Word.ws English Dictionary

palliard

UK/ˈpælɪəd/US/ˈpæljɚd/

palliard noun: a beggar or vagrant, especially a professional one; (earlier especially) a lecher.

Noun

palliard (plural palliards)

  1. (archaic) A beggar or vagrant, especially a professional one; (earlier especially) a lecher.
    • A most luxurious and effeminate Palliard he was.1614, Walter Raleigh, Hist. World, II, page 476
    • They all knew him. A palliard, some said on Henley Street, a wild rogue.1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun

Forms of palliard

pluralpalliards
alternative formpaillard

Origin of palliard

From Middle English payllart (1484), Middle French paillard, from Middle French paille (“straw”).

Questions about palliard

What does palliard mean?
Palliard means a beggar or vagrant, especially a professional one; (earlier especially) a lecher.
What part of speech is palliard?
Palliard is a noun.
How do you pronounce palliard?
Palliard is pronounced /ˈpælɪəd/ (UK).
What is the plural of palliard?
The plural of palliard is palliards.

Words near palliard in the dictionary

  1. pallholders
  2. pallia
  3. pallial
  4. palliament
  5. palliaments
  6. palliard
  7. palliardise
  8. palliardize
  9. palliardizing
  10. palliards
  11. palliasse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: palliard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “palliard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/palliard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.