Pale

[peyl] /peɪl/

adjective, paler, palest.
1.

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.
verb (used with or without object), paled, paling.
5.
to make or become pale:
to pale at the sight of blood.
[peyl] /peɪl/
noun
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.
(initial capital letter). 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.
verb (used with object), paled, paling.
9.
to enclose with pales; fence.
10.
to encircle or encompass.
Idioms
11.
beyond the pale, beyond the limits of propriety, courtesy, protection, safety, etc.:
Their public conduct is certainly beyond the pale.
1.
variant of before most vowels:
paleethnology.
/peɪl/
adjective
1.
lacking brightness of colour; whitish: pale morning light
2.
(of a colour) whitish; produced by a relatively small quantity of colouring agent
3.
dim or wan: the pale stars
4.
feeble: a pale effort
5.
(South African) a euphemism for White
verb
6.
to make or become pale or paler; blanch
7.
(intransitive) often foll by before. to lose superiority or importance (in comparison to): her beauty paled before that of her hostess
/peɪl/
noun
1.
a wooden post or strip used as an upright member in a fence
2.
an enclosing barrier, esp a fence made of pales
3.
an area enclosed by a pale
4.
a sphere of activity within which certain restrictions are applied
5.
(heraldry) an ordinary consisting of a vertical stripe, usually in the centre of a shield
6.
beyond the pale, outside the limits of social convention
verb
7.
(transitive) to enclose with pales
adj.

early 14c., from Old French paile “pale, light-colored” (12c., Modern French pâle), from Latin pallidus “pale, pallid, wan, colorless,” from pallere “be pale, grow pale,” from PIE *pel- (2) “pale” (see pallor). Pale-face, supposed North American Indian word for “European,” is attested from 1822.
n.

early 13c. (c.1200 in Anglo-Latin), “stake, pole, stake for vines,” from Old French pal and directly from Latin palus “stake, prop, wooden post,” related to pangere “to fix or fasten” (see pact).

From late 14c. as “fence of pointed stakes;” figurative sense of “limit, boundary, restriction” is from c.1400. Barely surviving in beyond the pale and similar phrases. Meaning “the part of Ireland under English rule” is from 1540s, via sense of “territory held by power of a nation or people” (mid-15c.).
v.

late 14c., “become pale; appear pale” (also, in Middle English, “to make pale”), from Old French paleir (12c.) or from pale (adj.). Related: Paled; paling.
see: beyond the pale