palmetto

[ pal-met-oh, pahl-, pah-met-oh ]

noun,plural pal·met·tos, pal·met·toes.
  1. any of various palms having fan-shaped leaves, as of the genera Sabal, Serenoa, and Thrinax.

Origin of palmetto

1
1555–65; earlier palmito<Spanish, diminutive of palmapalm2; -etto by association with -ette

Words Nearby palmetto

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use palmetto in a sentence

  • The result is that Democrats and Independents will be able to continue to vote in Republican primaries in the palmetto State.

  • Eudora was racing now through the briers, and weeds, and palmetto stumps, and dragging Mandy Ann with her.

    The Cromptons | Mary J. Holmes
  • It is crowned, however, with a leaf like that of the palmetto; but the tufts of the dragon tree resemble the yucca in growth.

  • His thoughts flew back to the palmetto clearing, where he first saw the little girl and Judy.

    The Cromptons | Mary J. Holmes
  • Was he back in the palmetto clearing, standing in the moonlight with Dora, and exacting a promise from her which broke her heart?

    The Cromptons | Mary J. Holmes
  • A log-house in a palmetto clearing, with a foolish old grandmother who did not know enough to ask or care what I was to Eudora.

    The Cromptons | Mary J. Holmes

British Dictionary definitions for palmetto

palmetto

/ (pælˈmɛtəʊ) /


nounplural -tos or -toes
  1. any of several small chiefly tropical fan palms, esp any of the genus Sabal, of the southeastern US: See also cabbage palmetto, saw palmetto

  2. any of various other fan palms such as palms of the genera Serenoa, Thrinax, and Chamaerops

Origin of palmetto

1
C16: from Spanish palmito a little palm ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012