1512-13. Douglas, Virgil, Prol. 96. 41. Eschame ye not rehers and blaw on brede Your awin defame? hawand of God na drede, Na yit of hell, prouokand vtheris to syn, Ye that list of your palyardry neuer blyn.
d.1555. Lyndsay, Works, 76. That blind gat sicht, and cruikit gat their feit; The quhilk the palyard na way can appreue.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, sig. a 6 vo. Whose Communication is Atheisme, contention, detraction, or paillardise.
1604. Digges, Foure Parad, i. 4. Pallardize, Murder, Treachery, and Treason are their Attendants.
1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v. Palliardise, Whoredom, Fornication.
Palliasse, subs. (common).—A
harlot: see Tart.
Palm, verb. (old).—1. To bribe;
to tip (q.v.): also to grease
(anoint, or gild) the palm (or
hand): cf. sense. 2. Hence
(1) an itching palm = a hand
ready to receive bribes: cf. the
old superstition that money is
about to be received if the palm
itches; and (2) palm-oil (grease
or soap, or oil of palms or
angels, q.v.) = a bribe, whence
also = money: Fr. huile and
graisse (Grose, 1785); Mr.
Palmer is concerned, of a
person bribed or bribing (Vaux,
1819). See Grease.
c.1513. Skelton [Dyce, Works (1843), ii.]. Grese my handes with gold.
d.1572. Knox, Hist. of Reformation, [Works (1846) i. 102.] Yea, the handis of our Lordis so liberallie were anoynted.
1592. Greene, Repentance, etc. Sig C. My Mother pampered me . . . and secretly helped mee to the oyle of angels, that I grew . . . prone to all mischefs.
1607. Shakspeare, Jul. C. iv. Let me tell you, Cassius, you . . . Are much condemned to have an itching palm.
1623. Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2. His stripes wash'd off With oil of angels.
1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie [Works (1725) 71]. She conjures, prays, . . . greases his fist.
17[?] [quoted in Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Q. Anne, ii. 220]. He accounts them very honest Tikes, and can with all safety trust his Life in their Hands, for now and then gilding their palms for the good services they do him.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 81. Oil of palm's the thing, that flowing, Sets the naves and felloes going.
1840. Lytton, Paul Clifford, viii. I dare say you may manage to soften the justice's sentence by a little oil of palms.
1854. Punch, ii. 168. Oil of palms.—Metaphora vetustissima. A specific much in vogue for rigid fingers and horny fistedness; though, strange to say, it only serves to augment the itch which so often affects the hand.
1858. Morning Chronicle, 10 Feb. It is not an unusual thing in our trade to palm the police.
1879. Dickens, Dict. of London, s.v. Sight-Seeing. The enterprising sight-seer who proceeds on this plan, and who understands the virtues of palm oil, is sure to see everything he cares to see.
1898. Saturday Review, 3 Sep., 298, 1. It was suggested . . . that one of the reasons for the failure of British diplomacy in China was that we did not rightly appreciate the uses of palm oil.
1900. Ouida, Massarenes, 32. I think she'll take us up, William, . . . but she will want a lot of palm-grease.
2. (colloquial).—To conceal in the palm of the hand; to swindle; to misrepresent. Whence palming (palmistry or palming-racket) = trickery (by secreting in the palm of the hand): specifically shop-lifting, the thieves hunting in pairs, one bargaining, the other watching opportunities: see quots. 1714 and 1755. Also to palm off = to beguile; to gammon (q.v.); palmer = a trickster: specifically at cards and dice.—Dyche (1748); Vaux (1819).
1601. Ben Jonson, Poetaster, v. Well said, this carries palm with it.
