Library / English Dictionary

PALM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The inner surface of the hand from the wrist to the base of the fingers

Synonyms:

palm; thenar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("palm" is a kind of...):

area; region (a part of an animal that has a special function or is supplied by a given artery or nerve)

Meronyms (parts of "palm"):

thenar (the fleshy area of the palm at the base of the thumb)

Holonyms ("palm" is a part of...):

hand; manus; mitt; paw (the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb)

Derivation:

palm (touch, lift, or hold with the hands)

palmar (relating to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An award for winning a championship or commemorating some other event

Synonyms:

decoration; laurel wreath; medal; medallion; palm; ribbon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("palm" is a kind of...):

accolade; award; honor; honour; laurels (a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "palm"):

Medaille Militaire (a French military decoration)

Croix de Guerre (a French military decoration for gallantry)

Distinguished Service Order (a British military decoration for special service in action)

Distinguished Conduct Medal (a British military decoration for distinguished conduct in the field)

Victoria Cross (a British military decoration for gallantry)

Oak Leaf Cluster (a United States military decoration consisting of bronze or silver oak leaves and acorns awarded to anyone who has won a given medal before)

Order of the Purple Heart; Purple Heart (a United States military decoration awarded to any member of the armed forces who is wounded in action)

Bronze Star; Bronze Star Medal (a United States military decoration awarded for meritorious service (except in aerial flight))

Silver Star; Silver Star Medal (a United States military decoration for gallantry in action)

Air Medal (a United States Air Force decoration for meritorious achievement while participating in an aerial flight)

Distinguished Flying Cross (a United States Air Force decoration for heroism while participating in an aerial flight)

Navy Cross (a United States Navy decoration for extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy)

Distinguished Service Cross (a United States Army decoration for extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy)

Distinguished Service Medal (a United States military decoration for meritorious service in wartime duty of great responsibility)

Congressional Medal of Honor; Medal of Honor (the highest U.S. military decoration awarded for bravery and valor in action 'above and beyond the call of duty')

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any plant of the family Palmae having an unbranched trunk crowned by large pinnate or palmate leaves

Synonyms:

palm; palm tree

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("palm" is a kind of...):

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "palm"):

cabbage palm; Roystonea oleracea (West Indian palm with leaf buds that are edible when young)

royal palm; Roystonea regia (tall feather palm of southern Florida and Cuba)

lady palm (any of several small palms of the genus Rhapis; cultivated as houseplants)

Raffia farinifera; raffia palm; Raffia ruffia (a large feather palm of Africa and Madagascar having very long pinnatisect fronds yielding a strong commercially important fiber from its leafstalks)

Nipa fruticans; nipa palm (any creeping semiaquatic feather palm of the genus Nipa found in mangrove swamps and tidal estuaries; its sap is used for a liquor; leaves are used for thatch; fruit has edible seeds)

cabbage palm; cabbage tree; Livistona australis (Australian palm with leaf buds that are edible when young)

cabbage palm; Euterpe oleracea (Brazilian palm of genus Euterpe whose leaf buds are eaten like cabbage when young)

corozo; corozo palm (any of several tropical American palms bearing corozo nuts)

coco; coco palm; cocoa palm; coconut; coconut palm; coconut tree; Cocos nucifera (tall palm tree bearing coconuts as fruits; widely planted throughout the tropics)

fishtail palm (attractive East Indian palm having distinctive bipinnate foliage)

calamus (any tropical Asian palm of the genus Calamus; light tough stems are a source of rattan canes)

fan palm (palm having palmate or fan-shaped leaves)

feather palm (palm having pinnate or featherlike leaves)

sago palm (any of various tropical Asian palm trees the trunks of which yield sago)

Holonyms ("palm" is a member of...):

Arecaceae; family Arecaceae; family Palmaceae; family Palmae; palm family; Palmaceae; Palmae (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)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A linear unit based on the length or width of the human hand

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("palm" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Derivation:

palm (touch, lift, or hold with the hands)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Touch, lift, or hold with the hands

Example:

Don't handle the merchandise

Synonyms:

handle; palm

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "palm" is one way to...):

touch (make physical contact with, come in contact with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "palm"):

field (catch or pick up (balls) in baseball or cricket)

fumble (handle clumsily)

manipulate (hold something in one's hands and move it)

manhandle (handle roughly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

palm (the inner surface of the hand from the wrist to the base of the fingers)

palm (a linear unit based on the length or width of the human hand)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He knew the passage like the palm of his hand, and though the man in the chains got everywhere more water than was down in the chart, John never hesitated once.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Nesbuvir binds to the palm site II pocket of HCV NS5B polymerase and inhibits viral genome replication.

(Nesbuvir, NCI Thesaurus)

Any of the five bones between the wrist and the fingers that form the skeleton of the palm.

(Metacarpal Bone, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by hyperkeratosis in the palms and soles resulting in abnormal thickening of the skin in these areas.

(Epidermolytic Palmoplantar Keratoderma, NCI Thesaurus)

Hair grows all over your body except on your lips, palms, and the soles of your feet.

(Hair Problems, NIH)

“No, Mr. Traddles,” replied Uriah, resuming his official seat, and squeezing his bony hands, laid palm to palm between his bony knees.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She approached her face to the palm, and pored over it without touching it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"It is surely an Assai palm," said Summerlee.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Palm oil, the most widely used vegetable oil in the world with total sales in 2018 topping US$30 billion dollars, contributes greatly to the GDP of several tropical countries.

(Greener palm oil possible without sacrificing profit, SciDev.Net)

No doubt it had been prearranged in some fashion, for it was the fatal disc with the Red Circle upon it, the mandate for murder, which lay upon his palm.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)