palmer

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːmə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑmɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːmə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English palmer, from Anglo-Norman palmer, from Old French paumier (“palmer”), from Medieval Latin palmārius (“palmer”), from palma (“palm tree”).

Noun

palmer (plural palmers)

1. (now historical) A pilgrim who had been to the Holy Land and who brought back a palm branch in signification; a wandering religious votary.
   • 1674, Thomas Staveley, The Romish horseleech : or, an impartial account of the intolerable charge of Popery to this nation, page 93:

     The Pilgrim had some home or dwelling place, the Palmer had none. The Pilgrim travelled to some certain, designed place or places, but the Palmer to all. The Pilgrim went as his own charge, but the Palmer professed wilful poverty and went upon alms.

   • 1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, , →OCLC, stanza I, page 49:

     Fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel! / Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love's eye! / They could not in the self-same mansion dwell / Without some stir of heart, some malady; [...]

   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XVII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 160:

     If I had known more about them when I put on mine in the rag shop, I would have bought a soft, wide-brimmed hat to go with it; but I did not, and the shopkeeper's sister told me I looked a good palmer.

2. (archaic) Abbreviation of palmerworm.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From noun.

Noun

palmer (plural palmers)

1. A ferule used to punish schoolboys by striking their palms.

Etymology 3

From the transitive verb to palm.

Noun

palmer (plural palmers)

1. One who palms or cheats, as at cards or dice.

References

• palmer (pilgrim) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “palmer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• LaPerm, Marple, ampler, lamper, relamp, repalm

Catalan

Alternative forms

• palmera

Etymology

From palma +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

palmer m (plural palmers)

1. palm tree

Further reading

• “palmer” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Latin

Verb

palmer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of palmō

Middle English

Alternative forms

• palmere

Etymology

Named for the palm branches they were wont to bring back from the Levant to signify their pilgrimage. From Anglo-Norman palmer, from Old French paumier, from Medieval Latin palmārius (“palmer”), from palma (“palm tree”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpal.mər(ə)/

Noun

palmer (plural palmeres)

1. A pilgrim who has been to the Holy Land.
   • ca. 1370–90, William Langland, Piers Plowman,

     Pilgrims and palmers plighted them together
     To seek for Saint James and the saintes in Rome ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Prologues”, in The Canterbury Tales, , →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, , : [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes , 1542, →OCLC, lines 13–15:

     Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
     And palmeres for to seken strange stroundes
     To ferne halwes, kouthe in sondry londes.

     Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
     And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
     To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.

2. (by extension) Any pilgrim or crusader.

Descendants

• English: palmer

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

palmer m

1. indefinite plural of palme

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

palmer f

1. (non-standard since 1959) indefinite plural of palme

Swedish

Noun

palmer

1. indefinite plural of palm