palo

What it means

1. 1.

   A shot or a measure of spirits, nearly always rum. 'Un palito' is the polite offer and 'un palo' the honest one.

2. 2.

   In the morning-after sense, the drink taken to steady oneself: 'un palo pa' la resaca'.

Literally: stick

Examples with translations

• Échame un palito de ron.

  Pour me a little rum.

• Con do' palo' ya tá hablando de má'.

  Two drinks in and he's already saying too much.

Where it comes from

The metaphor of a drink as a blow or a stick is old and widespread in Spanish; the Dominican particularity is how routine it is and how firmly it attaches to rum rather than to spirits in general. Note that palo has an unrelated vulgar sense in several other varieties — in the Dominican Republic the drink reading is the default.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

palito