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Glite Dictionary
to palm off

to palm off

7.9
To trick someone into buying a fake or unwanted thing
  • phrasal verb
  • /pɑlm ɔf/
  • Informal
translation icon : imponer
  • She was angry when the store tried to palm off faulty electronics as high-quality items.

Examples

  • Unscrupulous merchants palm them off on unsuspecting tourists.

    King Solomon's Mines (1985)

  • Many online stores attempt to palm off counterfeit products to unsuspecting customers.

  • Don't try to palm off any TV stuff on me.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Your mum did palm us off with the damaged goods, didn't she?

    Legend (2015)

  • So far, he's only been able to palm these off on unintelligent people.

    The Undead (1957)

  • I've been trying to speak to somebody in charge but I just keep getting palmed off with D.I. Dobson.

    As a Prelude to Fear (2022)

  • The salesman tried to palm off a broken watch as a brand new one.

Synonyms

to pass off
vsto palm off
18 6.9

To make something or someone look real when they are not

tricks someone into accepting or buying items that are not as claimed
to fob
vsto palm off
  • Informal
1 9.4

To trick someone into accepting something false or less valuable

tricks someone into accepting or buying items that are false or inferior
to fob off
vsto palm off
  • Informal
1 8.8

To give someone a fake or low quality thing and pretend it is real

tricks someone into accepting or buying false or unwanted items
to foist off
vsto palm off
1 9.4

Sell fake or bad things by tricking someone

tricks someone into accepting false or unwanted goods rather than honest ones

How Deceptive

to swindle
20 5.5
con
  • Informal
107 7.2
to mislead
87 3.9
to palm off
  • Informal
7.9
to foist
20 8.4
to pass off
18 6.9

Surface Forms

palm off infinitive
palmed off past
palmed off past participle
palming off present participle
palms off third person singular

Morphology

palm + off

The verb 'palm' (to hold in the hand) plus the particle 'off' (away) yields a plausible literal image of transferring something to another person, so learners could infer a sense of passing something on. However, the crucial pragmatic/idiomatic nuance of deceiving or tricking someone into taking inferior or unwanted goods is not directly predictable from the parts, making the expression only partially transparent.

Etymology

Palm off may come from sellers or dishonest people who hid a poor or fake item in their palm and secretly slipped it into another person's hand. Because the object was quietly given this way, palm off came to mean 'to trick someone into accepting or buying something unwanted or fake'.