▪ I. † ˈpaly, n. Obs.
Also 5 paley, payly.
[a. OF. paille (12th c. in Littré):—L. palea chaff.]
Bran.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 49/2 Bren, or bryn, or paley, cantabrum, furfur. Ibid. 379/1 Paly of brynne, cantabrum. Ibid. 457/1 Syvedys, or brynne, or palyys, furfur. |
▪ II. paly, a.1 Chiefly poet.
(ˈpeɪlɪ)
Also 6–7 palie, 9 paley.
[f. pale a. + -y.]
Of a pale kind or aspect; pale, or somewhat pale.
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xiv. 3 Hornit Dyane, with hir paly glemis. 1584 Lodge Hist. Forbonius & Prisc. (Shaks. Soc.) 103 Bloud forsooke His palie face. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 141. 1742 Gray Propertius ii. 20 Monthly waning hides her paly fires. 1778 Langhorne Owen of Carron xii. iii, Fear O'er all his paly visage glides. 18.. J. H. Newman Verses on Var. Occas. (1868) 210 See, the golden dawn is glowing, While the paly shades are going. 1886 Stevenson Prince Otto ii, You look paley. |
▪ III. paly, a.2 Her.
(ˈpeɪlɪ)
Also 6 palle, palie.
[ad. F. palé (13th. c. in Littré), f. pal pale n.1]
Said of the shield (or of a bearing) when divided palewise, i.e. by vertical lines, into an even number of equal stripes of alternate tinctures.
paly bendy, divided both palewise and bendwise, i.e. vertically and diagonally, with alternate tinctures. Paly pily: see pily.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. B iv b, Whan a cootarmure is paly of dyuerse colouris to the poynt. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xxv. 70 His armes are palle golde and goules. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry v. iv. (1611) 245 Pales and bends born one ouerthwart the other, for which cause the same is termed paly-bendy. 1769 New Peerage I. 118 Arms. Paly of six, or and azure; a canton, ermine. 1892 C. E. Norton Dante's Paradise 109 note, His scutcheon was paly of four, argent and gules. |