*palm*

a. [ Pref. bi- + palmate. ] (Bot.) Palmately branched, with the branches again palmated. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n., [ Sp. & Pg. coco cocoanut, in Sp. also, cocoa palm. The Portuguese name is said to have been given from the monkeylike face at the base of the nut, fr. Pg. coco a bugbear, an ugly mask to frighten children. Cf., however, Gr. koy^ki the cocoa palm and its fruit, ko`i:x, ko`i:kos, a kind of Egyptian palm. ] (Bot.) A tall palm tree producing the cocoanut (Cocos nucifera) as its fruit. It grows in nearly all tropical countries, attaining a height of sixty or eighty feet. The trunk is without branches, and has a tuft of leaves at the top, each being fifteen or twenty feet in length, and at the base of these the nuts hang in clusters; the cocoanut tree. It is widely planted throughout the tropics, and in some locations as an ornamental tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n. or } See Cocoa. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n., or }. [ Prob. fr. a native name in Honduras. ] A Central and South American pinnate-leaved palm (Attalea cohune), the very large and hard nuts of which are turned to make fancy articles, and also yield an oil used as a substitute for coconut oil. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The yellowish, fragrant balsam yielded by the sweet gum; also, the tree itself. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ Ar. daum, dūm: cf. F. doume. ] (Bot.) A species of palm tree (Hyphæne Thebaica), highly valued for the fibrous pulp of its fruit, which has the flavor of gingerbread, and is largely eaten in Egypt and Abyssinia. [ Written also doum palm. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

See Doom palm. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) Any palm tree having fan-shaped or radiate leaves; as the Chamærops humilis of Southern Europe; the species of Sabal and Thrinax in the West Indies, Florida, etc.; and especially the great talipot tree (Corypha umbraculifera) of Ceylon and Malaya. The leaves of the latter are often eighteen feet long and fourteen wide, and are used for umbrellas, tents, and roofs. When cut up, they are used for books and manuscripts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + palma palm. ] (Zool.) Semipalmate and loboped, as a grebe's foot. See Illust. under Aves. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A West Indian name for several kinds of palm. See Macaw tree, under Macaw. [ Written also grigri palm. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having high antlers; bearing full-grown antlers aloft. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To grasp with or hold in the hand. [ R. ] J. Barlow. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A magnificent species of palm (Mauritia flexuosa), growing near the Orinoco. The natives eat its fruit and buds, drink its sap, and make thread and cord from its fiber. [ 1913 Webster ]

An East Indian palm (Caryota urens) having leaves pinnate with wedge-shaped divisions, the petiole very stout. It is the principal source of jaggery, and is often cultivated for ornament. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ Sp. jagua the fruit of the jagua palm. ] (Bot.) A great Brazilian palm (Maximiliana regia), having immense spathes which are used for baskets and tubs. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A great Brazilian palm tree (Raphia tædigera), used by the natives for many purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A highly incediary liquid consisting of gasoline jelled with aluminum soaps, used as a weapon of war in fire bombs and flame throwers. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ AS. palm, L. palma; -- so named fr. the leaf resembling a hand. See 1st Palm, and cf. Pam. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Bot.) Any endogenous tree of the order Palmæ or Palmaceæ; a palm tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Palms are perennial woody plants, often of majestic size. The trunk is usually erect and rarely branched, and has a roughened exterior composed of the persistent bases of the leaf stalks. The leaves are borne in a terminal crown, and are supported on stout, sheathing, often prickly, petioles. They are usually of great size, and are either pinnately or palmately many-cleft. There are about one thousand species known, nearly all of them growing in tropical or semitropical regions. The wood, petioles, leaves, sap, and fruit of many species are invaluable in the arts and in domestic economy. Among the best known are the date palm, the cocoa palm, the fan palm, the oil palm, the wax palm, the palmyra, and the various kinds called cabbage palm and palmetto. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A branch or leaf of the palm, anciently borne or worn as a symbol of victory or rejoicing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A great multitude . . . stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palme in their hands. Rev. vii. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: Any symbol or token of superiority, success, or triumph; also, victory; triumph; supremacy. “The palm of martyrdom.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

So get the start of the majestic world
And bear the palm alone. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Molucca palm (Bot.), a labiate herb from Asia (Molucella lævis), having a curious cup-shaped calyx. --
Palm cabbage, the terminal bud of a cabbage palm, used as food. --
Palm cat (Zool.), the common paradoxure. --
Palm crab (Zool.), the purse crab. --
Palm oil, a vegetable oil, obtained from the fruit of several species of palms, as the African oil palm (Elæis Guineensis), and used in the manufacture of soap and candles. See Elæis. --
Palm swift (Zool.), a small swift (Cypselus Batassiensis) which frequents the palmyra and cocoanut palms in India. Its peculiar nest is attached to the leaf of the palmyra palm. --
Palm toddy. Same as Palm wine. --
Palm weevil (Zool.), any one of mumerous species of very large weevils of the genus Rhynchophorus. The larvæ bore into palm trees, and are called palm borers, and grugru worms. They are considered excellent food. --
Palm wine, the sap of several species of palms, especially, in India, of the wild date palm (Phœnix sylvestrix), the palmyra, and the Caryota urens. When fermented it yields by distillation arrack, and by evaporation jaggery. Called also palm toddy. --
Palm worm, or
Palmworm. (Zool.) (a) The larva of a palm weevil. (b) A centipede. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Palmed p. pr. & vb. n. Palming. ] 1. To handle. [ Obs. ] Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To manipulate with, or conceal in, the palm of the hand; to juggle. [ 1913 Webster ]

They palmed the trick that lost the game. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: To take (something small) stealthily, especially by concealing it in the palm of the hand; as, he palmed one of the coins and walked out with it. [ PJC ]

