Palette \Pal"ette\, n. [See Pallet a thin board.]

1. (Paint.) A thin, oval or square board, or tablet, with a thumb hole at one end for holding it, on which a painter lays and mixes his pigments. [Written also pallet.]

2. (Anc. Armor) One of the plates covering the points of junction at the bend of the shoulders and elbows. --Fairholt.

3. (Mech.) A breastplate for a breast drill.

Palette knife, a knife with a very flexible steel blade and no cutting edge, rounded at the end, used by painters to mix colors on the grinding slab or palette.

To set the palette (Paint.), to lay upon it the required pigments in a certain order, according to the intended use of them in a picture. --Fairholt.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)