the.com/wadding
the unsung crumple that turns powder into a punch and pillows into pillows
means loose, soft material packed into a space — to cushion, protect, fill, or to seal the charge in old firearms.
from From "wad," a word that surfaces in English in the 16th century meaning a small bundle or compact mass of soft stuff. Its deeper roots are murky — possibly related to Scandinavian and Low German words for tufts of padding or stuffing material. The firearms sense came naturally: before cartridges, you rammed powder, then a wad of paper or felt, then shot — the wadding holding it all snug. The "-ing" simply turns the lump into the stuff it's made of.
- gun roots
- Plugs muskets so the charge launches the ball
- quilting core
- Fluffy filling sandwiched between fabric layers
- old material
- Once made from felted wool, paper, or grass
- blank blanks
- Wadding can still wound at close range
- sound use
- Cotton wadding deadens echoes in soundproofing
shotgun wadding — plastic cup that separates gunpowder from pellets in shotgun shells, used since the 1960s
wedding dress wadding — layers of cotton or polyester padding used to structure ball gowns and formal wear
life jacket wadding — buoyant foam or fiberfill material packed inside personal flotation devices for flotation