Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "palmetto" [pal•met•to]

  • Any of several small, mostly tropical palms having fan-shaped leaves, especially one of the genus Sabal, such as S. palmetto of the southeast United States. Also called sabal. (noun)
  • Leaf strips of any of these plants, used in weaving. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "palmetto" in a sentence
  • "For those of you who don't know a palmetto is a tree (beautiful in my opinion) that most southereners think of as a weed."
  • "It's what they call palmetto cabbage, and it's very good to eat too, I can tell you. ""
  • "Now, not some little inch longer sucker but the kind they call palmetto bugs down south – the big three to four inch longs fuckers."