English Explanatory Dictionary

pale

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Light in color.
  2. Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
  3. Feeble, faint.
verb
  1. To turn pale; to lose colour.
  2. To become insignificant.
  3. To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
noun
  1. Paleness; pallor.
noun
  1. A wooden stake; a picket.
  2. A fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
  3. Limits, bounds (especially before of).
  4. A vertical band down the middle of a shield.
  5. A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction.
  6. The parts of Ireland under English jurisdiction.
  7. The territory around Calais under English control (from the 14th to 16th centuries).
  8. A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live (the Pale of Settlement).
  9. The jurisdiction (territorial or otherwise) of an authority.
  10. A cheese scoop.
verb
  1. To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
name
  1. The part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages.

Pronunciation

pāl /peɪl/ en-us-pale.ogg

Word forms

pale paler palest pales paling paled the Pale

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin palleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin pallidus Old French palebor. Middle English pale English pale From Middle English pale, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”), from palleō (“to be pale; to grow pale; to fade”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelito-, from *pelH- (“gray”). Doublet of pallid. Displaced native Old English blāc.

Synonyms

blanch

Related words

impale palisade pallescent

Derived words

American pale ale deathly pale double India pale ale empale English pale English pale ale green and pale imperial India pale ale India pale ale interpale pale ale paleaquult pale as a ghost pale as death pale as milk paleass pale blue dot pale-browed tinamou pale chub pale clouded yellow pale face paleface pale-faced antbird pale-faced bare-eye pale-footed bush warbler pale fox pale goldfinch pale-headed rosella pale into insignificance pale juniper webworm paleleaf palely pale male palemouth paleness pale rider palesome pale-spotted emperor pale swallowtail pale-throated sloth pale thrush pale touch-me-not pale weasel pale western cutworm palewise palish paly per pale unpale pale in comparison pale by comparison beyond the pale go beyond the pale Pale of Settlement within the pale Palesman

Translations

Belarusian: частакол Belarusian: тын Bulgarian: ограда от колове Dutch: palissade Finnish: paaluaita Finnish: tukikohta Finnish: etuvarustus Portuguese: paliçada Russian: частокол
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