I. palm 1 /pɑːm $ pɑːm, pɑːlm/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . PART OF HAND the inside surface of your hand, in which you hold things
in sb’s palm
She looked at the coins in her palm.
He held the pebble in the palm of his hand.
2 . TREE ( also palm tree ) a tropical tree which grows near beaches or in deserts, with a long straight trunk and large pointed leaves at the top:
coconut palms
3 . hold/have somebody in the palm of your hand to have a strong influence on someone, so that they do what you want them to do
4 . read sb’s palm to tell someone what is going to happen to them in the future by looking at the lines on their hand
⇨ cross sb’s palm (with silver) at ↑ cross 1 (18), ⇨ grease sb’s palm at ↑ grease 2 (2)
II. palm 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
to hide something in the palm of your hand, especially when you are performing a magic trick or stealing something
palm something ↔ off phrasal verb
to persuade someone to accept or buy something that is not of good quality or is not the thing that they really want
palm something ↔ off on/onto
He tried to palm off his old books onto me.
palm something ↔ off as
Dealers sometimes palm off fakes as genuine works of art.
palm somebody off with something phrasal verb
to give someone an explanation that is not true but that you hope they will accept