From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpalpal1 /pæl/ noun [countable] 1 informalFRIEND a close friend → mate We’ve been pals since we were at school. an old pal (=a friend you have had for a long time)► see thesaurus at friend2 spokenUNFRIENDLY used to speak to a man in an unfriendly way Look, pal, I don’t want you hanging around.
Examples from the Corpus
pal• Nicholas was a pal of William's at school.• They'd been pals since childhood.• Oh, but pal - you're wrong.• Listen, pal, I know what I'm talking about, okay?• Eddie turned out to be a pretty absent-minded pal of the road.• The mystery pal held Sporty Spice's hand in a show of support as they left London's Kabaret club.• But his 11-year-old pal panicked because he was frightened of getting into trouble, it was revealed yesterday.• Were all his posse pals going to diss him once word got out?• Thanks for helping us out, Frankie. You're a real pal.• Da Lench Mob are Ice Cube's pals.old pal• See you again, old pal.• Clark preferred the old boy network, and settled on an old pal from the Ministry of Information, Robert Fraser.• There certainly was an old pal to visit, but General Kent did not choose to discuss it.• Who really stands to lose from the hydrogen engine, old pal?• If they lost he'd be out of a job, along with his old pal Frank here.• Hey Matt, old pal, old buddy, this stuff got stolen from us, it was moving, interstate commerce.• She took up with old pals like Carolyn Pride and Kate Menzies.palpal2 verb (palled, palling) → pal around → pal up→ See Verb tableOrigin pal1 (1600-1700) Romany phral, phal “brother, friend”, from Sanskrit bhratr “brother” 