What does palmed mean?
Palmed is the past tense and past participle of the verb palm, with several related but distinct uses. In the best-known construction, palmed off means to deceive someone by misrepresenting one thing as another, as when a seller passes off a copy as an original. In descriptions of card tricks or sleight of hand, a person can palm an object by keeping it hidden in a closed hand, thereby making it seem to have vanished. The word can also mean simply to take or hold something in the hand. Its unusual vocabulary is especially useful when precision matters: palm off emphasizes deception, while the physical sense of concealing an object refers directly to the action of the hand. The word ultimately derives from an older noun meaning the hand, which explains both its sound and its association with concealment.
verbPalmed is the past tense and past participle of palm. It means to take or conceal something in the closed hand; in the phrasal verb palm off, it means to misrepresent or pass something off deceptively.
- To misrepresent or pass something off deceptively, as in palm off an imitation as genuine.
- To conceal something in the closed hand.
- To take or hold something in the hand.
"The dealer palmed the card while pretending to rearrange the deck."
"The salesman palmed off a cheap copy as an original painting."
"She palmed the small key in her hand and pretended not to have found it."
Palmed preserves the meaning of its ancestor in both sound and sense: the hand literally becomes a place where an object can disappear.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of palmed
The verb comes from the Old English word palm, meaning the hand, which was borrowed from Latin palma, a term for the palm or hand. The physical senses of holding or concealing something developed from the use of the hand, while the deceptive sense associated with palm off developed from the idea of hiding something and substituting it for something else. Related English words include palmar, palmate, and palmaceous, all of which derive from the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How palmed is actually used
The expression palm off is the common modern use and has a strongly negative, often deceptive, connotation. The older sense of concealing or holding an object in the hand occurs chiefly in descriptions of tricks, card play, and sleight of hand.
Easily confused with palmed
Palm can name the fleshy inner surface of the hand, while palmed is an inflected verb form describing an action performed with or using the hand.