pulp

From Middle English pulpe, from Latin pulpa.

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /pʌlp/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pʊlp/, /pʌlp/
• Rhymes: -ʌlp, -ʊlp

pulp (usually uncountable, plural pulps)

1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass or matter.
   1. A mixture of wood, cellulose and/or rags and water ground up to make paper.
   2. A mass of chemically processed wood fibres (cellulose).
   3. A suspension of mineral particles, typically achieved by some form of agitation.
   4. The soft center of a fruit.

      Synonym: fruitflesh

   5. The soft center of a tooth.
   6. The underside of a human fingertip; a finger pad.

      Synonym: palp

   7. The very soft tissue in the spleen.
2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper.
   • 1983, Gary Hoppenstand, Ray Broadus Browne, The Defective Detective in the Pulps, page 2:

     The hard-hitting, action packed, thud and blunder adventure fantasy was a commodity during that somber decade: Americans paid money to forget their troubles, and the pulps were willing to sell.

   • 2009, David Hajdu, Heroes and Villains: Essays on Music, Movies, Comics, and Culture:

     The fledgling comics business was a sweatshop trade for creative hopefuls too inexperienced, too socially ill-equipped, or, more often, too minimally talented for the established avenues of hackdom, the pulps and commercial art.

• (soft moist mass): flesh, mash, pomace (now English regional)

• (soft moist mass): pomace (created from juice or oil extraction)

pulp (third-person singular simple present pulps, present participle pulping, simple past and past participle pulped)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or be made into pulp.
2. (transitive, slang) To beat to a pulp.
3. (transitive) To deprive of pulp; to separate the pulp from.

• pulper

pulp (comparative more pulp, superlative most pulp)

1. (fiction) Of or pertaining to pulp magazines; in the style of a pulp magazine or the material printed within such a publication.
   • 1997 July 22, Eric Gimlin, “Re: Annual theme '98”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe‎^[1] (Usenet), message-ID <33D504B4.105@swbell.net>:

     The Nightwing annual had what felt like a very 'pulp-ish' plot, and the Superman annual was great, with a very pulp plot and a^[sic] incredible Doc Savage tribute cover.

   • 2003 January 3, Mark Wheatley, “Re: PULP 2003 READING”, in alt.pulp‎^[2] (Usenet), message-ID <3E159FC7.70409@insightstudiosgroup.com>:

     Rather than Asimov I might suggest Stanley Weinbaum (since he died young and early in his career, he is far more "pulp" than Asimov - and remarkably readable - there is a LANCER collection of some of his short stories).

• pulpish, pulpy