palmer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a pilgrim to the Holy Land, traditionally identified by the palm branch carried on returning home

   The palmer wore a small palm badge as evidence of his pilgrimage.

2. 2
   noun

   historical: a wandering religious pilgrim who lived on alms

   The old romance follows a palmer traveling from shrine to shrine.

3. 3
   noun

   archaic: a palmerworm or another leaf-eating caterpillar

   The farmer blamed the palmer for stripping leaves from the young trees.

From Middle English palmer through Anglo-Norman and Old French paumier from Medieval Latin palmarius, from palma, 'palm.' A pilgrim returning from the Holy Land carried a palm branch as a sign of the journey; the name broadened to wandering religious pilgrims.

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