paste n.

c. 1300 (mid-12c. as a surname), "dough for the making of bread or pastry," from Old French paste "dough, pastry" (13c., Modern French pâte), from Late Latin pasta "dough, pastry cake, paste" (see pasta). Meaning "glue mixture, dough used as a plaster seal" is attested from c. 1400; broader sense of "a composition just moist enough to be soft without liquefying" is by c. 1600. In reference to a kind of heavy glass made of ground quartz, etc., often used to imitate gems, by 1660s.

1560s, "to stick with paste or cement;" see paste (n.). Meaning "apply paste to, cover by pasting over" is from c. 1600. Middle English had pasten "to make a paste of; bake in a pastry." Related: Pasted; pasting.

"hit hard," by 1846, probably an alteration of baste "beat" (see lambaste) influenced by some sense of paste (n.1). Related: Pasted; pasting.