palp
English
Pronunciation
Etymology
- (verb): From French palper.
- (noun): From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] New Latin palpus (“a feeler”).
- Both ultimately from Latin palpare, palpari (“to stroke, touch softly, feel”).
Noun
- (zoology) A pedipalp, an appendage found near the mouth in invertebrates; has a variety of functions but is often primarily used for predating.
Noun
palp (countable and uncountable, plural palps)
- A fleshy part of a fingertip.
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
- He folded his razor neatly and with stroking palps of fingers felt the smooth skin.
- 1964, K. B. Gilden, Hurry Sundown
- The palps of her fingers itched, thickened, erected with the need to touch the bent head. Plunge into the dust-moted rough blackness of his hair, smooth back downward over the deep-brown nape of his neck.
- 1984, W. Boyd, Stars & Bars i.i.11:
- With the palp of a forefinger he squeezed moisture from his wiry blond eyebrows.
- 1998, Renny Christopher, Linda Strom, Lisa Orr, Working Class Studies: 1 & 2, Feminist Press at CUNY →ISBN, page 165
- When Mariuchi caresses the plant, for example, sensuously emitting from the palps of her fingers, a siren song.
- 2008, John Gardner, Mickelsson's Ghosts, New Directions Publishing →ISBN, page 130
- He tested the blade against the palp of his thumb, then returned to the living room and decisively, scrape by scrape, cut away the hex sign, leaving a halo of ragged wood.
- 2012, Sean Stewart, Star Wars: Dark Rendezvous, Random House →ISBN
- The bag seethed in her hand, not unpleasantly, as computational monofilaments shifted and flowed under her touch until they cradled the palps of her fingers.
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
- (medicine, uncountable, colloquial) Short for palpation.
- pain on palp
Synonyms
- (appendage): pedipalp
Translations
zoology: appendage
|
fleshy part of fingertip
Verb
palp (third-person singular simple present palps, present participle palping, simple past and past participle palped)
- To feel, to explore by touch.
- 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 729:
- It is not possible to examine a male patient without making him undress and actually palping him all over.
- 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 729:
Translations
to explore by touch
|
Adjective
palp (not comparable)
- (medicine, colloquial) Palpatory; obtained by palpation.
- palp blood pressure
Related terms
Further reading
- “palp”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “palp”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “palp”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
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- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from New Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
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- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Zoology
- English uncountable nouns
- en:Medicine
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