pad

Noun (1)

pad (plural pads)

1. A flattened mass of anything soft, to sit or lie on.
2. A cushion used as a saddle without a tree or frame.
3. A soft, or small, cushion.
4. A cushion-like thickening of the skin on the underside of the toes of animals.
5. The mostly hairless flesh located on the bottom of an animal's foot or paw.
6. Any cushion-like part of the human body, especially the ends of the fingers.
   • Collie ignored him. Reached the finger further. Closer. And closer yet, until — […] Collie yanked his hand back and peered at it like a kid with an interesting new scrape. Then he turned to Steve and held it out. A bead of blood, small and dark and perfect, was forming on the pad of his index...1996, Stephen King, The Regulators

   Synonyms:

   palp, pulp

7. A stuffed guard or protection, especially one worn on the legs of horses to prevent bruising.
8. A soft bag or cushion to relieve pressure, support a part, etc.
9. A menstrual pad; a mass of absorbent material used to absorb menstrual flow.
   • In this study, when the views of the mothers on the tiring/straining situations during their daughters’ adolescence are examined, it is determined that the mothers mostly have difficulties in using the pads of their daughters, cleaning the hairs in the armpit and genital area, and bathing their...2024 July 2, Rukiye Arslan, Derya Yanık, Raziye Pekşen Akça, “Investigation of Menstrual Hygiene and Self-Care Skills of Adolescent Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Mother Views”, in Journal of...
10. (US) A floating leaf of a water lily or similar plant.
11. A soft cover for a batsman's leg that protects the player from damage when hit by the ball.
12. 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.

Verb (1)

pad (third-person singular simple present pads, present participle padding, simple past and past participle padded)

1. (transitive) To stuff.
2. (transitive) To furnish with a pad or padding.
3. (transitive) To increase the size of, especially by adding undesirable filler.
   • The author began to pad her succinct stories with trite descriptions to keep up with current market trends.
   • pad one's expenses
4. (transitive) To imbue uniformly with a mordant.
   • to pad cloth
   • […] to pad a piece in diluted acetate of alumine to obtain a pale lemon ground […]1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopædia
5. (transitive) To deliberately play the ball with the leg pad instead of the bat.
6. To walk with soft steps.
   • pad down the corridor

Noun (2)

pad (plural pads)

1. (UK, dialectal) A toad.

Noun (3)

pad (plural pads)

1. (Australia, Ireland, UK, dialectal) A path, particularly one unformed or unmaintained; a track made by animals.
   • We led the horses along an animal pad that zigzagged down the one accessible descent.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 79
   • And when the map shows that the creek will no longer take him where he wants to go, then he looks for an animal pad and follows it, getting down on his belly and wriggling under thorny bush when he has to.1999, Julia Leigh, The Hunter, Faber & Faber 2012, p. 36
2. An easy-paced horse; a padnag.
   • Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, / An abbot on an ambling pad, / Sometimes a curly shepherd lad, / Or long-hair'd page, in crimson clad, / Goes by to Camelot.1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, part the second, page 11
3. (UK, obsolete) A robber who infests the road on foot; a highwayman or footpad.
   • A Pad came pacing down the way : / The Cur, with never-ceasing tongue , / Upon the passing trav'ler sprung1720, John Gay, “Fables”, in Poems on Several Occasions
   • These free-born sounds proceeded from four pads / In ambush laid, who had perceived him loiter / Behind his carriage; and, like handy lads, / Had seized the lucky hour to reconnoitre1819–1824, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London, (please specify |canto=I to XVII)
4. (UK, obsolete) A tramp or itinerant musician.

Noun (4)

pad (plural pads)

1. (UK, dialectal) A type of wickerwork basket, especially as used as a measure of fish or other goods.

Verb (2)

pad (third-person singular simple present pads, present participle padding, simple past and past participle padded)

1. (transitive) To travel along (a road, path etc.).
   • Padding the streets for half a crown.1727, William Somervile, The Fortune Hunter
2. (intransitive) To travel on foot.
3. (intransitive) To wear a path by walking.
   • Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? [...]1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXII
4. (intransitive) To walk softly, quietly or steadily, especially without shoes.
   • Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses, while the Rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out...1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To practise highway robbery.
   • Their chief Argument is, That they never saw any Witches, therefore there are none. Just as if you or I should say, We never met with any Robbers on the Road, therefore there never was any Padding there.1689, Cotton Mather, Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions

Interjection

1. Indicating a soft flat sound, as of bare footsteps.
   • I heard her soft footsteps, pad, pad along the corridor.

Noun (5)

pad (plural pads)

1. The sound of soft footsteps, or a similar noise made by an animal etc.

Noun (6) capitalized: PAD

US/ˌpi.eɪˈdi/

PAD (uncountable)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of peripheral artery disease.