1
general::
Phrase(s): paper over something
1. Lit. to put a layer of wallpaper on a wall. • We papered over the wall, giving the room a bright, new look. • We papered over the old plaster on the wall. 2. to cover up some sort of blemish on a wall with wallpaper. • We papered over a lot of little cracks. • Sam papered over all the flaws in the plaster wall. 3. Fig. to conceal something; to cover something up. • Don’t try to paper over the mess you have made. • George tried to paper over all his mistakes.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Also, paper over the cracks. Repair superficially, conceal, especially flaws. For example, He used some accounting gimmicks to paper over a deficit, or It was hardly a perfect settlement, but they decided to paper over the cracks. The German statesman Otto von Bismarck first used this analogy in a letter in 1865, and the first recorded example in English, in 1910, referred to it. The allusion is to covering cracked plaster with wallpaper, thereby improving its appearance but not the underlying defect.
American Heritage Idioms