palmetton.
/palˈmɛtəʊ/, /pɑːˈmɛtəʊ/, U.S. /ˌpɑ(l)ˈmɛdoʊ/ 1.
a. Any of various fan palms, esp. the dwarf fan palm, Chamaerops humilis, of the Mediterranean region, and the arborescent Sabal palmetto, of the south-eastern U.S. (also called cabbage palmetto). Also: the fibrous leaves or the wood of such a palm.Recorded earliest in palmetto tree n. at Compounds 2.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > palm trees > [noun] > palmetto trees or fan-palms
palmite1555
palmetto1582
palmetto tree1582
talipot1681
tamarind-palmetto1698
Chamaerops1766
eta palm1769
cabbage palm tree1773
palmetto bush1784
swamp-cabbage1792
cabbage tree1796
saw palmetto1797
latania1799
hat palm1812
gebang1817
coco de mer?1820
itaa1832
cabbage palm1847
miriti1853
latania1856
moriche1860
broom-palm1866
ilala1868
licuala1872
fan-plant1884
tiger-grass1884
buri1890
latanier1929
Washingtonia1945
1582 in E. G. R. Taylor Troublesome Voy. Capt. E. Fenton (1959) 101 Seraliona is..full of Lymons, Palmitie trees trees.
?1583 in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) i. 188 The Palmito with his fruite inclosed in him.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 649 The Palmita is without branches, the fruit growes on the top, which within is like Pomegranats, ful of grains, without of a golden colour.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 209 The most beneficiall tree to Trauellers is the Palmeto, it growes like the Date or Coco-tree.
1734 S.-Carolina Gaz. 16 Feb. 1/1 Hutts thatch't with Palmetto, made by the Savannah Indians.
1767 Bartram's Jrnl. 18 in W. Stork Acct. E. Florida (ed. 2) We came now to plenty of the tree palmetto, which the inhabitants call cabbage-tree.
1809 R. Lamb Amer. War vi. 97 The fort on Sullivan's Island, constructed entirely of palmetto, a soft and spungy wood.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 565 African Hair, the fibre of the leaves of the Palmetto, Chamærops humilis.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 838/2 Palmetto, a common name for the several of the Fan-palms, but especially Salbo Palmetto.
1942 S. Kennedy Palmetto Country 3 Folks outside the region usually think of the palmetto as the tall palm which is locally called the swamp cabbage or cabbage palm.
1986 D. Carey Battlestations! vi. 104 Sarda and I hid on our shaded escarpment, deep in the ferns and palmettos.
b. With distinguishing word: a particular variety or species of palmetto or similar plant.blue, humble, saw, silver-top palmetto, etc.: see the first element.
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1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 330 The humble Palmeto, with round foot-stalks.
1797 B. Hawkins Let. 15 Feb. in Georgia Hist. Soc. Coll. (1916) IX. 85 The whole country was a pine barron, with wiregrass and saw palmetto.
1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 218 Silver-top Palmetto... Brittle Thatch. Semi-tropical Florida.
1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 96 The appearance of the dwarf or blue palmetto (Sabal adansonii)..indicates that the subtropical region of the State has been entered.
1965 F. Knekel Night of Camp David (1967) 96 Town is flat, dusty, scrub palmetto, live oaks with Spanish moss, natch, yellow brick courthouse.
2. Now usually in form palmito. The young terminal leaf bud of a palmetto or other palm, eaten as a salad in the West Indies, Latin America, etc. Cf. palm heart n. at palm n.1 Compounds 2.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > leaf vegetables > other leaf vegetables
corn-salad1597
palmetto1598
frost-blite1711
corn rocket1731
Welsh onion1731
milk grass1746
square-podded rocket1753
lamb's quarter1773
Shawnee salad1780
palmiste1835
1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies i. lvi. 102/1 The innermost parte of the tree or trunke is called Palmito, and is the pith or hart of the same trunke, which is much esteemed, and sent for a present vnto men of great account.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. ii. iii. 101 In America..their meat Palmitos, Pinas, potatos, &c. & such fruits.
1882 Harper's Mag. Sept. 549/1 An old man at Bobadilla offered us some palmitos—pieces of pith from the palm-trees, tufted with a few feathery young leaves.
