GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 6 definitions

1.       
   Pale , a. [Compar. Paler ; superl. Palest.] [F. pâle, fr. pâlir to turn pale, L. pallere to be or look pale. Cf. Appall, Fallow, pall, v. i., Pallid.]
   1913 Webster
   Wanting in color; not ruddy; dusky white; pallid; wan; as, a pale face; a pale red; a pale blue. “Pale as a forpined ghost.”
   Chaucer.
   
   1913 Webster
   Speechless he stood and pale.
   Milton.
   
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   They are not of complexion red or pale.
   T. Randolph.
   
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   Not bright or brilliant; of a faint luster or hue; dim; as, the pale light of the moon.
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   The night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
   It looks a little paler.
   Shak.
   
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   ☞ Pale is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, pale-colored, pale-eyed, pale-faced, pale-looking, etc.
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2.       
   Pale, n. Paleness; pallor. [R.]
   Shak.
   
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3.       
   Pale, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Paled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Paling.] To turn pale; to lose color or luster.
   Whittier.
   
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   Apt to pale at a trodden worm.
   Mrs. Browning.
   
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4.       
   Pale, v. t. To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
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   The glowworm shows the matin to be near,
   And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
   Shak.
   
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5.       
   Pale, n. [F. pal, fr. L. palus: cf. D. paal. See Pole a stake, and 1st Pallet.]
   A pointed stake or slat, either driven into the ground, or fastened to a rail at the top and bottom, for fencing or inclosing; a picket.
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   Deer creep through when a pale tumbles down.
   Mortimer.
   
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   That which incloses or fences in; a boundary; a limit; a fence; a palisade. “Within one pale or hedge.” 
   Robynson (More's Utopia).
   
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   A space or field having bounds or limits; a limited region or place; an inclosure; -- often used figuratively. “To walk the studious cloister's pale.” Milton. “Out of the pale of civilization.” 
   Macaulay.
   
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   Hence: A region within specified bounds, whether or not enclosed or demarcated.
   PJC
   A stripe or band, as on a garment.
   Chaucer.
   
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   (Her.) One of the greater ordinaries, being a broad perpendicular stripe in an escutcheon, equally distant from the two edges, and occupying one third of it.
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   A cheese scoop.
   Simmonds.
   
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   (Shipbuilding) A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.
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   English pale, Irish pale (Hist.), the limits or territory in Eastern Ireland within which alone the English conquerors of Ireland held dominion for a long period after their invasion of the country by Henry II in 1172. See note, below. -- beyond the pale outside the limits of what is allowed or proper; also, outside the limits within which one is protected.
   Spencer.
   
   1913 Webster
   +PJC
    The English Pale. That part of Ireland in which English law was acknowledged, and within which the dominion of the English was restricted, for some centuries after the conquests of Henry II. John distributed the part of Ireland then subject to England into 12 counties palatine, and this region became subsequently known as the Pale, but the limits varied at different times.
   Century Dict., 1906
   
         
       

6.       
   Pale, v. t. To inclose with pales, or as with pales; to encircle; to encompass; to fence off.
   1913 Webster
   [Your isle, which stands] ribbed and paled in
   With rocks unscalable and roaring waters.
   Shak.
   
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