1
general::
Phrase(s): cross someone’s palm with silver
Fig. to pay money to someone in payment for a service. (A fortune-teller might ask for a potential customer to cross her palm with silver. Used in that sense or jocularly for something like tipping a porter.) • I crossed his palm with silver, but he still stood there. • You will find that things happen much faster in hotels if you cross the staff ’s palms with silver fairly often.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs