pallid, a.
(ˈpælɪd)
Also 7 palid.
[ad. L. pallid-us, f. root pall- in pall-ēre to be pale, pall-or paleness.]
Lacking depth or intensity of colour, faint or feeble in colour, wan, pale. (Said chiefly of the human face as affected by death, sickness, or passion, hence transf. of these causes themselves.) Chiefly poet. before 1800, exc. in Bot.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 28 So soone as Night had with her pallid hew Defaste the beautie of the shyning skye. 1591 ― Ruines Rome xv, Ye pallid spirits, and ye ashie ghoasts. 1596 ― F.Q. v. xi. 45 Gainst which the pallid death findes no defence. c 1611 Chapman Iliad viii. 65 Pallid fear made boldest stomachs stoop. 1700 Dryden Fables, Ceyx & Alcyone 484 Then flick'ring to his palid Lips, she strove To print a Kiss. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 409 Involucrum slender, pallid, cloven into segments. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc iii. 315 A blush suffused Her pallid cheek. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1818) II. xix. 125 note, The dorsal segments are covered with very short pallid..hairs. 1876 J. S. Bristowe The. & Pract. Med. (1878) 606 The symptoms due to loss of blood get developed..the patient..becomes excessively pallid. |
b. Comb., as pallid-faced, pallid-looking, pallid-tomentose adjs.; also in comb. with a word of colour, as pallid-grey, pallid-fuliginous, pallid-ochraceous, etc.
| 1887 W. Phillips Brit. Discomycetes 61 Cup subsessile, contorted, pallid-fuliginous. Ibid. 185 Hymenium pale umber or pallid-grey. Ibid. 265 Scattered or gregarious, hemispherical, pallid-tomentose. 1897 P. Warung Tales Old Regime 248 Among the crowd which lined the height was a pallid-faced girl. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 437/1 With the mullet came the pallid-looking suckers. |
Hence ˈpallidly adv., ˈpallidness.
| 1656 Artific. Handsom. 43 [They] sometimes appear pallidly sad, as if they were going to their graves. 1838 Poe A. G. Pym Wks. 1864 IV. 185 Gigantic and pallidly white birds. 1661 Feltham Resolves ii. lxvi. (ed. 8) 328 Let no man then be discouraged with the pallidness of Piety. 1826 Scott Woodst. xvi, The stern repose of the eye, and death-like pallidness of the countenance. |