See Also: cup of palm(medicine)
palm oil(medicine)
palm oil(dictionary)
palm(encyclopedia)
palm(1)(dictionary)
palm(2)(dictionary)
palm PC(encyclopedia)
palm oil(dictionary)
palm(dictionary)
ita palm(medicine)

palm(2) (iou)



palm noun2. [p¨»:m] ME.
[Old & mod. French paume from Latin palma.]
The part of the hand between the wrist and the fingers, esp. & now usu. its inner surface on which the fingers close. Later also, the part of a glove that covers this surface. ME.
Conan Doyle A return ticket in the palm of your left glove. R. Thomas His fists clenched..so that his fingernails dug into the palms of his hands.
A flat expanded part of a palmate antler. LME.
a. The flat, padded part of the foot (esp. the forefoot) of a quadruped. Also occas., a broad grasping surface on a bird's foot, on a spider-monkey's tail, etc. LME.
b. The sole of the foot. E19.
A linear measure approx. equal either to the breadth or to the length of the hand. Cf. HAND noun 10. Now rare. LME.
= palm-play below. Long obsolete exc. Hist. LME.
A flat widened part at the end of an arm or armlike projection; spec. (a) the blade of an oar; (b) the inner surface of the fluke of an anchor. E16.
[from PALM verb 2.] The act of palming a card etc. M17.
A hard shield worn on the hand by sailmakers to protect the palm. M18.
Phrases: grease a person's palm: see GREASE verb 3. in the palm of a person's hand under a person's control or influence. itching palm: see ITCH verb. tickle in the palm: see TICKLE verb.
Comb.: palm-ball Baseball a pitch with the ball gripped by the thumb and palm rather than the fingers; palm-greasing bribery; palm-play Hist. an old game resembling tennis, in which the ball was struck with the palm of the hand instead of a racket; palm-print an impression made on a surface by the palm of the hand; palmtop [after desktop, lap-top] a computer small and light enough to be held in one hand.
palmful noun a quantity that fills the palm of the hand, as much or as many as a palm can hold E19.