1977 K. Benton Red Hen Conspiracy ix. 53 Pale palmito fronds flanked a mountain of fat pink prawns.
1993 M. Gibbons Palms 41 Euterpe edulis... An important crop-palm in South America, where it is grown for ‘heart of palm’ or ‘palmito’.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
palmetto country n.
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1841 G. A. McCall Let. 14 Dec. in Lett. from Frontier (1868) 381 We had passed through a pine and palmetto country with firm sand bottom.
1942 S. Kennedy Palmetto Country 24 The Palmetto country rests upon what is geologically known as the Floridian plateau.
1996 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 15 Dec. 22 The big, glossy ‘blue indigo’ is native to that thorny swatch along the Rio Grande and the palmetto country of Central Florida.
palmetto ground n.
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1744 F. Moore Voy. Georgia 124 The Indians were prevailed upon to return to the Palmetto ground.
1767 Bartram's Jrnl. 5 in W. Stork Acct. E. Florida (ed. 2) A perch or more of palmetto-ground.
1932 Ecol. Monographs 2 213 Old terms ‘hammocks of palmetto’ or ‘palmetto ground’ of John Bartram's day are probably not synonymous with palmetto scrub.
palmetto hat n.
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1747 in New Jersey Archives XII. 364 The woman..Had on,..blue worsted stockings, palmeta hat, scarlet red cloak [etc.].
1877 E. S. Phelps Story of Avis 410 She looked very young and girlish that day in her palmetto hat and white linen dress.
2002 Sunday Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) (Nexis) 10 Nov. 3 b Wearing a palmetto hat and carrying a blowgun made of elderberry, Kirby Verret told students about Louisiana's eight American Indian tribes.
palmetto juice n.
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1845 T. J. Green Jrnl. Texian Exped. 152 Several were left on the road exhausted for the want of water and here they commenced unfortunately, the use of the palmetto juice as a substitute.
2001 Orlando (Florida) Sentinel (Nexis) 16 Feb. 2 He had his cure, though. Beer and palmetto juice. Reece swears by it.
palmetto leaf n.
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1662 B. Gerbier Brief Disc. Princ. Building 3 Wilde Indians, who have no other Roofs but of Palmito-Leaves.
1825 W. Scott Talisman viii, in Tales Crusaders III. 195 An umbrella of palmetto leaves.
2002 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 5 Sept. 1 Joe Roger learned to top long skinny loaves of Cuban bread with a palmetto leaf while working at the former Ferlita Bakery.
palmetto palm n.
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1848 M. Somerville Physical Geogr. II. xxii. 75 In Spain, Portugal..and the other European shores of the Mediterranean, tropical families begin to appear in the arums,..oleander, date and palmetto palms.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XX. 640/2 Palmetto, a popular name for Sabal Palmetto, the palmetto palm, a native of the southern United States.
1994 R. Wallace Time's Fancy iii. 47 Florida. The land of pig frogs and palmetto palms.
palmetto swamp n.
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1836 in Amer. State Papers: Mil. Affairs (1861) VII. 143 The same difficulty also occurred in a palmetto swamp of considerable extent where horses could not be used on account of the bog.
1863 S. Hunter in War of Rebellion (U.S. War Dept.) (1889) 1st Ser. XXVI. i. 224 We..succeeded at length in finding a trail that led us by a circuitous route through a palmetto swamp.
2001 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 15 Apr. a13 A display..explains the park's unique ecology—how an East Texas palmetto swamp persists in south Central Texas.
palmetto wine n.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > non-grape and home-made wines > [noun] > palm-wine
nipa1588
palmetto wine1589
palm wine1598
sura1598
date wine1603
toddy?1611
tuba1704
pardon1705
pardon-wine1705
Palm1712
sagwire1792
itaa1832
tembo1850
tuak1852
palm-toddy1857
1589 J. Sparke in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 527 Palmito wine..is gathered by a hole cutte in the toppe of a tree, and a gorde set for receauing thereof.
1615 T. Roe Jrnl. 21 July in Embassy Sir Thomas Roe to India (1926) 12 They fell to their meate, with bread..and palmeto wyne and cocor milke for drinke.
