▪ I. palmy, n. Sc.
(ˈpɑːmɪ)
Also pammie, pawmie.
[Corresponds to F. paumée ‘coup dans la main’ (Littré); but OF. paumée, palmée = It. palmata, Pr., Sp., Pg. palmada, had the sense ‘a slap with the palm’; cf. med.L. palmata (Du Cange), f. palma palm n.2 Cf. palmer n.3]
A stroke on the palm of the hand, given as a punishment.
| 1785 R. Forbes Poems (1812) 95 Nae school being in, Our pammies o'er, syne aff we'd rin. 1826 Galt Lairds iv, There was na a day I didna get a pawmy but ane, and on it I got twa. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 142 The same number of palmies, well laid on, were awarded to each. 1883 Q. Rev. Apr. 400 He got..many a ‘palmy’ on his hand with a thick strap of leather. |
▪ II. palmy, a.
(ˈpɑːmɪ)
[f. palm n.1 + -y.]
1. Containing or abounding in palms; of or pertaining to a palm or palms; palm-like. Chiefly poet.
| 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 254 Or palmie hilloc, or the flourie lap Of som irriguous Valley. 1734 Thomson Liberty ii. 82 The neighbouring Land, whose palmy Shore The silver Jordan laves. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 70 The naked negro..Boasts of his golden sands, and palmy wine. 1819 Heber Hymn ‘From Greenland's icy Mountains’ i, From many an ancient river, From many a palmy plain. 1866 B. Taylor Palm & Pine Poems 267 Her lithe and palmy grace. |
2. fig. Bearing or worthy to ‘bear the palm’, triumphant, flourishing; esp. in palmy state (a Shaksperian phrase), palmy days.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. i. 113 In the most high and palmy state of Rome. 1617 Drummond of Hawthornden Forth Feasting Poems (1656) 152 And like Augustus palmy Raigne be deem'd. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 82 In the high and palmy state of the monarchy of France, it fell to the ground without a struggle. 1837 Dickens Let. 31 Jan. (1965) I. 232, I hope you will meet with every happiness that you picture to yourself in these palmy days. 1848 Trollope Kellys & O'Kellys I. iv. 80 Mrs. Lynch had died before the commencement of Sim's palmy days. They had seen no company in her time. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets (1857) ix. 301 The period was a palmy one for men, who held a pen of power. 1893 J. C. Jeaffreson Bk. of Recoll. (1894) I. xiii. 218 Persons who belonged to the brotherhood in its palmy days. |
Hence ˈpalmily adv.; ˈpalminess.
| 1886 G. B. Shaw How to become Mus. Critic (1960) 112 When old-fashioned people..regret the palmy days of the drama, superstitious ones are apt to take the desirability of palminess for granted... The young London play-goer can hardly judge; for he has no experience of palminess. Ibid., A palmily stall-less pit. |