papyrus Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun paper made from the papyrus plant by cutting it in strips and pressing it flat; used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks and Romans
  2. noun tall sedge of the Nile valley yielding fiber that served many purposes in historic times
    Egyptian paper rush; Cyperus papyrus; Egyptian paper reed; paper plant; paper rush.
  3. noun a document written on papyrus

WordNet

Pa*py"rus noun
Etymology
L., fr. Gr. . See Paper.
Wordforms
plural Papyri
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.
  2. The material upon which the ancient Egyptians wrote. It was formed by cutting the stem of the plant into thin longitudinal slices, which were gummed together and pressed.
  3. A manuscript written on papyrus; esp., pl., written scrolls made of papyrus; as, the papyri of Egypt or Herculaneum.

Webster 1913