▪ I. pace, n.1
(peɪs)
Forms: 3–5 pas, 4–5 paas, pass(e, 4–7 pase, 5 pasce, 5–6 Sc. pais(s, 6 Sc. paice, 4– pace.
[ME. a. OF. pas:—L. passum (nom. passus) a step, pace, lit. a stretch (of the leg), f. pass-, ppl. stem of pandĕre to stretch, extend.]
I. A step, and derived senses.
1. a. A single separate movement made by the leg in walking, running, or dancing; a step.
| 13.. Coer de L. 536, I bad hym ryde forth hys wey,..Ageyn he com be another pas. a 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. App. iv. 105 Eueri fote þat þou gas Þyn Angel poynteþ hit vch a pas. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xvi. 174 Summe..at euery thrydde pas þat þei gon..þei knelen. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. xvi. 47 [They] shal marche paas by paas. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1391 Pale cowards, marching on with trembling paces. 1634 [see pace v. 1 d]. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 589 Behind her Death Close following pace for pace. 1832 Tennyson Lady of Shalott iii. v, She made three paces thro' the room. |
† b. fig. A ‘step’ in any process or proceeding.
| [1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 227 Her fete she suffered neuer to moue one pase, but yf she dyscussed fyrste what profyte shulde come therof.] a 1628 Preston New Covt. (1634) 210 We are not to be judged by a few actions, and a few paces, but by the constant tenor of our life. a 1698 Temple (J.), The first pace necessary for his majesty to make, is to fall into confidence with Spain. |
2. The space traversed by one step; hence as a vague measure of distance.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Sam. vi. 13 And whanne thei hadden stied ouer, that baren the arke of the Lord, sexe paas, thei offreden an oxe and a wether. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 69 Olyuer..came a foure paas nyghe vnto Fyerabras. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1332/1 On his left hand somewhat more than halfe a pase beneath him. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 193 Ten paces huge He back recoild. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 106 Five hundred and seventy of my paces in length. 1879 Cassell's Technic. Educ. IV. 92/2 In many cases the pace of the surveyor is used for determining distances. |
3. A definite but varying measure of length or distance; sometimes reckoned as the distance from where one foot is set down to where the other is set down (about 2½ feet), as the military pace; sometimes as that between successive stationary positions of the same foot (about 5 feet), as the geometrical pace.
| 13.. K. Alis. 7804 An c. pas is hygh the wal. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxix. (1495) 937 The pace conteyneth fyue fete and the perche enleuen pace and ten fete. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 46 A c. pascez þeine..es þe charnell of þe hospitale. 1555 Eden Decades 323 To measure the earth by furlonges, pases and feete. 1692 Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. ii. xxvi. 135 (At one deg. of Mounture) she conveyed her Shot 1125 Feet, or 225 Paces. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 282 An open walk of an hundred and eight paces in length leads to the fountain. 1841 Lever C. O'Malley vi. (The Man for Galway), To kiss your wife, Or take your life At ten or fifteen paces. 1842 Brande Dict. Sci. etc. s.v., The ancient Roman pace..was five Roman feet,..hence the pace was about 58·1 English inches, and the Roman mile, the ‘mille passus’, equal to 1614 yards. |
II. The action of stepping, and derived senses.
4. a. The action, or (usually) manner, of stepping, in walking or running; gait, step, walk, way of walking or progression. (See also 7.)
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5635 For some meschaunce of þe king he made so glad pas. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 555 And Absolon gooth forth a sory pas. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 235 Whoso hath the Paas large and slow, he is wyse and wel spedynge. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. xi. 76 Litle Iulus.. With wnmeit paiss his fader fast followand. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. l. vii, But loe, thou see'st I march another pace. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 708 Late to lag behind, with truant pace. 1769 Sir W. Jones Palace Fortune Poems (1777) 20 Now came an aged sire with trembling pace. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop i, The little creature accommodating her pace to mine. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. iii. Nativity ii. i, I steal with quiet pace, My pitcher at the well to fill. |
† b. Course, way (in walking or running). Obs.
