pal

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(păl) pronunciation Informal.
n.
A friend; a chum.

intr.v., palled, pal·ling, pals.
To associate as friends or chums. Often used with around.

[Romany phral, phal, from Sanskrit bhrātā, bhrātr-, brother.]

WORD HISTORY   Pal, like buddy and chum, has an informal, thoroughly "American" ring to it. Its source, though, is rather unusual-Romany, the Indic language of the Gypsies. First recorded in English in the 17th century, pal was borrowed from a Romany word meaning "brother, comrade," which occurs as phal in the Romany spoken in England and phral in the Romany spoken in Europe. Gypsies speak an Indic language because they originally migrated to Europe from the border region between Iran and India. In other Indic languages we find related words meaning "brother," such as Hindustani bhāi and Prakrit bhāda or bhāyā; they all come from Sanskrit bhrātā, which in turn traces its ancestry to the same Indo-European word that our word brother does.


(1) (Programmable Array Logic) A type of programmable logic chip (PLD) that contains arrays of programmable AND gates and predefined OR gates. PALs are defined by their number of inputs and outputs; for example, a 22v10 PAL means 22 inputs and 10 outputs. The inputs are connected by fuses to logic circuits, which themselves are connected by fuses to the output lines. Often used for glue logic, the fuses are blown apart by a programmer device to create the custom configuration. See PLD and glue logic.

(2) (Phase Alternating Line) A color TV standard that was developed in Germany. It broadcasts 25 interlaced frames per second (50 half frames per second) at 625 lines of resolution. Brazil uses PAL M, which broadcasts 30 fps. PAL is used throughout Europe and China as well as in various African, South American and Middle Eastern countries. PAL's color signals are maintained automatically, and the TV set does not have a user-adjustable hue control. See NTSC and SECAM.

(3) (Paradox Application Language) A programming language used within Borland's Paradox relational database. Paradox is part of Corel's WordPerfect suite. See WordPerfect Office.

(4) "Parents are listening." See digispeak.

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noun

  1. A person whom one knows well, likes, and trusts: amigo, brother, chum, confidant, confidante, familiar, friend, intimate1, mate. Informal bud2, buddy. Slang sidekick. See love/hatred.
  2. One who shares interests or activities with another: associate, chum, companion, comrade, crony, fellow, mate. Informal buddy. See near/far/distance.


n

Definition: person's friend
Antonyms: enemy, foe


from Romani
This word originated in England

"Where have you been all this day, pal?" "Why, pal, what would you have me to do?" That conversation was recorded in Herefordshire, England, in a deposition in 1682. At least from that time, we have had pals in English.

Nowadays pal is a term of endearment, but it had a disreputable aura in earlier times. In the eighteenth century, an author explained, "when highwaymen rob in pairs, they say such a one was his or my pal."

The word comes from the Romani language spoken by the people who call themselves Romani or Rom, and who are called by others Gypsies, a name they don't like. There are about a million and a half speakers of Romani throughout the world. The Romani of western Europe are one of three great populations that began a nomadic exodus from India about a thousand years ago. There are also the Lomarven or Lom of Central Europe and the Domari or Dom of the Middle East and Eastern Europe. all speak versions of Romani, an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan branch related to the Hindi language of India.

In Romani, pal means "brother." Because the Romani have kept their language to themselves in the midst of other peoples, few other words from Romani have made their way into English. We do, however, have from Romani the blackjack known as a cosh (1869), the term cove (1567) to mean "fellow" or "man," and possibly the knife called a shiv (1674).



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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - A close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities.

pronunciation He is very imprudent, a dog ... You are his pal. That is enough for him. — Jerome Klapka Jerome

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sign description: Both index fingers are wrapped around each other, then moved forward in a jerking motion.




noun
noun

Used as a term of address to a man (early vocative uses are difficult to distinguish from the primary sense 'friend'; neutral and hostile uses are a recent development). (1681 —) .
New York Times Kramden's mantra, uttered whenever he was frightened or embarrassed or ashamed, is 'humenahumenahumena'. Gleason, no longer capable of being any of these things, simply said, 'Just wing it, pal' (1992).



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Next:palarey, pale-face, palone

Periarteriolar lymphoid sheath. See white pulp.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'pal'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to pal, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Pal.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

PAL (multiple meanings)

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PAL or Pal may refer to:

Contents

Organizations

Science and technology

Medicine, biology, and psychology

Computers

  • ObjectPAL, a programming language for the Borland Paradox database
  • Pedagogic Algorithmic Language, a language designed for teaching programming linguistics, see Rpal
  • Physics Abstraction Layer, a physical simulation API
  • Processor Abstraction Layer, a CPU firmware on at least IA-64 platform
  • PDP-8 Assembly Language, a language used for programming on the PDP-8 computer

Video games

Television, film, and music

People

Places

Transportation

Other uses

See also


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Dansk (Danish)
n. - kammerat
v. intr. - være kammerat med

n. - Programmable Array Logic (programmerbar matrix), Phase Alternation Line (TV standard, fasealternerende linie)

Nederlands (Dutch)
makker, bevriend zijn/ worden

Français (French)
n. - copain
v. intr. - s'acoquiner avec, s'allier avec

n. - (abrév = phase alternative line) (TV) système PAL

Deutsch (German)
n. - Kumpel
v. - sich anfreunden

n. - (TV) PAL

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - φιλαράκι, σύντροφος
v. - κάνω φίλο
abbr. - τηλεοπτικό σύστημα PAL

Italiano (Italian)
compagno, fare amicizia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - chapa (m) (coloq.), amigo (m)
v. - fazer amizade
abbr. - paleontologia

Русский (Russian)
приятель, чувак, дружить

Español (Spanish)
n. - compañero, cuate, camarada, compinche, amigo, amigote
v. intr. - hacerse amigo o compinche

n. - Liga Atlética Policial, servicio de envío aéreo de paquetes del correo de Estados Unidos

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kompis, polare
v. - hålla ihop med
abbr. - phase alternation line (TV system)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
朋友, 同志, 伙伴

朋友, 同志, 伙伴, 结成好友

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 朋友, 同志, 夥伴

n. - 朋友, 同志, 夥伴
v. intr. - 結成好友, 結交, 為友

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 동아리, 친구, 공범
v. intr. - 친해지다, 한패가 되다

n. - 이용 가능한 주변 장치의 리스트(컴퓨터), 컬러TV의 양식

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 友達

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) صديق (فعل) يتصادق, يتخادن (اختصار) مختصر : نظام التلفزيون الملون‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חבר, ידיד, ברנש‬
v. intr. - ‮התידד עם‬
n. - ‮מערכת שידורי הטלביזיה הנפוצה באירופה‬


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Pal. (abbreviation)
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TV-out port (technology)