformly with a mordant.
• To deliberately play the ball with the leg pad instead of the bat.
• To travel along (a road, path etc.).
• To travel on foot.
• To wear a path by walking.
• To walk softly, quietly or steadily, especially without shoes.
• To practise highway robbery.

Origin

• 1554, "bundle of straw to lie on", probably from Low German or West Flemish pad ("sole of the foot"), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pent-, which would make it related to both path and find.
• From Middle English pade, padde, from Old English padde, from Proto-Germanic *paddǭ. Cognate with Dutch pad, German Low German Pad, dialectal German Padde, Danish padde, Swedish padda, Icelandic padda, and possibly to English paddle.
• From Dutch pad or Middle Low German pat ("path"). path.
• Perhaps an alteration of ped.
• Probably partly from Middle Low German, partly imitative. Some senses possibly influenced by pad.
• Probably imitative, perhaps related to or influenced by Etymology 5, above.