paint

/peɪnt/

/peɪnt/

Other forms: painted; painting; paints

Paint is a liquid, colored substance you can use to decorate or protect a surface. If you want your bedroom walls to be bright purple, you need to buy some purple paint.

Artists use paint to create landscapes, portraits, and other styles of paintings, and house painters use paint to coat and protect the wood siding on houses. When you paint, you make a painting, or cover something with paint: "First I'm going to paint your portrait, and after you paint that wall in your kitchen, we can hang it there." When someone "paints the town red," they don't literally paint anything — they just go on a celebratory spree.

Definitions of paint

1. noun

   a substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating
   “artists use `paint' and `pigment' interchangeably”

   synonyms: pigment

   types:

   acrylic, acrylic paint

   used especially by artists

   antifouling paint

   a paint used to protect against the accumulation of barnacles etc. on underwater surfaces

   coat of paint

   a layer of paint covering something else

   distemper

   paint made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder

   enamel

   a paint that dries to a hard glossy finish

   encaustic

   a paint consisting of pigment mixed with melted beeswax; it is fixed with heat after application

   finger paint, fingerpaint

   paint that has the consistency of jelly

   house paint, housepaint

   paint used to cover the exterior woodwork of a house

   oil paint

   paint in which a drying oil is the vehicle

   semigloss

   a paint that dries with a finish between glossy and flat

   spray paint

   paint applied with a spray gun

   water-base paint

   paint in which water is used as the vehicle

   calcimine

   a water-base paint containing zinc oxide and glue and coloring; used as a wash for walls and ceilings

   casein, casein paint

   a water-base paint made with a protein precipitated from milk

   finish coat, finishing coat

   the final coat of paint

   flat coat, ground, primer, primer coat, priming, priming coat, undercoat

   the first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface

   latex, latex paint, rubber-base paint

   a water-base paint that has a latex binder

   oil, oil color, oil colour

   oil paint containing pigment that is used by an artist

   poster color, poster colour, poster paint, tempera

   paint made of pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder like egg yolk

   wash

   a thin coat of water-base paint

   water-color, water-colour, watercolor, watercolour

   a water-base paint (with water-soluble pigments); used by artists

   type of:

   coat, coating

   a thin layer covering something

   color, coloring material, colour, colouring material

   any material used for its color
2. noun

   makeup consisting of a pink or red powder applied to the cheeks
   synonyms: blusher, rouge

   type of:

   make-up, makeup, war paint

   cosmetics applied to the face to improve or change your appearance
3. verb

   make a painting
   “he painted all day in the garden”

   “He painted a painting of the garden”

   types:

   finger-paint

   apply colors with one's fingers

   stipple

   apply (paint) in small dots or strokes

   bodypaint

   apply paint to a body

   fresco

   paint onto wet plaster on a wall

   distemper

   paint with distemper

   charge

   place a heraldic bearing on

   fill in, shade

   represent the effect of shade or shadow on

   stipple

   make by small short touches that together produce an even or softly graded shadow, as in paint or ink

   watercolor, watercolour

   paint with watercolors

   crosshatch

   shade with multiple crossing lines

   type of:

   create

   pursue a creative activity; be engaged in a creative activity
4. verb

   make a painting of
   types:

   repaint

   paint again

   type of:

   interpret, represent

   create an image or likeness of
5. verb

   apply paint to; coat with paint
   “We painted the rooms yellow”

   types:

   grain

   paint (a surface) to make it look like stone or wood

   repaint

   paint again

   airbrush

   paint with an airbrush

   ground, prime, undercoat

   cover with a primer; apply a primer to

   type of:

   coat, surface

   put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface
6. verb

   apply a liquid to; e.g., paint the gutters with linseed oil
   type of:

   cover

   provide with a covering or cause to be covered
7. noun

   (basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court
   “he dominates play in the paint”

   synonyms: key

   type of:

   space

   an area reserved for some particular purpose