paper trail
A written record, history, or collection of evidence.
Keep a good paper trail in case anyone asks you why you arrived at that conclusion.
paper
UK /ˈpeɪ̯.pə/ US /ˈpeɪ̯.pəɹ/
noun 5verb 5adj 4
Definitions
noun
1
A sheet material typically used for writing on or printing on (or as a non-waterproof container), usually made by draining cellulose fibres from a suspension in water.
Draw on the paper! Not on the walls!
The paper mill on the south side of town makes various grades of paper and employs hundreds of people.
2
Ellipsis of newspaper; anything used as such (such as a newsletter or listing magazine).
Read all about it in this morning's paper!
In those days, the Reporter Dispatch was the paper of record around here, and everyone who was anyone took the paper [was a subscriber].
3
Ellipsis of wallpaper.
The paperhangers had just finished hanging the paper in the dining room when the interior decorator walked in and exclaimed that it was the wrong color.
There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
4
Ellipsis of wrapping paper.
In those days, you asked the butcher for a block of cheese, and he wrapped it up in paper for you.
The kids could hardly wait to tear the paper off their Christmas gifts.
5
An open hand (a handshape resembling a sheet of paper), that beats rock and loses to scissors. It loses to lizard and beats Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
adj
1
Made of paper.
At twilight in the summer[…]the mice come out. They[…]eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly[…]on the floor.
2
Insubstantial (from the weakness of common paper)
paper gangster
2016: Manila Standard, "Speed limiter law: A paper tiger"; Maricel Cruz Speed limiter law: A paper tiger
3
Planned (from plans being drawn up on paper)
paper engine, rocket
"We have to be able to demonstrate that it is not just a paper engine but a real engine" and that development work has "mitigated all the risk".
4
Having a title that is merely official, or given by courtesy or convention.
a paper lord
verb
1
To apply paper to.
to paper the hallway walls
2
To document; to memorialize.
After they reached an agreement, their staffs papered it up.
3
To fill (a theatre or other paid event) with complimentary seats.
Later, seat-filling or “papering” services cropped up, with organizations like Audience Extras, Play-by-Play,[…]
4
To submit official papers to (a law court, etc.).
As powerhouse lawyers shuttled to Cuba to meet clients and papered the federal courts with habeas corpus petitions, Guantanamo's isolation and lack of publicity, once the military's most powerful psychological weapon, was eliminated.
[…] the warning received only six weeks later for poor attendance as proof that the employer was unjustly papering his personnel file in an effort to create a reason for discharge.
5
To give public notice (typically by displaying posters) that a person is wanted by the police or other authority.
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