1954 N.Y. Times 25 Dec. 14/3 When the first coloinsts here [sc. Bermuda] celebrated the Feast of the Nativity, it was with prayer and thanks and such goodies as birds' eggs, roast wild pig and palmetto wine.
b. With the sense ‘thatched with palmetto leaves’.
palmetto cabin n.
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1840 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. (ed. 2) III. xxiv. 430 A fort was constructed on the centre of the bluff, with four bastions, commanding the river, and protecting the palmetto cabins.
1870 Amer. Naturalist 3 458 With a palmetto cabin, plenty of oysters, game and fish, he lives a free and easy life.
1994 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 14 Aug. 1 h Lanehart's palmetto cabin..was one of the first residences in what is now the El Cid neighborhood.
palmetto house n.
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1736 Pennsylvania Gaz. 24 June 1/2 There is a Town laid out here, and 37 Palmetto houses built, in which all the People are sheltered till they can build better.
1887 Harper's Mag. Nov. 917/1 (caption) A palmetto house.
1999 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 28 Mar. 2 d1 Construction plans include the rebuilding of several Indian structures and the addition of an Indian mound with a palmetto house on top.
palmetto hut n.
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1736 S.-Carolina Gaz. 19 June 2/1 He went up to a Palmetto Hutt, but could find no Men.
1880 G. W. Cable Grandissimes iv. 22 Among the squaws..was one who had in her own palmetto hut an empty cradle scarcely cold.
2002 Orlando (Florida) Sentinel (Nexis) 9 June k10 Settlers often erected crude palmetto huts for easy, fast shelter..while they were building a sturdy cabin out of pine logs.
c. Instrumental.
palmetto-covered adj.
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1883 Sunday Mag. Nov. 686/2 We passed vast palmito-covered and absolutely treeless plains.
2001 Parks & Recreation (Nexis) 1 Sept. 128 Don Vicente Martinez Ybor came to a sandy, palmetto-covered frontier two miles northeast of Tampa, Florida in the year 1885.
palmetto-thatched adj.
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1846 H. Melville Typee i. vii. 60 Midway towards the sea, and peering here and there amidst the foliage, might be seen the palmetto-thatched houses of its inhabitants.
1908 Daily Chron. 1 Sept. 7/5 As they strolled together towards the palmetto-thatched, open-face camp fronting on Ruffle Lake.
2002 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 3 Feb. 12 Originally, it [sc. the restaurant] was housed in a palmetto-thatched shack.
C2.
palmetto banner n. U.S. = palmetto flag n.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > standard > [noun] > flag > U.S. flag > flags of specific states
bear flag1847
palmetto flag1848
palmetto banner1850
Pelican flag1860
1850 W. B. Seabrook in Life & Corr. Quitman (1860) II. xiv. 38 May I hope that Mississippi will..allow the Palmetto banner the privilege of a place in her ranks.
1901 Official Rec. Union & Confederate Navies 12 309 Private Julius Wagener, a boy only 15 years of age, who replanted our noble Palmetto banner on the ramparts.
2001 Charlotte (N. Carlolina) Observer (Nexis) 27 Apr. 1 y When South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861, the legislature adopted the palmetto banner as the official state flag.
palmetto basket n. a basket made of palmetto leaves.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > basket > [noun] > made of other specific material
mocock1791
palmetto basket1813
1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain iii. xxv. 170 Their hands palmetto baskets bare.
1892 Temple Bar Nov. 375 The whole company..follows with considerable interest the movements of two lads with palmetto baskets.
1998 Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) (Nexis) 20 Sept. 4 b Native Americans of Louisiana tribes offer handmade pine needle and palmetto baskets, wooden carvings and bead work.
palmetto brush n. a hard brush made from the roots of the scrub palmetto, Sabal etonia.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > brushing or sweeping > [noun] > brush or broom
besomc1000
bast broom1357
brush1377
broom14..
sweepc1475
duster1575
bristle brush1601
broom-besom1693
flag-broom1697
stock-brush1700
whisk1745
birch-broom1747
hair-broom1753
spry1796
corn-broomc1810
pope's head1824
whisker1825
sweeping-brusha1828
swish1844
spoke-brush1851
whisk broom1857
Turk's head1859
wisp1875
tube-brush1877
bass-broom?1881
crumb-brush1884
dusting-brush1907
palmetto brush1913
suede brush1915
swale1949
1913 Country Life Nov. 94/3 For the making of palmetto brushes the problem is to remove the pith without destroying the fibres.
