1. A flat mass of soft material used for protection, stuffing, or comfort
   "He placed a pad under the strap of his heavy backpack to prevent chafing"
    
2. A number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge
   "He jotted down notes on a pad of paper during the meeting";
   - pad of paper, tablet
    
3. A block of absorbent material saturated with ink; used to transfer ink evenly to a rubber stamp
   "She pressed the rubber stamp onto the pad before applying it to the document";
   - inkpad, inking pad, stamp pad
    
4. A platform from which rockets or space craft are launched
   "The rocket stood ready on the launch pad";
   - launching pad, launchpad, launch pad, launch area
    
5. [informal] Living quarters or accommodation
   "The students found an affordable pad near the university campus";
   - diggings [Brit, archaic], digs [informal], lodgings, crib [N. Amer, informal]
    
6. The sound of soft footsteps
   "We heard the pad of cat's paws on the wooden floor"
    
7. The fleshy cushion-like underside of an animal's foot or of a human's finger
   "The cat's pads allowed it to walk silently"
    
8. The large floating leaf of an aquatic plant (as the water lily)
   "Frogs rested on the broad pads of the water lilies"

1. Line or stuff with soft material
   "pad a bra";
   - fill out
    
2. Add padding to
   "pad the seat of the chair";
   - bolster
    
3. Make appear better or greater (in power, wealth, quality, etc.) than reality
   "The salesman padded his resume";
   - embroider, lard, embellish, aggrandize, aggrandise [Brit], dramatize, dramatise [Brit]
    
4. Walk quietly, esp. barefoot or with soft footwear
   "She padded across the room in her slippers"
    
5. Walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
   "The tired hikers padded back to camp";
   - slog, footslog, plod, trudge, tramp, tromp [N. Amer, informal], trog [Brit, informal]

Derived forms: pads, padded, padding

Type of: amplify, anatomical structure, block, bodily structure, body structure, complex body part, cushioning, exaggerate, fill, fill up, hyperbolise [Brit], hyperbolize, leaf, living quarters, magnify, overdraw, overstate, padding, paper, platform, quarters, structure, stuff, walk

Part of: aquatic plant, finger, hydrophyte, hydrophytic plant, launching site, paw, water plant

Encyclopedia: Pad, West Virginia