| 13.. Cursor M. 19076 (Edinb.) To þe tempil he sped his pas. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 6 Wherof mi limes ben so dull, I mai unethes gon the pass [rime was]. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxviii. 364 To Ierusalem take we the pace. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 770 It is a small creature to see to, keeping on the pace very fearfully. 1657 Howell Londinop. 87 We will direct our pace downward now. 1727 Gay Fables i. xvii, In vain the dog pursu'd his pace. |
† c. transf. and fig. Movement, motion; manner of going on. (Cf. 7 b.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 208 O fieble Moone vnhappy been thy paas [v.r. pas]. 1603 T. Wilson in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 201 Our English affayres goe on with a smooth pace and a smilinge countenance. c 1611 Chapman Iliad i. 394 The Pow'r whose pace doth move The round earth, heav'n's great Queen, and Pallas. |
† 5. A walking pace, walking (as distinguished from running, etc.). Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 15392 (Cott.) Fra þan he ran him ilk fote, ne yode he noght þe pas, til he com him til þat in. Ibid. 15872 (Cott.) His hend þai band and ledd him forth A-trott and noght þe pas [so Gött.; Fairf. & Trin. a pas]. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 22 His hat heeng at his bak doun by a laas ffor he hadde riden moore than trot or paas. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 41 Withinne his chambre..He goth now doun nou up fulofte, Walkende a pass. |
6. a. Any one of the various gaits or manners of stepping of a horse, mule, etc., esp. when trained. Also fig., esp. in such phr. as to put through his paces, referring to the various accomplishments or actions of which a person or thing is capable.
| 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 5 A horse may ouer reach in a true pace. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 327 Time trauels in diuers paces, with diuers persons: Ile tell you who Time ambles withall, who Time trots withal, who Time gallops withal, and who he stands stil withall. 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 200/4 A dark brown Gelding..having all his paces. 1713 Ibid. No. 5127/12 Stoln or stray'd.., a brown bay Gelding,..his Pace, Trot and Gallop. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The natural paces of a horse are three, viz. the walk, trot, and gallop: to which may be added an amble; because some horses have it naturally. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv, I had..put my horse through all his paces,..at last a chapman approached. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Voy. Eng., The captain affirmed that the ship would show us in time all her paces. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. i. vii. 81, I see she means to put him through his paces. |
b. A particular gait of the horse (or other quadruped); usually identified with amble, but now sometimes used as equivalent to rack (cf. pace v. 3).
| 1663 Butler Hud. i. ii. 46 They rode, but Authors having not Determin'd whether Pace or Trot... We leave it, and go on. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Pace is more particularly understood of that easy low motion wherein the horse raises the two feet of the same side at a time; called also amble. 1840 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §1036 The walk may be irregular, though laterally conducted, as we see in the walk of the pace, which, if expedited, produces the amble. 18.. Strickland Freeman ibid., The poise being altered by the will of the horse, the off fore [leg] seemed to begin, and not to be succeeded by the off hind-foot being set down at the same time after it, as in the walk of the pace. 1885 Field 17 Oct., Col. Dodge's definition of a rack is that it is half⁓way between a pace and a trot. |
III. Rate of movement, etc.
7. a. Rate of stepping; rate of progression (of a person or animal); speed in walking or running. Usually with qualifying adj. (Cf. also 4.)
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 393/15 Þis best orn with gret pas. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3515 Ne go swyþer þan softe paas. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xiv. 315 He sette hymselfe for to goo the waye so gret pase that no horse cowde not have waloped so fast. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lv. 185 The horse wold nother trot nor galop but go styll his owne pase. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxi. 211 Their ordinary pace is a race. 1693 Dryden Juvenal x. (1697) 246 The Beggar Sings,..and never mends his pace. 1743 J. Davidson æneid vii. 185 Set forward with quick pace. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xx, He quickened his pace, and took up new threads of talk. |
b. transf. and fig. Rate of movement in general, or of action figured as movement; speed, velocity. spec., in Cricket, the speed of a bowler's delivery; the velocity of a ball bowled; also ellipt., = pace-bowling.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 216 Fro silver wellys..Comethe cristal water rennyng a gret pas. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iv. 93 What pace is this that thy tongue keepes. Mar. Not a false gallop. 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 357 If they go the pace of their ancestors, I would tell them plainly they would not sit long. 1788 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 223 While we stood there the ship mended her pace. 1800 T. Boxall Rules & Instr. Cricket 15, I think it very proper not to bowl always the same pace. Ibid. 34 The striker must judge for himself what pace the bowler is bowling. 1816 W. Lambert Instr. & Rules Cricket 18 Never bowl faster than you can do..well, varying your pace as you may judge proper. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 29 Had British industry not been aided by Watt's invention, it must have gone on with a retarding pace, in consequence of the increasing cost of motive power. 1900 P. F. Warner Cricket in Many Climes 90 In Cobb and Kelly the New York team had two capital bowlers. The former is right-hand, and varies his pace well. 1955 [see back-lift s.v. back- B]. 1976 0–10 Cricket Scene (Austral.) 7/1 Many [innings] have been an amazing barrage of brutal driving, hooking and cutting against both pace and spin. |
c. pace of the table (Billiards), pace of the wicket, ground (Cricket): the degree of elasticity of the cushions, or of the ground, as affecting the velocity of motion of the ball. (Cf. fast a. 9.)
