the.com/blotting paper

means An absorbent paper used to soak up excess ink from a freshly written page.

from Simply descriptive: it 'blots,' meaning to soak up liquid, a sense of the word traceable to Middle English (possibly related to Old Norse roots). Before fountain pens had reliable ink flow or dried fast, blotting paper was everyday office and desk equipment, pressed over wet writing to prevent smears. The term stuck even as its usefulness faded with ballpoint pens, surviving now mostly in idiom and in cosmetic 'blotting paper' for oily skin.