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paperwork

noun

  1. decorative work made entirely or primarily of paper, such as decorative folding, stamping, scrapbooking, cardmaking, stenciling or cutting, etc., but excluding those where paper is merely the support of graphic, painted, etc. works
L227690 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪ.pɚˌwɝk/ / /ˈpeɪ.pɚ.wɚk/

noun

Etymology: From paper + work.

  1. Routine work involving written documents.

    do paperwork

  2. Written documents.

    The source stated that the alleged victims wanted the paperwork released after the settlement, but with names and identifiers removed.

  3. Excessive paperwork, busy work, red tape.
  4. Court documents or pre-sentencing investigation reports detailing the prisoner's criminal history (usually in the context of discerning whether an inmate has been charged for sex-related offenses or is likely to be an informant).

    to have bad paperwork

  5. A work in paper.

    Greatly you haue boaſted of, and much threatned theſe two places, (for euery later paperwork of yours is but a Tautology of the former) […]

    However, except for few experimental paperworks by Jackson Pollock on paper made by Douglass Howell and occasional prints, usually woodcuts or wood engravings on Japanese paper, it is only in the late 1950s and early 1960s that editions of prints on beautiful handmade papers began appearing, published by Tatyana Grosman at the Universal Limited Art Editions on Long Island.