papyrus

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A tall, aquatic, Mediterranean sedge (Cyperus papyrus) having numerous drooping rays grouped in umbels. Also called Egyptian paper rush, paper plant.
2. n. A material on which to write made from the pith or the stems of this sedge, used especially by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
3. n. A document written on this material.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The paper -reed or -rush, Cyperus Papyrus (Papyrus antiquorum), abounding on marshy river-banks in Abyssinia, Palestine, and Sicily, now almost extinct in Egypt. It afforded to the ancient Egyptians, and through them to the Greeks and Romans, a convenient and inexpensive writing-material. The papyrus was prepared by cutting the central pith of the reed into longitudinal strips, which were laid side by side, with another layer of strips crossing them at right angles. The two layers, thus prepared, were soaked in water, theu pressed together to make them, adhere, and dried. For books the papyrus was formed into rolls by cementing together a number of sheets. Also called biblus.
2. n. An ancient scroll, book, or other document, or a fragment of the same, written on papyrus.

Wiktionary

1. n. A plant in the sedge family, Cyperus papyrus, native to the Nile river valley.
2. n. A material similar to paper made from the papyrus plant.
3. n. countable A scroll or document written on papyrus.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A tall rushlike plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.
2. n. The material upon which the ancient Egyptians wrote. It was formed by cutting the stem of the plant into thin longitudinal slices, which were gummed together and pressed.
3. n. A manuscript written on papyrus; esp., pl., written scrolls made of papyrus.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. paper made from the papyrus plant by cutting it in strips and pressing it flat; used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks and Romans
2. n. a document written on papyrus
3. n. tall sedge of the Nile valley yielding fiber that served many purposes in historic times