Chapter Palemon to Palm Tree of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Palemon to Palm Tree

shoulders.

Pall Mall A game in which a palle or iron ball is struck through an iron ring with a mall or mallet

Pallace is by Phillips derived from pallicia, pales or paled fences. In Devonshire, a palace means a “storehouse;” in Totness, “a landing-place enclosed but not roofed in.” (See Palace. )

“All that cellar and the chambers over the same, and the little pallace and landing-place adjoining the River Dart.”- Lease granted by the Corporation of Totness in 1703.

“Out of the ivory palaces” (Psalm xiv 8)- i.e. store-places or cabinets made of ivory. For “palaces” read pallaces.

Palladium Something that affords effectual protection and safety. The Palladium was a colossal wooden statue of Pallas in the city of Troy, said to have fallen from heaven. It was believed that so long as this statue remained within the city, Troy would be safe, but if removed, the city would fall into the hands of the enemy. The statue was carried away by the Greeks, and the city burnt by them to the ground.
   The Scotch had a similar tradition attached to the great stone of Scone, near Perth. Edward I. removed it to Westminster, and it is still framed in the Coronation Chair of England, (See Coronation, Scone.)
   Palladium of Rome. Ancile (q.v.).
   Palladium of Megara. A golden hair of King Nisus. (See Scylla, Eden Hall.)

Pallas A name of Minerva, sometimes called Pallas Minerva. According to fable, Pallas was one of the Titans, of giant size, killed by Minerva, who flayed him, and used his skin for armour; whence she was called Pallas Minerva. More likely the word Pallas is from pallo, to brandish; and the compound means Minerva who brandishes the spear.

Pallet The painter in Smollett's Peregrine Pickle. A man without one jot of reverence for ancient customs or modern etiquette.

Palliate (3 syl.) means simply to cloak. (Latin, pallium, a cloak.)

“That we should not dissemble nor cloke them [our sins]. but confess them with a humble, lowly, and obedient heart.”- Common Prauer Book.

Palm An itching palm. A hand ready to receive bribes. The old superstition is that if your palm itches you are going to receive money.

“Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemned to have an itching palm.”
Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, iv. 3.

   To bear the palm. To be the best. The allusion is to the Roman custom of giving the victorious gladiator a branch of the palm-tree.

Palm Off (To) wares, tricks, etc., upon the unwary. The allusion is to jugglers, who conceal in the palm of their hand what they pretend to dispose of in some other way. These jugglers were sometimes called palmers.

“You may palm upon us new for old.”
Dryden

Palm Oil Bribes, or rather money for bribes, fees, etc.

“In Ireland the machinery of a political movement will not work unless there is plenty of palm-oil to prevent friction.”- Irish Seditions from 1792 to 1880, p. 39.

“The rich may escape with whole skins, but those without `palm-oil' have scant mercy.”- Nineteenth Century, Aug., 1892, p. 312.