KJV Dictionary Definition: pale

pale

PALE, a. L. palleo,pallidus.

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, v.t. To make pale.

PALE, n. L. palus; coinciding with Eng. pole, as well as pale. It has the elements of L. pala,a spade or shovel.

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, v.t. To inclose with pales or stakes.

1. To inclose; to encompass.

paled

PA'LED, pp. Inclosed with pales or pickets.

1. Striped.

palely

PA'LELY, adv. Wanly; not freshly or ruddily.

paleness

PA'LENESS, n. Wanness; defect of color; want of freshness or ruddiness; a sickly whiteness of look.

The blood the virgin's cheek forsook,

A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look.

1. Want of color or luster; as the paleness of a flower.

paling

PA'LING, ppr. Inclosing with pales.

PA'LING, n. A fence formed with pales.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
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