da unas palmaditas ? What does this mean?

Question

Hello,

Entonces, el más joven de los soldados se acerca a él, le da unas palmaditas en la espalda para tranquilizarle, le pregunta si es un ladrón, con voz suave, mientras el otro gimotea.

This Sentence is from a newspaper. I am not sure what the word da unas palmaditas means. Does anyone know? Also the dictionary of spanishdict does not recognize the word/verb(?). The explanation on the Internet is not clear to me. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Dar palmadas en la espalda = to slap on the back

Here it may be "pats on the back" to calm him. - 0074b507, Nov 20, 2011

see here: http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/palmada - 0074b507, Nov 20, 2011

Answer 2

Also the dictionary of spanishdict does not recognize the word/verb(?)

It's just the diminutive form of "palmada" (which the dictionary does have).