In heraldry, a broad band vertically down a shield. In theory it divides the shield equally into three parts, but in practice it is not that wide, and is a stripe over a field.

A narrow vertical band is called a pallet; pallets do not occur singly.

A field divided in half by a vertical line is described as 'per pale' or 'party per pale'. A field divided into, say, eight equal vertical parts is called 'paly of eight'.

An individual object oriented vertically is described as palewise; a group of objects arranged one above another are described as in pale.

When a shield with a pale is also divided "per fess", that is horizontally in half, it is divided into six regions. In this case the pale does occupy a full third, and each of the six parts is equal.

Pale (?), a. [Compar. Paler (?); superl. Palest.] [F. pale, fr. palir to turn pale, L. pallere to be o look pale. Cf. Appall, Fallow, pall, v. i., Pallid.]

1.

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.

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 moon.

The night, methinks, is but the daylight sick; It looks a little paler. Shak.

Pale is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, pale-colored, pale-eyed, pale-faced, pale-looking, etc.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pale, n.

Paleness; pallor.

[R.]

Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pale, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Paled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Paling.]

To turn pale; to lose color or luster.

Whittier.

Apt to pale at a trodden worm. Mrs. Browning.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pale, v. t.

To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.

The glowworm shows the matin to be near, And gins to pale his uneffectual fire. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pale, n. [F. pal, fr. L. palus: cf. D. paal. See Pol a stake, and lst Pallet.]

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.

4.

A stripe or band, as on a garment.

Chaucer.

5. 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.

6.

A cheese scoop.

Simmonds.

7. Shipbuilding

A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.

English pale Hist., the limits or territory within which alone the English conquerors of Ireland held dominion for a long period after their invasion of the country in 1172.

Spencer.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pale, v. t.

To inclose with pales, or as with pales; to encircle; to encompass; to fence off.

[Your isle, which stands] ribbed and paled in With rocks unscalable and roaring waters. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.

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