Mortar vs. Plaster: What's the Difference?

Mortar and Plaster Definitions
Mortar
A vessel in which substances are crushed or ground with a pestle.
Plaster
A mixture of lime or gypsum, sand, and water, sometimes with fiber added, that hardens to a smooth solid and is used for coating walls and ceilings.
Mortar
A machine in which materials are ground and blended or crushed.
Plaster
Plaster of Paris.
Mortar
A portable, usually muzzleloading cannon used to fire shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high trajectories.
ADVERTISEMENT
Plaster
A pastelike mixture applied to a part of the body for healing or cosmetic purposes.
Mortar
A shell fired by such a cannon.
Plaster
Chiefly British An adhesive bandage.
Mortar
Any of several similar devices, such as one that shoots life lines across a stretch of water.
Plaster
To cover, coat, or repair with plaster.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mortar
A short, usually stationary, muzzleloading cannon used from the 1700s to early 1900s to fire large round shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high trajectories.
Plaster
To cover or hide with or as if with a coat of plaster
Plastered over our differences.
Mortar
Any of various bonding materials used in masonry, surfacing, and plastering, especially a mixture of cement or lime, sand, and water that hardens in place and is used to bind together bricks or stones.
Plaster
To apply a plaster to
Plaster an aching muscle.
Mortar
To bombard with mortar shells.
ADVERTISEMENT
Plaster
To cover conspicuously, as with things pasted on; overspread
Plaster the walls with advertising.
Mortar
To plaster or join with mortar.
Plaster
To affix conspicuously, usually with a paste
Plaster notices on all the doors.
Mortar
(uncountable) A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks.
Plaster
To make smooth by applying a sticky substance
Plaster one's hair with pomade.
Mortar
(countable) A muzzle-loading, indirect fire weapon with a tube length of 10 to 20 calibers and designed to lob shells at very steep trajectories.
Plaster
To make adhere to another surface
"His hair was plastered to his forehead" (William Golding).
Mortar
(countable) A hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle.
Plaster
To inflict heavy damage or injury on.
Mortar
(countable) In paper milling, a trough in which material is hammered.
Plaster
To defeat decisively.
Mortar
(transitive) To use mortar or plaster to join two things together.
Plaster
To apply plaster.
Mortar
(transitive) To pound in a mortar.
Plaster
(uncountable) A paste applied to the skin for healing or cosmetic purposes.
Mortar
To fire a mortar (weapon).
Plaster
A small adhesive bandage to cover a minor wound; a sticking plaster.
Mortar
To attack (someone or something) using a mortar (weapon).
The insurgents snuck up close and mortared the base last night.
Plaster
(uncountable) A mixture of lime or gypsum, sand, and water, sometimes with the addition of fibres, that hardens to a smooth solid and is used for coating walls and ceilings; render, stucco.
Mortar
A strong vessel, commonly in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or rubbed with a pestle.
Plaster
(countable) A cast made of plaster of Paris and gauze; a plaster cast.
Mortar
A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs, carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45°, and even higher; - so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described.
Plaster
(uncountable) plaster of Paris.
Mortar
A building material made by mixing lime, cement, or plaster of Paris, with sand, water, and sometimes other materials; - used in masonry for joining stones, bricks, etc., also for plastering, and in other ways.
Plaster
(transitive) To cover or coat something with plaster; to render.
To plaster a wall
Mortar
A chamber lamp or light.
Plaster
(transitive) To apply a plaster to.
To plaster a wound
Mortar
To plaster or make fast with mortar.
Plaster
(transitive) To smear with some viscous or liquid substance.
Her face was plastered with mud.
Mortar
A muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range
Plaster
(transitive) To hide or cover up, as if with plaster; to cover thickly.
The radio station plastered the buses and trains with its advertisement.
Mortar
Used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall
Plaster
To bombard heavily or overwhelmingly; to overwhelm with (weapons) fire.
Mortar
A bowl-shaped vessel in which substances can be ground and mixed with a pestle
Plaster
To smooth over.
Mortar
Plaster with mortar;
Mortar the wall
Plaster
An external application of a consistency harder than ointment, prepared for use by spreading it on linen, leather, silk, or other material. It is adhesive at the ordinary temperature of the body, and is used, according to its composition, to produce a medicinal effect, to bind parts together, etc.; as, a porous plaster; sticking plaster.
Plaster
A composition of lime, water, and sand, with or without hair as a bond, for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions of houses. See Mortar.
Plaster
Calcined gypsum, or plaster of Paris, especially when ground, as used for making ornaments, figures, moldings, etc.; or calcined gypsum used as a fertilizer.
Plaster
To cover with a plaster, as a wound or sore.
Plaster
To overlay or cover with plaster, as the ceilings and walls of a house.
Plaster
Fig.: To smooth over; to cover or conceal the defects of; to hide, as with a covering of plaster.
Plaster
A mixture of lime or gypsum with sand and water; hardens into a smooth solid; used to cover walls and ceilings
Plaster
Any of several gypsum cements; a white powder (a form of calcium sulphate) that forms a paste when mixed with water and hardens into a solid; used in making molds and sculptures and casts for broken limbs
Plaster
A medical dressing consisting of a soft heated mass of meal or clay that is spread on a cloth and applied to the skin to treat inflamed areas or improve circulation etc.
Plaster
A hardened surface of plaster (as on a wall or ceiling);
There were cracks in the plaster
Plaster
Adhesive tape used in dressing wounds
Plaster
Cover conspicuously, as by pasting something on;
The demonstrators plastered the hallways with posters
Plaster
Affix conspicuously;
She plastered warnings all over the wall
Plaster
Apply a plaster cast to;
Plaster the broken arm
Plaster
Apply a heavy coat to
Plaster
Coat with plaster;
Daub the wall
Plaster
Dress by covering with a therapeutic substance