1994 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) (Nexis) 6 Nov. e1 Tuck Russell whittles away at a piece of wood to make a palmetto brush for suede.
palmetto bug n. U.S. regional (chiefly south-eastern) (freq. euphemistic) any of several large, flying cockroaches chiefly of the genus Periplaneta, including the American cockroach, P. americana.
ΚΠ
1947 M. S. Douglas Everglades ii. 44 Shining brown leaf-shaped palmetto bugs scurry like cockroaches.
1991 S. Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek 139 It's because of the river and the palm and pecan trees and the humidity that we have so many palmetto bugs, roaches so big they look like Pleistocene.
2001 Houston Chron. (Electronic ed.) 19 Aug. 6 These cockroaches could harm Florida's image. But we Floridians solved that problem by giving them a new name, ‘palmetto bugs’, which makes them sound cute and harmless.
palmetto bush n. a young or small plant of one of the palmetto species.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > palm trees > [noun] > palmetto trees or fan-palms
palmite1555
palmetto1582
palmetto tree1582
talipot1681
tamarind-palmetto1698
Chamaerops1766
eta palm1769
cabbage palm tree1773
palmetto bush1784
swamp-cabbage1792
cabbage tree1796
saw palmetto1797
latania1799
hat palm1812
gebang1817
coco de mer?1820
itaa1832
cabbage palm1847
miriti1853
latania1856
moriche1860
broom-palm1866
ilala1868
licuala1872
fan-plant1884
tiger-grass1884
buri1890
latanier1929
Washingtonia1945
1784 T. Hutchins Hist. Narr. Louisiana & W.-Florida 34 The whole is..covered with thick wood, Palmetto bushes, &c.
1872 Harper's Mag. June 95/1 Among the hills are level spaces on which are seen small groups of palmetto bushes, with an occasional palmetto-tree or live-oak.
1996 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 16 Oct. 4 b Boca Raton was unspoiled farmland laden with palmetto bushes..when Eula Raulerson's family moved there in 1905.
palmetto cabbage n. (a) the cabbage palmetto, Sabal palmetto (see sense 1a); (b) the edible leaf bud of a palmetto (see sense 2).
ΚΠ
1802 J. Drayton View S.-Carolina 6 Their soil is of very sandy nature; producing..palmetto cabbage, palmetto royal, silk grass.
1847 S. Rutledge Carolina Housewife 99 Trim off carefully the hard folds of the palmetto cabbage; then boil the inner part for two hours.
1870 I. Raymond Southland Writers 891 Healing plants of great medicinal virtue, and nutritious fruits, such as the Indian potato and palmetto cabbage.
1999 Press Jrnl. (Vero Beach, Florida) (Nexis) 25 Nov. c1 It [sc. raccoon] was best when charbroiled and served with sweet potatoes, cow peas and palmetto cabbage.
palmetto flag n. (also Palmetto flag) U.S. the flag of the state of South Carolina, which bears a picture of a cabbage palmetto tree.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > standard > [noun] > flag > U.S. flag > flags of specific states
bear flag1847
palmetto flag1848
palmetto banner1850
Pelican flag1860
1848 W. G. Simms Lays of Palmetto 25 (title) The palmetto flag in battle.
1988 J. M. McPherson Battle Cry of Freedom viii. 235 Citizens waving palmetto flags and shouting slogans of southern rights.
2002 Augusta (Georgia) Chron. (Nexis) 10 Mar. b1 Prince Williams..shook his head and chuckled as he watched the red and blue Palmetto flags waving in Saturday's wind.
palmetto royal n. (a) any of several West Indian palms, esp. the royal palm, Roystonea oleracea, and the silver-thatch palm, Thrinax argentea; (b) the Spanish dagger, Yucca gloriosa.
