painn. a bother; an irritating thing or per-
son. That woman is such a pain.
Those long meetings are a real pain.
pain in the ass and pain in the butt;
pain in the rearn. a very annoying thing
or person. (Usually objectionable. An
elaboration ofpain. Use caution with ass.
Butt is less offensive. Rear is eu-
phemistic.) That guy is a real pain in
the ass. Things like that give me a pain
in the butt. You are nothing but a pain
in the rear.
pain in the buttGo to pain in the ass.
pain in the neckn. a difficult or annoy-
ing thing or person. (See also pain in the
ass.) This tax form is a pain in the neck.
My boss is a pain in the neck.
pain in the rearGo to pain in the ass.
painkillern. liquor. (See also feeling no
pain.) Pass that bottle of painkiller over
here. My throat hurts. He should look
happy. He’s full of painkiller.
paint removern. strong or inferior whis-
key or other spirits. That paint remover
you gave me nearly burned out my throat.
What do you call that paint remover
anyway? It sure is powerful.
paint the town (red)tv. to go out and cel-
ebrate; to go on a drinking bout; to get
drunk. I feel great. Let’s go out and
paint the town. They were out painting
the town red last night.
pal[pAl] 1. n. a close, male friend or buddy.
Be nice to him. He’s my pal. Hey, be
a pal. Give me a match. 2. n. a term of ad-
dress for a stranger, usually a male.
Hey, pal. Got a match? Look, pal, I was
in line in front of you!
pal around (with someone)in. to be
friends with someone; to move about so-
cially with someone. Tom and Heidi
have palled around for years. Young
people like to pal around with one another.
palimony[“pAl@moni] n. alimony—living
expenses—paid to a common-law wife or
to a former girlfriend. He left her, and
she took him to court to try to get him to
pay palimony. With a good lawyer, she
got more palimony than she could ever
have gotten as alimony if they had been
married.pally (with someone)mod. friendly or
overly friendly with someone. I don’t
know why Sue acts so pally. I hardly know
her. She doesn’t seem pally with me.palmtv. to conceal something in the hand
as in a theft or the performance of a
magic trick; to receive and conceal a tip
or a bribe. The kid palmed the candy
bar and walked right out of the store.
The waiter palmed the twenty-dollar bill
and led us to a table.palm-oiln. a bribe; a tip. How much
palm-oil does it take to get this deed
recorded in reasonable time? The mes-
senger seemed to move his legs faster after
an application of palm-oil.palm-presserGo to flesh-presser.palm someone or something off (on
someone)tv. to transfer some unwanted
person or thing to another person.
Don’t palm her off on me. I don’t want her.
TMy uncle palmed off his old clothes on
me.palm something off on someonetv. to
succeed in spending counterfeit money;
to succeed in cashing a bad check. (Un-
derworld.) Max palmed four phony
twenties off in less than an hour. TSome-
body palmed off a rubber check on me
yesterday.palooka and paluka[p@”luk@] n. a stupid
person; an unskilled prizefighter; any
mediocre person. (Also a term of ad-
dress. From the name of the comic-strip
prizefighter Joe Palooka.) Tell that stu-
pid palooka to sit down and shut up. Get
out of here, you paluka. You’re just in the
way.palsy-walsy[“pAlzi”wAlzi] 1. n. a good
friend, pal, or buddy. (Also a term of ad-
dress.) Look here, palsy-walsy, let’s you
and me get out of here. Meet my old
palsy-walsy, John. We’ve known each other
since we were kids. 2. mod. friendly;
overly friendly. (Often with with.) palsy-walsy