to cross one's palm with silver
- idiom
- Archaic
:
dar una propina
- The fortune teller refused to speak until I crossed her palm with silver.
Examples
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Some believe that to guarantee good luck, one should cross their palm with silver before an important venture.
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If you want the official to speed up the paperwork, you may need to cross his palm with silver.
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Don't forget to cross his palm with silver before asking for help!
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She crossed her palm with silver to ensure the favor.
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To ensure the plumber would come quickly, I decided to cross my palm with silver when I called.
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The politician hinted that he would be more helpful if you crossed his palm with silver.
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It's common to cross someone's palm with silver to receive special treatment at exclusive clubs.
Synonyms
140
4.1
Give money or gifts to a person in authority to make them do something dishonest
16
6.8
Give money or gifts to someone so they stay quiet and do something wrong
15
6.1
To give money to someone after they ask or force you
1
8.5
To give someone money secretly to make them do something for you
1
8.1
To pay money unwillingly
To give someone money secretly to make them do something for you
To give money or gifts to a mayor to get a special favor
To pay someone for a service, especially to have them tell your future
How Corrupt
Surface Forms
Morphology
cross + one + palm + with + silver
The words 'palm' and 'silver' transparently signal 'hand' and 'money', so learners might infer it involves giving money. However, the full idiomatic sense—paying someone to obtain a favor or bribery—is historically and culturally specific and not a standard compositional pattern in modern English, so the pragmatic meaning is not fully predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
The idiom cross one's palm with silver may come from fortune-tellers: people would literally place a silver coin across the teller's palm, so they 'crossed' the palm with silver to pay for a reading. That's why the phrase now means 'give money to get a favor' or 'bribe'.