| 1873 Bennett & Cavendish Billiards 77 The pace of the table makes a material difference in the strength with which this stroke should be played. 1888 R. H. Lyttelton in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket ii. 52 In back play, unless the ball is very short, the pace of the ground may beat a man. 1897 Daily News 1 Nov. 7/2 He took four hours and fifty minutes to get his runs, and said that the extreme pace of the wicket bothered him. 1903 A. C. Maclaren in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket ix. 252 Too much importance ought never to be attached to the opening game, owing to those who have not previously visited Australia being wholly unaccustomed..to the fast pace of the wicket. 1955 Times 9 May 15/1 He spun it, too, and one can imagine how dangerous he might be on wickets with any pace in them. |
8. Phrases. a. to keep (hold) pace: to maintain the same speed of movement; to advance at an equal rate; to keep up with. (lit. and fig.)
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 445 My legs can keepe no pace with my desires. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 350 Lions and Camels only..keep pace in their march, foot by foot, that is to say, they never set their left foot before their right, nor ouer-reach with it. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 61 Who have held pace..with you in our evill wayes. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. xv, His luxuries kept pace with the affluence of his fortune. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. ii. iv. (1869) I. 359 The interest of money, keeping pace always with the profits of stock. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia v. xii, [He] walked so fast that they could hardly keep pace with him. 1876 Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. ii. xiii. 355 Boys..found incapable of keeping pace with the rest of their fellows. 1893 Nat. Observer 30 Sept. 505/1 Watts would have made a better race with La Flêche if he had pushed to the front, since she can hold a hot pace. |
b. to go the pace: to go along at great speed; fig. to proceed with reckless vigour of action; to indulge in dissipation; to ‘go it’. to set the pace: to fix or regulate the speed.
| 1829 Sporting Mag. XXIV. 47 The hounds went the pace over the heath towards Lymington. 1854 in Brasenose Ale 126 Each man will say you made them go the pace. 1866 Mrs. H. Wood St. Martin's Eve xxi, He went the pace..as other young men do. 1890 Licensed Victuallers' Gaz. 5 Dec. 363/1 Fresh from Oxford, Arthur had been going the pace. 1892 [see blind a. (and adv.) 1 i]. 1905 A. Bennett Tales of Five Towns i. 109 Well, you have been going the pace! We always knew you were a hot un, but really—. 1928 Barrie Peter Pan 1, in Plays 19 Nana must go about all her duties in a most ordinary manner..; naturalness must be her passion; indeed, it should be the aim of every one in the play, for which she is now setting the pace. 1928 E. Wingfield-Stratford Hist. Brit. Civilization II. iii. 1090 Britain was ceasing to set the pace to her neighbours; she was beginning to show signs of flagging in the race. 1958 Engineering 4 Apr. 424/2 Do things before anyone else not wait to see what someone else does—set the pace and keep them hopping. |
IV. Special senses.
9. A step of a stair or the like; a part of a floor raised by a step; a stage, platform. Cf. foot-pace 2, halpace.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9948 (Cott.) A tron of iuor graid..Climband vp wit seuen pass [v.rr. pas, pace]. 1535 Hampton Court Accts., 104 fote of hardston rought pase, for the steppes in the Quere. 1845 Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 4) I. 267 Pace, a broad step, or slightly raised space about a tomb, etc.; a portion of a floor slightly raised above the general level. |
† 10. A passage, narrow way; esp. a. a pass between mountains, rocks, bogs, woods, etc.; b. a narrow channel at sea, a strait. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 23735 We agh be bun at bide to pass þe pase þat es sa herd. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 300 Ȝe, þorw þe pas of altoun Pouerte myȝte passe with-oute peril of robbynge. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. ix, Thou shalt not passe a paas here that is called the paas perillous. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 368 [He] pullit wpe saillis and came stoutlie throw the pace of Calies. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 19 She forward went, As lay her iourney, through that perlous Pace. a 1604 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 1 Making paces thorow woods and thickets. 1612 Stat. Irel. (1765) I. 444 The high-ways and cashes and paces and passages throughout the woods of this kingdom. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 81 He caused..the woods to be cut downe on both sides of the Pace. |
† 11. a. In a church: A passage between the seats. b. middle pace: the nave; of one pace, of a nave only. Obs.