ΚΠ
1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 78 If this earth were beautifull, smooth, and large enough, it might be called the Pedistan to that Corinthian Pillar, the Palmeto Royall.
1741 in S. Carolina Hist. Soc. Coll. (1887) 4 43 This Fort..[had] a Ditch without on all sides, Lined round with Prickly Palmetto Royal.
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 191 Palmeto-Royal, or Palmeto-Thatch... This tree..covers whole fields in many parts of the island.
1813 H. Muhlenberg Catal. Plantarum Americæ Septentrionalis 35 Yucca gloriosa. Broad-leaved (palmetto royal).
1911 Encycl. Brit. XV. 133/1 Several species of palm abound [in Jamaica]—the macaw, the fan palm, screw palm, and palmetto royal.
Palmetto State n. U.S. the state of South Carolina.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > America > North America > [noun] > United States > specific states > North and South Carolina
Palmetto State1835
Turpentine State1850
1835 Southern Literary Messenger 1 772/2 I found one of my elbows actually goring the side of a stout nullifier from the Palmetto State.
1948 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 10 July 12/3 Although Palmetto State folks may have hesitated to brag the first year, they're safe now.
1991 RTZ Rev. Dec. 3/1 South Carolina... The Palmetto State experienced something of a boom in precious metal mining during the 1980s.
palmetto thatch n. †(a) any of several kinds of palm, esp. the silver-thatch palm, Thrinax argentea (obsolete); (b) the dried leaves of such a palm, used for roofing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > yielding fibre, thatching, or basket material > [noun] > trees or shrubs yielding fibre, etc. > palms yielding fibre or thatching materials
satchel-palm1658
rattan1681
palmetto thatch1756
thatch-tree1756
rotan1771
cabbage palm tree1773
cabbage tree1796
tucum1810
gomuti1811
hat palm1812
gebang1817
tucuma1824
nikau1827
piassava1841
cabbage palm1847
bussu1850
jupati1856
timite1858
Raphia1866
thatch1866
thatch-palm1866
toquilla1877
raffia palm1897
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 191 Palmeto-Royal, or Palmeto-Thatch... This tree..covers whole fields in many parts of the island.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1147/1 T[hrinax]argentea, the Silver Thatch-palm, is usually said to yield the young unexpanded palm-leaves imported from the West Indies under the name of Palmetto Thatch, and extensively employed for making palm-chip hats, baskets, and other fancy articles.
1974 J. H. Prothero in R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage (1996) 424/2 Palmetto thatch served as an effective roofing.
2002 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 27 Oct. 1 d He roofed it [sc. the shelter] with tin after the palmetto thatch used by the Seminoles kept raining palmetto bugs into people's food.
palmetto tree n. an arborescent palmetto.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > palm trees > [noun] > palmetto trees or fan-palms
palmite1555
palmetto1582
palmetto tree1582
talipot1681
tamarind-palmetto1698
Chamaerops1766
eta palm1769
cabbage palm tree1773
palmetto bush1784
swamp-cabbage1792
cabbage tree1796
saw palmetto1797
latania1799
hat palm1812
gebang1817
coco de mer?1820
itaa1832
cabbage palm1847
miriti1853
latania1856
moriche1860
broom-palm1866
ilala1868
licuala1872
fan-plant1884
tiger-grass1884
buri1890
latanier1929
Washingtonia1945
1582 in E. G. R. Taylor Troublesome Voy. Capt. E. Fenton (1959) 101 Seraliona is..full of Lymons, Palmitie trees.
1589 J. Sparke in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 526 Mats..made with the rine of Palmito trees.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Palma The Palmetto-Tree is brought from the West Indies, where it grows to be a very large Tree; the leaves of which the Inhabitants thatch their Houses withal.
1877 Scribner's Monthly July 283/2 A little search discovered him lying under a palmetto-tree, sleeping the sleep of the very drunk.
1986 B. Fussell I hear Amer. Cooking vi. xxv. 479 It was the Indians who taught the first settlers of Virginia the difference between ripe and unripe ‘putchamins’, which grew as high as palmetto trees.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1582