4. To impose by fraud, as by sleight of hand; to put by unfair means; -- usually with on or upon; as, to palm a stolen coin on an unsuspecting dealer. See also palm off. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

For you may palm upon us new for old. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. paume, F. paume, L. palma, Gr. pala`mh, akin to Skr. pā&nsdot_;i hand, and E. fumble. See Fumble, Feel, and cf. 2d Palm. ] 1. (Anat.) The inner and somewhat concave part of the hand between the bases of the fingers and the wrist. [ 1913 Webster ]

Clench'd her fingers till they bit the palm. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A lineal measure equal either to the breadth of the hand or to its length from the wrist to the ends of the fingers; a hand; -- used in measuring a horse's height. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In Greece, the palm was reckoned at three inches. The Romans adopted two measures of this name, the lesser palm of 2.91 inches, and the greater palm of 8.73 inches. At the present day, this measure varies in the most arbitrary manner, being different in each country, and occasionally varying in the same. Internat. Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Sailmaking) A metallic disk, attached to a strap, and worn on the palm of the hand, -- used to push the needle through the canvas, in sewing sails, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) The broad flattened part of an antler, as of a full-grown fallow deer; -- so called as resembling the palm of the hand with its protruding fingers. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) The flat inner face of an anchor fluke. [ 1913 Webster ]

to grease the palm of, v. t. To bribe or tip. [ Slang ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A natural family of chiefly tropical trees and shrubs and vines usually having a tall columnar trunk bearing a crown of very large leaves; coextensive with the order Palmales.
Syn. -- Palmae, family Palmae, family Palmaceae, Arecaceae, family Arecaceae, palm family. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. (Bot.) Of or pertaining to palms; of the nature of, or resembling, palms. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L., palm of Christ. ] (Bot.) A plant (Ricinus communis) with ornamental peltate and palmately cleft foliage, growing as a woody perennial in the tropics, and cultivated as an herbaceous annual in temperate regions; -- called also castor-oil plant. [ Sometimes corrupted into palmcrist. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Paleon.) A fossil palm. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A natural family of chiefly tropical trees and shrubs; same as Palmaceae; coextensive with the order Palmales.
Syn. -- family Palmae, Palmaceae, Arecaceae, family Arecaceae, palm family. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. A natural family of chiefly tropical trees and shrubs coextensive with the family Palmae; -- the palms.
Syn. -- order Palmales. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. palmaris, fr. palma the palm of the hand: cf. F. palmaire. ] 1. (Anat.) Pertaining to, or corresponding with, the palm of the hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the under side of the wings of birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Palmaria [ NL. See Palmar. ] (Zool.) One of the bifurcations of the brachial plates of a crinoid. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Palmar. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. palmarius, palmaris, belonging to palms, deserving the palm or prize, fr. palma a palm. ] Worthy of the palm; palmy; preëminent; superior; principal; chief; as, palmary work. Br. Horne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A salt of palmic acid; a ricinoleate. [ Obsoles. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. palmatus marked with the palm of a hand, from palma the palm of the hand. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Having the shape of the hand; resembling a hand with the fingers spread. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Spreading from the apex of a petiole, as the divisions of a leaf, or leaflets, so as to resemble the hand with outspread fingers. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) (a) Having the anterior toes united by a web, as in most swimming birds; webbed. See Illust. (i) under Aves. (b) Having the distal portion broad, flat, and more or less divided into lobes; -- said of certain corals, antlers, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a palmate manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. palmatus palmate + root of findere to split. ] (Bot.) Palmate, with the divisions separated but little more than halfway to the common center. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. palmatus palmate + E. lobed. ] (Bot.) Palmate, with the divisions separated less than halfway to the common center. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. palmatus palmate + secare to cut. ] (Bot.) Divided, as a palmate leaf, down to the midrib, so that the parenchyma is interrupted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The palma Christi. (Jonah iv. 6, margin, and Douay version, note.) [ 1913 Webster ]

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

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. (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 ]

n. [ F., dim. of palme a palm. ] A floral ornament, common in Greek and other ancient architecture; -- often called the honeysuckle ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Dim. of palm the tree: cf. Sp. palmito. ] (Bot.) A name given to palms of several genera and species growing in the West Indies and the Southern United States. In the United States, the name is applied especially to the Chamærops Palmetto, or Sabal Palmetto, the cabbage tree of Florida and the Carolinas. See Cabbage tree, under Cabbage. [ 1913 Webster ]

Royal palmetto, the West Indian Sabal umbraculifera, the trunk of which, when hollowed, is used for water pipes, etc. The leaves are used for thatching, and for making hats, ropes, etc. --
Saw palmetto, Sabal serrulata, a native of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The nearly impassable jungle which it forms is called palmetto scrub. [ 1913 Webster ]

. Any of several flags adopted by South Carolina after its secession. That adopted in November, 1860, had a green cabbage palmetto in the center of a white field; the final one, January, 1861, had a white palmetto in the center of a blue field and a white crescent in the upper left-hand corner. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. prop. n. South Carolina; -- a nickname alluding to the State Arms, which contain a representation of a palmetto tree. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ Cf. F. palmique. ] (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi) and other species of the family Euphorbiaceae; -- formerly used to designate an acid now called ricinoleic acid (d-12-hydroxyoleic acid, C18H34O3). [ Obsoles. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Palm, and Dactyl. ] (Zool.) A group of wading birds having the toes webbed, as the avocet. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. palmifer; palma a palm + ferre to bear: cf. F. palmifère. ] Bearing palms. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. palma palm of the hand + gradi to walk. ] (Zool.) Putting the whole foot upon the ground in walking, as some mammals. [ 1913 Webster ]