n. [ From Palm the tree. ] A wandering religious votary; especially, one who bore a branch of palm as a token that he had visited the Holy Land and its sacred places. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pilgrims and palmers plighted them together. P. Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pilgrim had some home or dwelling place, the palmer had none. The pilgrim traveled to some certain, designed place or places, but the palmer to all. T. Staveley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Palm, v. t. ] One who palms or cheats, as at cards or dice. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) Any hairy caterpillar which appears in great numbers, devouring herbage, and wandering about like a palmer. The name is applied also to other voracious insects. Joel. i. 4. (b) In America, the larva of any one of several moths, which destroys the foliage of fruit and forest trees, esp. the larva of Ypsolophus pometellus, which sometimes appears in vast numbers. [ 1913 Webster ]