cross someone's palm

present singular third person crosses someone's palm · participle present crossing someone's palm · participle past crossed someone's palm · past crossed someone's palm · alternative cross someone's palm with silver

1. idiomaticTo pay for goods or a service.

   After crossing his palm with a donation, I felt entitled at least to ask where he was from.

   2004 May 9, A. C. Snow, “Wasted lives beckon us to look”, in News & Observer, USA, retrieved 08 Apr 2009

   2 more examples

   For all who cross his palm with silver he condescends to lift the drapery that hides the reclining figure, and the larger the coin the longer the look.

   1910 October 12, “Pay to See Barney Statue: Hindu Butler Reaping a Harvest from Washington's Curious Folk”, in New York Times, retrieved 08 Apr 2009, page 1

   "I'd go into a trance and see if I could locate my chum." "You don't have to do that," declared Arnold. "Just cross my palm with a piece of silver and I'll locate him for you."

   1915, G. Harvey Ralphson, chapter 28, in Boy Scouts in Southern Waters