noun

• 1historical A pilgrim, especially one who had returned from the Holy Land with a palm frond or leaf as a sign of having undertaken the pilgrimage.

  ‘As a palmer (pilgrim) turned hangman, Robin rescued three of his men.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘This last deals with a debate between a Palmer (pilgrim), a Pardoner, an apothecary and a Pedlar.’

  1. 1.1An itinerant monk traveling from shrine to shrine under a vow of poverty.
     More example sentences

     • ‘In 1608 Edward Topsell, a naturalist, called them "Palmer" worms - so named after the "palmer", or wandering monk - because of their roving habits and ruggedness.’

• 2A hairy artificial fly used in angling.

  ‘Step 4: Tie in hackle and wind in palmer style to bend’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Dressing a fly by winding the hackle the length of the body is mentioned in fly fishing books of the fifteenth century. It is called the palmer style of dressing.’
  • ‘The soldier palmer fly is like all palmered flies inasmuch as it has a thick body with a few or no tail fibres and no wings.’