heel-palm

English

Alternative forms

• heel palm

Noun

heel-palm (plural heel-palms)

1. A blow in which the heel of the palm strikes an opponent.
   • 1992, Adam Hall, Quiller solitaire, →ISBN, page 244:

     ... and I smashed my hand down on the gun to my left and it roared and I felt for the man's throat and made the kill as the other man brought his gun up and fired wild and I went in very close and used a heel-palm and drove the nose bone upward into the brain as Ibrahimi screamed something and I saw the flash of a blade and blocked it....

   • 1998, Keith D. Yates, Bryan Robbins, Tae Kwon Do for Kids, →ISBN, page 76:

     In one-step number two the defender does a knife-hand block. Then he punches with his right hand. And he finishes with a left heel-palm.

   • 2014, Cheree Alsop, Small Town Superhero III, →ISBN:

     I blocked a punch, blocked a kick, and answered with a heel-palm to the first man's throat.

2. (orthopedics) A technique for evaluating the reduction of a hip or femur by holding the patient's heels in one's palms with both legs in abduction and internal rotation, then noting the amount of external rotation of the feet when the internal rotation is released.
   • 1957, William E. Kenney, Carroll B.. Larson, Orthopedics for the General Practitioner, page 219:

     Whichever of these methods of manipulative reduction is used, a simple test for reduction, the Leadbetter heel-palm test, can be applied.

Verb

heel-palm (third-person singular simple present heel-palms, present participle heel-palming, simple past and past participle heel-palmed)

1. To strike with a heel-palm blow.
   • 1995, Matt Thomas, Defend Yourself!: Every Woman's Guide to Safeguarding Her Life, →ISBN:

     When the guys cornered her, she screamed, "No!" as she heel-palmed the first guy.

   • 2008, Iain M. Banks, The Player Of Games: A Culture Novel, →ISBN:

     He brought his knee up into the male's groin and heel-palmed his face.

   • 2011, Richard Farnsworth, Gift of the Bouda, →ISBN:

     He rocked back a little on his feet and tucked his chin so I heel-palmed him across the bridge of his nose with my left.