pad

1 a number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge [syn: pad of paper, tablet]

2 the large floating leaf of an aquatic plant (as the water lily)

3 a block of absorbent material saturated with ink; used to transfer ink evenly to a rubber stamp [syn: inkpad, inking pad, stamp pad]

4 a usually thin flat mass of padding

5 a platform from which rockets or space craft are launched [syn: launching pad, launchpad, launch pad, launch area]

6 temporary living quarters [syn: diggings, digs, domiciliation, lodgings]

7 the foot or fleshy cushion-like underside of the toes of an animal

1 add details to [syn: embroider, lard, embellish, aggrandize, aggrandise, blow up, dramatize, dramatise]

2 walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud; "Mules plodded in a circle around a grindstone" [syn: slog, footslog, plod, trudge, tramp]

3 line or stuff with soft material; "pad a bra" [syn: fill out]

4 add padding to; "pad the seat of the chair" [syn: bolster] [also: padding, padded]padding n : artifact consisting of soft or resilient material used to fill or give shape or protect or add comfort [syn: cushioning]padding See pad

English

Verb

padding

1. present participle of pad

Noun

1. Soft filling used in cushions.
2. Extra characters such as ASCII 32 spaces added to the end of a record to fill it out to a fixed length.
3. Extraneous text added to a message for the purpose of concealing its beginning, ending, or length.

Translations

References

In fashion, padding is material sometimes added to clothes. It is often done in an attempt to enhance appearance by 'improving' a physical feature, often a sexually significant one. Thus, there is padding for:

• Breasts (sometimes called falsies)
• The male crotch (usually called a codpiece)
• Height (usually in shoes and often called elevator shoes)
• Width of shoulders (in coats and other garments for men, and sometimes for women)

Advantages

Some padding is added to emphasize particular physical features that are usually not present. Women, for instance, rarely have prominent shoulders, but for some years shoulder pads have been added to dresses (blouses, etc). The effect was unnatural for women, but gave them a more masculine outline which was sometimes thought to be of benefit in business situations.

Padding in undergarments is also used by some crossdressers. This may include a form of padding in the shape of male genitals worn in the underwear of a female who is passing as a male, or Hip and buttock padding worn by a male who is passing as a female.

Padding is also added to clothing for insulation or cushioning reasons. Thus, many coats and outergarments (especially those for outdoor use in cold climates) are padded with such materials as felt or down or feathers or artificial insulations. Cushioning padding is included in some sporting goods, especially those intended for use in combat sports (eg, fencing, some martial arts, etc). Garments intended for actual use in combat were once commonly padded (e.g., by the ancient Greeks under armor, or by the Japanese until the mid-19th century), but have largely been replaced by light armor made of, for instance, Kevlar. If included in a vest, such armor makes a bullet-proof vest.

Paradoxically, padding can also be part of punitive apparatus, notably

• to prevent the punishee getting injured on the front side from scaving against the wood or metal while squirming from the pain purposefully inflicted on the backside
• sometimes on a punishee who is wholly or partially undressed for strokes administered on the bare skin, especially severe caning, to avoid accidental damage when the wrong part of the body (e.g. the reins) is hit in stead of the target (usually the buttocks or back).

See also

• Filler

References

• Punitive equipment links on CorPun, several inclduing one or both types of padding mentioned

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