PALELY

palely

(adverb) in a pale manner; without physical or emotional color; “his wife, always palely appealing”

pallidly, palely, dimly

(adverb) in a manner lacking interest or vitality; “a palely entertaining show”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adverb

palely (comparative more palely, superlative most palely)

In a pale manner; lightly.

Source: Wiktionary

Pale"ly, adv. Etym: [From Pale, a.]

Definition: In a pale manner; dimly; wanly; not freshly or ruddily. Thackeray.

PALE

Pale, a. [Compar. Paler; superl. Palest.] Etym: [F. pâle, fr. pâlir to turn pale, L. pallere to be oAppall, 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.

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

Pale, n.

Definition: Paleness; pallor. [R.] Shak.

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

Definition: To turn pale; to lose color or luster. Whittier. Apt to pale at a trodden worm. Mrs. Browning.

Pale, v. t.

Definition: To make pale; to diminish the brightness of. The glowpale his uneffectual fire. Shak.

Pale, n. Etym: [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.)

Definition: 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)

Definition: 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.

Pale, v. t.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition