body paint

noun

: paint applied to a person's body
Her new outfit, a leopard-skin pants suit, seemed as skintight as Superman's blue-and-red ensemble: every midriff curve curved, every leg muscle flexed … . After a few turns, some observers noticed that the spots were not painted on fabric but skin. Her suit was body paint.Matthew Crowley, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 19 Mar. 1997
Aborigines in white body paint danced and sang traditional songs in Australia's national Parliament on Tuesday in a historic ceremony many hoped would mark a new era of race relations in the country.Rod McGuirk, Associated Press, 12 Feb. 2008
body-paint transitive verb
body-painted; body-painting; body-paints
Halfway through the first quarter, high up in the stands, an undergraduate skinned off his shirt and … a young woman body-painted something unprintable about Harvard onto his shoulder blades. Paul Hendrickson, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 1983
body-painted adjective
… surrounded by their usual assortment of exuberant, body-painted fans. Bill Bryant, Huntsville (Alabama) Times, 3 Mar. 2012
body painting noun
or less commonly body-painting
They wore clothing of finely-tanned skins and adorned themselves with tattooing and body painting. Barbara A. Leitch, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Tribes, 1979

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of body paint was in 1883

Love words?

You must — there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one that’s only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.

Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to America's largest dictionary, with:

  • More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary
  • Expanded definitions, etymologies, and usage notes
  • Advanced search features
  • Ad free!

Dictionary Entries Near body paint

Cite this Entry

“Body paint.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/body%20paint. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!