▪ I. palladium1
(pæˈleɪdɪəm)
Forms: 4–5, 7 palladion, 5 palladioun, -dyon, -dian, -done, -din, paladion, 6– palladium.
[a. L. palladium, a. Gr. παλλάδιον, neuter of παλλάδιος of Pallas.]
1. Gr. and Lat. Mythol. The image of the goddess Pallas, in the citadel of Troy, on which the safety of the city was supposed to depend, reputed to have been thence brought to Rome.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 153 (97) But þough þat Grekes hem of Troye shetten,..Thei hadde a relyk hight Palladion [v.rr. palladioun, paladion] That was hire tryst a bouen euerichon. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 188 The Priest Thoas..Hath soffred Anthenor to come And the Palladion to stele. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 17865 Palladin that thing called is Afftir Pallas..Fro hir It come also, I wene. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xiii. 48 Diuers antiquities.., and amongst others the Palladium of antient Troy. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 178 Metellus..lost his eies in a skare-fire, at what time hee would haue saued and got away the Palladium..out of the temple of Vesta. 1779 W. Alexander Hist. Women (1782) I. vi. 213 Vestals..whose office was to preserve the sacred fire of the goddess in perpetual vigour, and guard the palladium. 1807 Robinson Archæol. Græca i. xv. 69 The Palladium, or statue of Minerva brought from Troy. |
2. transf. and fig. Anything on which the safety of a nation, institution, privilege, etc. is believed to depend; a safeguard, protecting institution.
| 1600 Holland Livy Pref. 6 These 35 bookes [of Livy]..preserued as another Palladium out of a generall skarefire. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. vii. (1676) 223/2 My Palladium, my breast-plate, my buckler, with which I ward all injuries [etc.]. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xiii. 321 This stone..was carefully preserved at Scone as the true palladium of their monarchy. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. xxvii. 343 The liberties of England cannot but subsist, so long as this palladium [trial by jury] remains sacred and inviolate. 1769–72 Junius Lett. Ded. 6 The liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman. 1845 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Emp. (1854) II. 91 The Habeas Corpus Act..denominated the palladium of an Englishman's liberty. 1888 M. Burrows Cinque Ports iv. 62 The Charter of 6 Edward I (1278) is the palladium of the Cinque Port liberties. |
▪ II. paˈlladium2 Chem.
[a. mod.L., f. Pallas: cf. prec.
Named 1803 by its discoverer Wollaston, from the newly discovered asteroid Pallas: cf. cerium.]
A hard white metal of the platinum group, resembling silver, occurring in small quantities, chiefly in association with platinum, in S. America and elsewhere. Symbol Pd: atomic weight 126.
| 1803 Phil. Trans. 290 A metallic substance late sold in London as a new metal under the title of Palladium. 1805 Wollaston ibid. XCV. 316, I..subsequently obtained another metal, to which I gave the name Palladium, from the planet that had been discovered nearly at the same time by Dr. Olbers. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 180 The balance spring is usually of palladium. |
| attrib. 1866 Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 329 Palladium-bases. |
Hence paˈlladiumize v. trans., to coat with palladium.
| a 1851 Mech. Mag. in Herrig's Archiv VIII. 268 This process may be called palladiumizing with as much propriety as we say, zinking, or gilding. 1864 in Webster. |