Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to become friendly with.

1862		Birmingham Dly Post 26 Dec. 3/4: ‘I pall’d in with a moll (cohabited with a girl)’.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 502: It was at one of these places down Whitechapel I palled in with a trip and staid with her until I got smugged.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 6: Palling-in Woman - A companion.
1887		J.W. Horsley Jottings from Jail 6: This time I palled in with some older hands at the game.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 82: I found my way back to Vestminster, got palled in with a lot more boys, done a bit of gonnafing or anything to get some posh, but it got too hot, all my pals got nicked.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 73: There are policemen and lawyers who pal in. Some lawyers will give a copper his ‘bit’ if he’ll steer for them.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Oct. 16/3: Promptly a pretty party of Perth pirates palled in with Yorky, and he returned to the Immigrants’ Home at dewy eve, stone, motherless broke.

2. of a man, to cohabit with a woman.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 6/1: A ‘bene cross moll’ [...] in the shape of ‘Mag Gallagher’ whom ‘Squib’ was all the time trying to induce to ‘pal in’ with him.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 19 May 4/5: She had pal’d with a man named Danny Gaynor.
1918		Aussie (France) IX Dec. 9/1: ‘And didn’t you pal in with her?’ Where girls were concerned Jack Mooney was a seeker after knowledge ever.
1927		K. Nicholson Barker I ii: You an’ me’ve been pallin’ together for some time, an’ you’re a good old wagon, but [...] we’re through.

3. to live with another man.

1901

Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Nov. 32/1: Wal, I thinks to meself, he’s an int’restin’ sort of a joker, anyway, an’ I pal’d in with him. I got pretty tired of him, though, after a week.

4. (UK Und.) to work with, e.g. a pickpocketing gang.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 44/1: He was accused of being the greediest and most selfish ‘cross-cove’ that ever ‘palled-in’ to any ‘mob,’ and hints began to arise as to his honesty.
1881		Newcastle Courant 16 Sept. 6/5: The police [...] knew that Nat and Sam had [...] been pal-ing and also that both were at the time staying at the den.

of a man, living with a woman.

1981		(con. 1900–30) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 282: Palled-in – Living with a woman.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 850: [...] C.20.

(UK Und.) a sexual relationship between a male and female thief.

1859

Matsell Vocabulum 62: palling in A connection formed by a male and female thief to steal and sleep together.

to travel as friends.

1890

‘’Arry on the ’Oliday Season’ in Punch 16 Aug. 75/1: Jine me, and we’ll pal off to Parry.

to befriend.

1899

Manchester Eve. News 7 Oct. 4/3: We must pal on to some old miner — eh? Get him to show us the ropes.

to befriend, to associate with.

1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 151: Cheer up Jim i am sorry wot you are lagged and i wont pal with nobody wile your in quod.
1885		‘’Arry on the Elections’ in Punch 12 Dec. 277/2: So I pal’d on the Tory committee, stuck red silk rosettes in my coat.
1888		J. Runciman Chequers 117: Sink me! A flat would pal on to you in half an hour if you coaxed him.
1891		‘’Arry on Arrius’ in Punch 26 Dec. 303/2: As to Arrius [...] no doubt we’d ’ave palled up to rights.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 67: I don’t like them ’ere pecks what’s palling up the boss.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Dec. 20/1: The sportsman who sat on my left conveyed his impression of the youth in a brief whisper – ‘Mug! [...] Solly has him set. Just you watch how he’ll pal up to him for a little business.’.
1905		Wodehouse ‘An International Affair’ in Politeness of Princes [ebook] ‘[H]e and I palled up so much the other day that he offered me a tea for nothing’.
1906		Marvel 13 Oct. 330: You were palling with a bookie at the races.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Lure of the Lucre’ Sporting Times 1 Aug. 1/4: It ne’er struck me for a mo’ that she’d pal on to any ‘pie’.
1917		R. Lardner Gullible’s Travels 123: We amused ourself meanw’ile by givin’ our neighbors the once over and wonderin’ which o’ them was goin’ to pal with us. [Ibid.] 180: From the minute we start till we get home us two’ll pal round together just like we was alone.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 25: He’s been palling around with me.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 154: I palled up here with one of the nicest boys I have met in America.
1924		L. O’Neil ‘Mate o’ Mine’ in Dinkum Aussie and Other Poems 5: So it’s mate o’mine, we will pal it out / Till the earth drops into the sun.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 274: Anna used to pal with the girl high up in society, who went under the name of Mrs. Wilson.
1930		G. Milburn ‘The Hobo’s Last Ride’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 132: And the hobo talked to the lifeless form / Of one he’d palled with for years.
1931		P.J. Wolfson Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] ‘You pal up, bust up because you trust each other so much, and pal up with somebody else again’.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 85: If you could only pal up with a skivvy you were fixed.
1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 42: That’s the price you pay when you pal around with dopes.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 274: Luther Morgan what I palled with on the state farm at Wetumpka.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 287: To pal around you have to have a species of confidence I don’t possess.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 29: How come you pal around with Mick?
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 109: Don’t go way. I thought you was goin’ to pal with me.
1970		‘Troy Conway’ Cunning Linguist (1973) 70: ‘You Albanians have palled around with Red China for too long’.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 21: The three of us used to pal out.
1976		J. Rosenthal Bar Mitzvah Boy Scene 52: Doesn’t he pal out with Maurice Donner’s lad – whatisname?
1996		S. Frank Get Shorty [film script] You show in a back story his motivation, his desire to be famous, you know, pal around with celebrities, the headliners doing the big rooms.
2002		J. Ridley Conversation with the Mann 89: In that scene, in that craaazy scene, Fran and i could pal around stare-free.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘Why do you think I palled up with you inside?’.
2021		‘Aidan Truhen’ Seven Demons 215: [H]ere is Frankie palling it up with those nato guys who went to jail for drugs.