pale

pale¹

—palely, adv. —paleness, n.

/payl/, adj., paler, palest, v., paled, paling.

adj.

1. lacking intensity of color; colorless or whitish: a pale complexion.

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.

v.i., v.t.

5. to make or become pale: to pale at the sight of blood.

[1250-1300; ME < MF < L pallidus PALLID]

Syn. 1. PALE, PALLID, WAN imply an absence of color, esp. from the human countenance. PALE implies a faintness or absence of color, which may be natural when applied to things, the pale blue of a violet, but when used to refer to the human face usually means an unnatural and often temporary absence of color, as arising from sickness or sudden emotion: pale cheeks. PALLID, limited mainly to the human countenance, implies an excessive paleness induced by intense emotion, disease, or death: the pallid lips of the dying man. WAN implies a sickly paleness, as after a long illness: wan and thin; the suggestion of weakness may be more prominent than that of lack of color: a wan smile. 5. blanch, whiten.

Ant. 1. ruddy. 5. darken.

pale²

/payl/, n., v., paled, paling.

n.

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. (cap.) 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.

9. beyond the pale, beyond the limits of propriety, courtesy, protection, safety, etc.: Their public conduct is certainly beyond the pale.

v.t.

10. to enclose with pales; fence.

11. to encircle or encompass.

[1300-50; ME (north), OE pal < L palus stake. See PEEL³, POLE¹]

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District separated from the surrounding country by defined boundaries or set apart by a distinctive administrative and legal system.

In imperial Russia from the late 18th century, the Pale of Settlement was the area in which Jews were permitted to live. By the 19th century it included all of Russian Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Crimea, Bessarabia, and most of Ukraine. It ceased to exist during World War I, when Jews in great numbers fled to the interior, and it was abolished in 1917. The English maintained a pale in Ireland until the entire island was subjugated under Elizabeth I in the 16th century.

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▪ restricted area

      (from Latin palus, “stake”), district separated from the surrounding country by defined boundaries or distinguished by a different administrative and legal system. It is this definition of pale from which the phrase “beyond the pale” is derived.

      In imperial Russia, what came to be called the Pale of Settlement (Cherta Osedlosti) came into being as a result of the introduction of large numbers of Jews (Jew) into the Russian sphere after the three partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795). Adjusting to a population often banned from Russia altogether was a problem that Russian leadership solved by allowing Jews to remain in their current areas of residence and by permitting their settlement in areas of the Black Sea littoral annexed from Turkey, where they could serve as colonists. In three decrees, or ukases, issued in 1783, 1791, and 1794, Catherine II the Great restricted the commercial rights of Jews to those areas newly annexed. In ensuing years, this area became a strictly defined pale, as legal restrictions increasingly proscribed Jewish settlement elsewhere in Russia.

      During the 1860s a few exceptions were made to the increasing restriction of Jews to settlement only in the pale—which by the 19th century included all of Russian Poland, Lithuania, Belarus (Belorussia), most of Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula, and Bessarabia. Some merchants and artisans, those with higher educations, and those who had completed their military service could settle anywhere but in Finland. In the 1880s, however, the pendulum swung back toward restriction. A period of reaction arrived with the ascension of Tsar Alexander III in 1881. That year, the new tsar promulgated the “Temporary Laws,” which, among many regressive measures, prohibited further Jewish settlements outside the pale; and Christians within the pale were allowed to expel Jews from their areas. Occasionally, new areas were proscribed, such as the city and province of Moscow in 1891. Nevertheless, the census of 1897 indicated that most Jews remained confined to the pale. Almost 5,000,000 lived within it; only about 200,000 lived elsewhere in European Russia. The pale ceased to exist during World War I, when Jews in great numbers fled to the interior to escape the invading Germans. The Provisional Government formally abolished it in April 1917.

      Other examples of pales include the English pales in Ireland and France. “The Pale” in Ireland (so named after the late 14th century) was established at the time of Henry II's expedition (1171–72) and consisted of the territories conquered by England, where English settlements and rule were most secure. The pale existed until the entire area was subjugated under Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603). Its area, which varied considerably depending upon the strength of the English authorities, included parts of the modern counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, and Kildare. The Calais pale in northern France (1347–1558) had a perimeter extending from Gravelines in the east to Wissant in the west and enclosing a hinterland 6–9 miles (10–14 km) deep.

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