palely


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Idioms, Encyclopedia.
Related to palely: betide
click for a larger image
pale1

pale 1

 (pāl)
n.
1. A stake or pointed stick; a picket.
2. A fence enclosing an area.
3. The area enclosed by a fence or boundary.
4.
a. A region or district lying within an imposed boundary or constituting a separate jurisdiction.
b. Pale The medieval dominions of the English in Ireland. Used with the.
5. Heraldry A wide vertical band in the center of an escutcheon.
tr.v. paled, pal·ing, pales
To enclose with pales; fence in.
Idiom:
beyond the pale
Irrevocably unacceptable or unreasonable: behavior that was quite beyond the pale.

[Middle English, from Old French pal, from Latin pālus; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

pale 2

 (pāl)
adj. pal·er, pal·est
1. Whitish in complexion; pallid.
2.
a. Of a low intensity of color; light.
b. Having high lightness and low saturation.
3. Of a low intensity of light; dim or faint: "a late afternoon sun coming through the el tracks and falling in pale oblongs on the cracked, empty sidewalks" (Jimmy Breslin).
4. Feeble; weak: a pale rendition of the aria.
v. paled, pal·ing, pales
v.tr.
To cause to turn pale.
v.intr.
1. To become pale; blanch: paled with fright.
2. To decrease in relative importance.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pallidus, from pallēre, to be pale; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]

pale′ly adv.
pale′ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adv.1.palely - in a manner lacking interest or vitality; "a palely entertaining show"
2.palely - in a pale manner; without physical or emotional color; "his wife, always palely appealing"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

palely

adv shine, litschwach, matt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

palely

[ˈpeɪllɪ] advpallidamente
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
Mentioned in ?
References in classic literature ?
The lights that glimmered palely across the harbor were the delusive beacons on some coast of fairyland.
As the ripple under the moon broke unexpectedly now and then, and palely flashed in a new shape and with a new sound, so parts of his thoughts started, unbidden, from the rest, and revealed their wickedness.
'Oh, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, Alone and palely loitering?'"
The fire glows brightly on the panelled wall and palely on the window-glass, where, through the cold reflection of the blaze, the colder landscape shudders in the wind and a grey mist creeps along, the only traveller besides the waste of clouds.
Walking fast, he soon stood by the iron gate of their garden, and pushed it open; the outline of the house suddenly appeared sharply before his eyes, and the thin column of the verandah cutting across the palely lit gravel of the terrace.
"ErC* yes." Why is he standing there, alone and palely loitering?
Not exactly the military type, was I?' They both laughed, palely. Michael resisted the urge to take the chap by the shoulders and hug him; to say, I'm glad you're here; you made it.
Within the areas of necrosis were occasional clear spaces, approximately 10-15 [micro]m in size, in which single-celled organisms with palely eosinophilic staining cytoplasm were observed (Fig.
The biopsies showed hyaline rings surrounding histiocytes or multinucleated giant cells and associated with vegetable debris; the latter was seen as palely eosinophilic material with dense cell walls or refractile translucent material arranged in spirals.
Eventually, comedy series about black families, like Bill Cosby's show, came along to belatedly acknowledge the fact that the American population is much more colorfully mixed than palely pink and blandly beige.
True, it was alive with detail: Julian Roberts's plangent bassoon solos, Rainer Gibbons's oboe twisting palely in the gloom at the start of the finale, and pizzicato that ranged from fat and pungent to bitterly wry.