pulp
UK[pʌlp]US[pʌlp]
n
a soft, wet mass of material, often made by crushing or mixing something with liquid
n
the soft, inner part of a fruit or vegetable
n
a cheap, sensational type of fiction magazine or book, printed on low-quality paper
v
to crush something into a soft, wet mass
Etymology
the word 'pulp' entered english in the late 16th century, directly from the latin 'pulpa', which referred to the soft, fleshy substance of fruit, meat, or the pith of plants. this latin term is of obscure origin, with no clear proto-indo-european root identified, suggesting it may be a substrate word. the core semantic concept of a soft, moist, and often formless mass has remained remarkably consistent. the modern figurative extensions, such as 'pulp fiction' referring to cheaply produced magazines, derive from the low-quality, wood-pulp paper on which they were printed, thus connecting back to the material's soft, crushed origin.
Analysis
the word is a simplex form. it is derived from the latin word 'pulpa', meaning the fleshy part of fruit or the pith of plants.
Examples
the machine crushes the wood into a fine pulp for papermaking.
she carefully removed the pulp from the orange before eating the segments.
he enjoyed reading detective stories from the old pulp magazines of the 1940s.