palette
(ˈpælɪt)
Forms: 7–9 pallet, (7–8 pallat), 8– palette, 9 (sense 2) pallette.
[a. F. palette (of which the painter's palette is one of many senses), dim. of pale shovel, blade of oar:—L. pāla spade, shovel, baker's peel, shoulder-blade; cf. It. pala spade, shovel, peel, blade, plate, etc.; dim. paletta flat spoon, trowel, battledore, apothecary's spatula. (The Ital. word for painter's palette is tavolozza, dim. of tavola.)]
1. a. A flat thin tablet of wood or porcelain, used by an artist to lay and mix his colours on.
Its ordinary form is more or less oval, with a hole for the left thumb.
| 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. xiii. (1634) 130 Having all your colours ready ground, with your pallet on the thumbe of your left hand..lay your colours upon your pallet thus. 1658 Phillips, A Pallat [ed. 1706 -et],..a thin piece of wood which a Painter makes use of to place his colours upon. 1727 Gay Fables i. xviii. 34 All things were set; the hour was come, His pallet ready o'er his thumb. a 1783 H. Brooke Temple of Hymen Poems (1810) 406/1 On his left hand a palette lay, With many a teint of colours gay. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 199 Artists differ greatly in the number of tints they arrange on the palette. |
| fig. 1824 Galt Rothelan I. ii. v. 188 The colours on our pallet consist of the universal elements and properties of the heart. 1868 J. E. A. Brown Lights through Lattice 28 And now the Spring..From her bright palette brought the emerald of the young corn, and of the indigo. |
b. transf. The set or selection of colours used by a particular artist or for a particular picture.
| 1882 Hamerton Graphic Arts xxi. 238 It is impossible to give Turner's palettes, which probably varied very much at different times. 1890 Spectator 17 May 694/2 He has..a palette of his own that gives pleasure to a great many artists. |
c. Of sounds (
spec. in music): variety or range of tonal or instrumental colour (see
colour n. 15).
| 1959 [see Debussyan a. and n.]. 1965 Listener 28 Oct. 680/2 If you want to be reminded of his mastery of the orchestra and the richness of his [sc. Ravel's] instrumental palette, listen again to Daphnis et Chloé, and the Rapsodie espagnole. 1975 Broadcast 3 Nov. 14/3 Relaxed circumambient dialogue... You may find Pinter's subdued palette somewhat baffling. 1977 Listener 7 Apr. 452/1 The shock of moving from one tonal palette to another. |
2. a. A name given to a small rounded plate formerly used in armour to protect the armpit.
| 1834 J. R. Planché Brit. Costume 186 Two circular plates called pallettes, are sometimes fastened to them in front so as to protect the armpit. 1853 ― Mon. Cockayne Fam. in Archæol. Jrnl. 379 A pair of plates to protect the arm-pits called pallettes, introduced in the reign of Henry V. 1860 Fairholt Costume in Eng. (ed. 2) Gloss., Palettes. |
b. The breast-plate by means of which pressure is applied to the hand-drill: see
breast-plate 3 b.
| 1875 in Knight Dict. Mech. |
† 3. An instrument of wood shaped like a spatula or palette-knife, formerly used for massage.
Obs.| 1857 in Dunglison. 1887 D. Maguire Art of Massage (ed. 4) 20 The palette, which is also called ferule, tapette, battoir,..is an instrument..ending at one extremity in a handle, and the other in a disc. |
4. Zool. A disc-like structure in certain animals.
a. Conch. An accessory valve in some molluscs.
b. Entom. A flat expansion upon the legs of some insects.
| 1834 McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 269 (Teredo) The base..is furnished on each side with a stony and moveable kind of operculum or palette. 1863 Bates Nat. Amazon viii. (1864) 229 The female of the handsome golden-and-black Euglossa Surinamensis has this palette of very large size. |
5. A parrot of the genus
Prioniturus (racket-tailed parakeets): from the appearance of the tail, which with its two long spatulate central feathers suggests a painter's palette and brushes.
6. In certain card games, a device used by the banker to facilitate the movement of cards and money.
| 1949 J. Scarne On Cards (1955) xxi. 205 The croupier, squatting in the concavity of the kidney table, needs an ebony-finish palette to slide the cash and cards around. 1966 ‘W. Haggard’ Power House xi. 114 The croupier had one hand on the shoe, the other playing with the palette. 1968 D. Torr Treason Line 105 Vittoria's mother had invited him..for his dexterity in wielding the palette. As chef de partie in the high chair he could run a game of baccarat banque or chemin-de-fer as slickly as any professional. |
7. attrib. and
Comb.| 1896 Cosmopolitan XX. 407/2 Art..holds forth her willing palette-laden hand to Youth. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 28 July 8/2 We have received a new Palette Album.., giving a series of views in colours of scenery in the English Lake District. |