pale 1
— palely , adv. — paleness , n.
/payl/ , adj., paler, palest , v. , paled, paling .
adj.
1. lacking intensity of color; colorless or whitish: a pale complexion.
2. of a low degree of chroma, saturation, or purity; approaching white or gray: pale yellow.
3. not bright or brilliant; dim: the pale moon.
4. faint or feeble; lacking vigor: a pale protest.
v.i. , v.t.
5. to make or become pale: to pale at the sight of blood.
[ 1250-1300; ME pallidus PALLID ]
Syn. 1. PALE, PALLID, WAN imply an absence of color, esp. from the human countenance. PALE implies a faintness or absence of color, which may be natural when applied to things, the pale blue of a violet , but when used to refer to the human face usually means an unnatural and often temporary absence of color, as arising from sickness or sudden emotion: pale cheeks. PALLID, limited mainly to the human countenance, implies an excessive paleness induced by intense emotion, disease, or death: the pallid lips of the dying man. WAN implies a sickly paleness, as after a long illness: wan and thin; the suggestion of weakness may be more prominent than that of lack of color: a wan smile. 5. blanch, whiten.
Ant. 1. ruddy. 5. darken.
pale 2
/payl/ , n. , v. , paled, paling .
n.
1. a stake or picket, as of a fence.
2. an enclosing or confining barrier; enclosure.
3. an enclosed area.
4. limits; bounds: outside the pale of his jurisdiction.
5. a district or region within designated bounds.
6. ( cap. ) Also called English Pale, Irish Pale . a district in eastern Ireland included in the Angevin Empire of King Henry II and his successors.
7. an ordinary in the form of a broad vertical stripe at the center of an escutcheon.
8. Shipbuilding. a shore used inside to support the deck beams of a hull under construction.
9. beyond the pale , beyond the limits of propriety, courtesy, protection, safety, etc.: Their public conduct is certainly beyond the pale.
v.t.
10. to enclose with pales; fence.
11. to encircle or encompass.
[ 1300-50; ME (north), OE pal palus stake. See PEEL 3 , POLE 1 ]