Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - pad

(pads, padding, padded) 1. A pad is a fairly thick, flat piece of a material such as cloth or rubber. Pads are used, for example, to clean things, to protect things, or to change their shape. He withdrew the needle and placed a pad of cotton-wool over the spot. ...a scouring pad. N-COUNT 2. A pad of paper is a number of pieces of paper which are fixed together along the top or the side, so that each piece can be torn off when it has been used. She wrote on a pad of paper... Have a pad and pencil ready and jot down some of your thoughts... N-COUNT 3. When someone pads somewhere, they walk there with steps that are fairly quick, light, and quiet. Freddy speaks very quietly and pads around in soft velvet slippers... I often bumped into him as he padded the corridors. VERB: V prep/adv, V n 4. A pad is a platform or an area of flat, hard ground where helicopters take off and land or rockets are launched. ...a little round helicopter pad. ...a landing pad on the back of the ship... N-COUNT see also launch pad 5. The pads of a person’s fingers and toes or of an animal’s feet are the soft, fleshy parts of them. Tap your cheeks all over with the pads of your fingers. N-COUNT: usu pl, usu N of n 6. If you pad something, you put something soft in it or over it in order to make it less hard, to protect it, or to give it a different shape. Pad the back of a car seat with a pillow... I can tell you I always padded my bras. VERB: V n with n, V n • padded ...a padded jacket. ...back-rests padded with camel’s wool. ADJ 7. see also padding