pal1
/pal
/informal
noun
1A friend: we’ve been pals for a long time...
- We had so many pals and friends through art school that we usually got a good turnout anyway.
- Other pals chummed him along the first stretch from Milngavie and his dad kept him company yesterday.
- School pals and teachers were highly delighted and all wish her well in the final rally.
Synonyms
friend, companion, comrade, intimate, familiar, confidant, alter ego, second self;
playmate, classmate, schoolmate, workmate
informal chum, buddy, bosom pal, sidekick, cully, spar, crony, mucker, butty, main man
British informal mate, oppo, china
Northern English informal marrow, marrer, marra
North American informal amigo, compadre, paisan, bro
North American & South African informal homeboy, homegirl
South African informal gabba
archaic compeer
rare fidus Achates
1.1Used as a form of address, especially to indicate anger or aggression: back off, pal...
- Paramedics have been asked by bosses not to call people duck, pal, love or mate for fear of causing offence.
- In other words, you try to take what's mine, pal, and I'm going to stop you with the best means available.
- This is Southern California, pal, where physical imperfection will NOT be tolerated.
verb (pals, palling, palled) [no object] (pal up)
1Form a friendship: she palled up with some English chaps...
- He pals up with a guy who works in catering, who feeds him in return for information about a girl he fancies at the immigration desk, and he gets a job, building a new departure gate.
- So he pals up with her descendant, herself a post-feminist critic.
- He's like the bloke you pal up with in your first week at university and then spend the rest of the term avoiding when you find out what he's really like.
Synonyms
become friendly, make friends, become friends, form a friendship
informal get in
North American informal buddy up
informal, dated chum up
1.1 (pal around) Spend time with a friend: we got acquainted but we never really palled around...
- He explains: ‘Paddy was working on the railway at the time in Portlaoise and we palled around together.’
- Yet he refuses to buy into the theory that his lack of production has anything to do with the injury to his close friend, who lived in the same condo complex as Sundin in Toronto and often palled around together.
- The cheetah and raccoon didn't normally pal around together, but they had shared a cab from their hotel to the same area of town.
Origin
Late 17th century: from Romany, 'brother, mate', based on Sanskrit bhrātṛ 'brother'.
Rhymes
PAL2
/pal/noun [mass noun]
The television broadcasting system used in most of Europe.
Origin
Acronym from Phase Alternate Line (so named because the colour information in alternate lines is inverted in phase).