palmed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of palm.

   The cardsharp palmed an ace and dealt himself the winning hand.

   The patient had palmed the pill instead of swallowing it.

   Note

   One regular form does double duty here: he palmed the card, and the card had been palmed. The usual meaning is hidden in the hand, as a conjuror or pickpocket does it. It can also mean held flat-handed, or presented as identification at a door. An older British slang use, palmed for bribed, is now obsolete. Do not confuse it with the antler adjective, which describes a shape, not an action.

2. 2
   adjective

   Bearing one or more broad, flattened expansions of bone shaped like an open hand, as seen in the antlers of moose and certain deer.

   Like an open hand held up, the bone spreading wide instead of growing in thin points.

   A mature bull moose grows broadly palmed antlers before the fall rut.

   The fallow deer's palmed antlers broaden into a shovel-like blade in older males.

   Similarpalmate, palmated

   Note

   A naturalist's term that can describe the animal as well as its antlers: a palmed deer is one whose antlers have flattened out. It does not take comparatives, since a deer is palmed or it is not, so adverbs such as broadly carry the degree. The image comes from the palm of the hand behind the conjuror's verb, here as bone spread like an open palm.

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