Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Pale
Pale
(pāl)
, Adj.
[
Com
par.
Paler
(pāl′ẽr)
; sup
erl.
Palest
.] 1.
Wanting in color; not ruddy; dusky white; pallid; wan;
“Pale as a forpined ghost.” as, a
pale
face; a pale
red; a pale
blue. Chaucer.
Speechless he stood and
pale
. Milton.
They are not of complexion red or
pale
. T. Randolph.
2.
Not bright or brilliant; of a faint luster or hue; dim;
as, the
. pale
light of the moonThe night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little
It looks a little
paler
. Shakespeare
☞ Pale is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, pale-colored, pale-eyed, pale-faced, pale-looking, etc.
Pale
,Noun.
Paleness; pallor.
[R.]
Shak.
Pale
,Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Paled
(pāld)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Paling
.] To turn pale; to lose color or luster.
Whittier.
Apt to
pale
at a trodden worm. Mrs. Browning.
Pale
,Verb.
T.
To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
The glowworm shows the matin to be near,
And ’gins to
And ’gins to
pale
his uneffectual fire. Shakespeare
1.
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.
Deer creep through when a
pale
tumbles down. Mortimer.
2.
That which incloses or fences in; a boundary; a limit; a fence; a palisade.
“Within one pale or hedge.” Robynson (More's Utopia).
3.
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.
5.
A stripe or band, as on a garment.
Chaucer.
6.
(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.
7.
A cheese scoop.
Simmonds.
8.
(Shipbuilding)
A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.
Pale
,Verb.
T.
To inclose with pales, or as with pales; to encircle; to encompass; to fence off.
[Your isle, which stands] ribbed and
With rocks unscalable and roaring waters.
paled
inWith rocks unscalable and roaring waters.
Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Pale
PALE
,Adj.
1.
White or whitish; wan; deficient in color; not ruddy or fresh of color; as a pale face or skin; pale cheeks. We say also, a pale red, a pale blue,that is, a whitish red or blue. Pale is not precisely synonymous with white, as it usually denotes what we call wan, a darkish dun white.2.
Not bright; not shining; of a faint luster; dim; as the pale light of the moon. The night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little paler.
PALE
,Verb.
T.
PALE
,Noun.
1.
A narrow board pointed or sharpened at one end, used in fencing or inclosing. This is with us more generally called a picket.2.
A pointed stake; hence to empale,which see.3.
An inclosure; properly,that which incloses, like fence, limit; hence,the space inclosed. He was born within the pale of the church; within the pale of christianity.4.
District; limited territory.5.
In heraldry, an ordinary, consisting of two perpendicular lines drawn from the top to the base of the escutcheon, and containing the third middle part of the field.PALE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To inclose; to encompass.