palm off
Related to palm off: pawn off
palm (something) off (on one) (as something else)
To discard something unwanted by giving or selling it to one (under the pretense of it being something else). There are always guys palming off cheap watches as Rolexes in this part of town. She tried to palm the hardest part of the assignment off on me as some kind of special challenge. Don't palm your chores off on me—I have my own to do.
See also: off, palm, something
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
palm someone or something off (on someone) (as someone or something)
and pass someone or something off (on someone) (as someone or something); pawn someone or something off (on someone) (as someone or something)Fig. to give someone or something to someone as a gift that appears to be someone or something desirable. (As if the gift had been concealed in one's palm until it was gotten rid of.) Are you trying to palm that annoying client off on me as a hot prospect? Don't palm off that pest on me. Please don't pass that problem off on me as a challenge. Don't pass it off on me! Don't pawn it off on me as something of value.
See also: off, palm
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
palm off
Pass off by deception, substitute with intent to deceive, as in The salesman tried to palm off a zircon as a diamond, or The producer tried to palm her off as a star from the Metropolitan Opera. This expression alludes to concealing something in the palm of one's hand. It replaced the earlier palm on in the early 1800s.
See also: off, palm
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
palm off
v.
To get rid of or dispose of something by fraud or deception; fob off: The crooked merchant palmed off a lot of fake diamonds before being caught. Someone tried to palm some old coins off on me yesterday, saying they were rare and valuable.
See also: off, palm
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
palm off, to
To pass off fraudulently. The term comes from the practice of concealing in one’s palm what one pretends to dispose of in some other way. At first (seventeenth century) it was put as to palm on or upon. Charles Lamb, in one of his Elia essays (1822), used the modern version: “Have you not tried to palm off a yesterday’s pun?”
See also: palm
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- palm (something) off (on one) (as something else)
- palm someone/something off
- palm someone/something off on someone
- palm something off
- palm something off on someone
- pawn (something) off (on one) (as something else)
- pawn off
- throw (someone or something) on the scrap heap
- kick (someone or something) to the curb
- pitch into