pallet

1 of 2

noun (1)

pal·​let ˈpa-lət 

1

: a portable platform for handling, storing, or moving materials and packages (as in warehouses, factories, or vehicles)

2

: a wooden flat-bladed instrument

3

: a lever or surface in a timepiece that receives an impulse from the escapement wheel and imparts motion to a balance or pendulum

pallet

2 of 2

noun (2)

1

: a straw-filled tick or mattress

2

: a small, hard, or temporary bed

Examples of pallet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

That tent, from one of the biggest brand names at the time, had arrived naked atop a shipping pallet – just the soft-sided tent with a form-fitting waterproof tent cover that had been ripped and beaten up pretty thoroughly. —New Atlas, 13 Dec. 2025

Teinnovations collected and transported more than a dozen pallets of product to the city's storage – pieces of PPE that will bring peace of mind for the foreseeable future. —Sara MacHi, CBS News, 11 Dec. 2025

Plastic film is not only used to cover food items being delivered for room service, but also to hold the pallets and boxes of goods that are moved across the property. —Katherine Fung, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025

This is no joke; the $38,000 work is drawn on a series of moleskins that, folded together, creates a pallet the size of a brick of cocaine. —Jane Wooldridge, Miami Herald, 7 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle French palette, literally, small shovel — more at palette

Noun (2)

Middle English paillet, from Anglo-French paillete bundle of straw, from paille straw, from Latin palea chaff, straw; akin to Sanskrit palāva chaff

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pallet

• alate
• ballot
• fallot
• mallet
• palate
• palette
• shallot

Kids Definition

pallet

noun

pal·​let

ˈpal-ət

1

: a straw-filled mattress

2

: a small, hard, or temporary bed