Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

copy and paste
     
         (Or "cut and paste", after the paper, scissors and glue
        method of document production) The system supported by most
        document editing applications (e.g. {text editors}) and most
        {operating systems} that allows you to select a part of the
        document and then save it in a temporary buffer (known
        variously as the "clipboard", "cut buffer", "kill ring").  A
        "copy" leaves the document unchanged whereas a "cut" deletes
        the selected part.
     
        A "paste" inserts the data from the clipboard at the current
        position in the document (usually replacing any currently
        selected data).  This may be done more than once, in more than
        one position and in different documents.
     
        More sophisticated {operating systems} support copy and paste
        of different data types between different applications,
        possibly with automatic format conversion, e.g from {rich
        text} to plain {ASCII}.
     
        {GNU Emacs} uses the terms "kill" instead of "cut" and "yank"
        instead of "paste" and data is stored in the "kill ring".
     
        [Origin?  Macintosh?  Xerox?]
     
        (1998-07-01)