Palaʹver

comes from the Portuguese palavra (talk), which is palaver, a council of African chiefs.

“Comparisons are odorous: palabras [words], neighbour Verges.”—Shakespeare: Much Ado about Nothing, iii. 4.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.