| 1499 Will of J. Robert (Somerset Ho.), To be buried in the myddell pace before the high crosse. 1507 Will of Cornell (ibid.), In the pace ayenst saint Kateryn Chapell dore. 1518 Will of Hopkynson (ibid.), The middill pase of the church. 1772 Muilman Hist. Essex VI. 164 The church consists of a middle pace and two aysles, but the chancel hath only a north aysle, all leaded. 1828 J. Hunter South Yorkshire I. 84 The church is of one pace, with a tower at the west end. Ibid. 89. |
† 12. A passage (in a narrative or other writing); a section, division, chapter, canto, etc. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18583 Nu haf yee herd be tald þe pas, Hu þat he harud hell and ras. c 1400 Destr. Troy 663 The lady..Past to hir priue chamber: & here a pas endis. 14.. ABC Poem on Passion 44 in Pol., Rel. & L.P. 245 Lystyn a lytyl pas. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 24 Philosophers haue vsed to diuide old age as it were into certaine spaces, paces, or progresses. |
† 13. A ‘company’ or herd of asses. Obs.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vj b, A Pase of Assis. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 132/1 A company of..Asses [is] a Pace. |
14. attrib. and Comb., as pace-goer; pace-aisle, pace-board (cf. senses 9, 11); pace-bowling (hence pace bowler), pace-change, pace-man (cf. senses 7 b, c); pace-stick, a stick used to measure (military) paces. See also pace-maker, pace-setter.
| 1877 Lee Gloss. Liturg. Terms, *Pace-aisle, the ambulatory round the back of a high altar. *Pace-board, a platform of wood before an altar. |
| 1951 People 3 June 8/6 Good news to-day about Alec Bedser and Trevor Bailey, the two *pace bowlers likely to be chosen to open England's attack in the First Test. 1976 Scotsman 24 Dec. 15/7 But whatever flaws the Australian batting may suggest, their pace bowlers, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, seem the likeliest match-winners. |
| 1958 Listener 16 Oct. 604/1 England had no powerful reserves of *pace-bowling strength to call on. |
| 1951 R. Robinson in A. Ross Cricketer's Compan. (1960) iii. 396 Not satisfied with..a wide range of *pace-changes, he rings in a leg-break or a round-armer now and again. |
| 1870 Meade New Zealand 328 A pair of legs which looked like *pace-goers by land or water. |
| 1974 Times 25 Nov. 10/2 Prasanna, coming in at No. 10, edged, slashed and drove the West Indies *pacemen to distraction. 1976 0–10 Cricket Scene (Austral.) 11/1 The deadpan wickets in England were enough to cause a speedster to retire, but Lillee's speed genius and dedication earned him 21 wickets—more than any paceman on either side. |
| 1833 Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 16 The *pace stick must be used to measure..his step. 1876 Albemarle 50 Yrs. Life II. 219 Drill-sergeants followed them everywhere, to prove by the pace-stick whether they had accomplished the regulation number of inches at each stride. |
Add: [III.] [7.] d. The rate of progression (of speech, writing, etc.); the speed with which the action of a story, etc., unfolds; rhythm, tempo.
| 1952 E. O'Neill Moon for Misbegotten i. 63 Before I'm through with you, you'll think you're the King of England at an Irish Wake. (With a quick change of pace to a wheedling tone) Tell me now [etc.]. 1962 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing (ed. 9) ii. 132 The submarine is briefly shown surfacing—the shot..is quickly followed by the explosion itself. With the explosion dying down, the pace suddenly relaxes..and the calm music takes over. 1976 M. Hunter Talent is not Enough 27, I could give my story the bite and pace it needed. 1982 S. Brett Murder Unprompted vii. 75 The dialogue which ran up to it showed good pace. |
e. The rate or speed at which life is led; esp. in phr. the pace of life.
| 1953 P. Gallico Foolish Immortals xv. 103 There was a breathlessness to the pace and push of this city that he found overwhelming. 1977 Time 22 Aug. 8/2 Bad Ischl has a leisurely pace, lovely promenades and open-air concerts. 1982 N. Sedaka Laughter in Rain (1983) iv. xxiv. 200 The brutal pace drove me to drink—two vodka martinis and a half bottle of wine every night. 1987 J. Uglow George Eliot i. 13 The pace of life had accelerated, the railway had pierced provincial seclusion. |
▪ II. pace, n.2 Sc. and north. dial.
(peːs)
Also 4 pas, 5 (9) paas, 5–6 pase, Sc. payce, paiss.
[In 15th c. paas from earlier pask; cf. northern as, ass, from ask, ash n.2, etc. In Washington Irving perh. from Du. paasch, pronounced paas.]
Easter, Easter-tide; = pasch. pace eggs, dial. paste-eggs (LG. paaschey, F. œufs de pâques) Easter eggs; hence pace-egger, pace-egging: see Eng. Dial. Dict.
| 1385 in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 410/2 Deferryt tyl his lauchfull day next eftir pas. c 1425 Wyntoun Chron. viii. i. 3 The sextene day efftyr Pase. c 1440 York Myst. xxvii. 4 Here will I holde..The feeste of Paas. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxvi. 19 And nevir is glaid at Ȝule nor Paiss. 1530 Palsgr. 805 At Pace, a Pasques. 1568 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 87 He wold stand up upon paysunday. c 1570 Ibid. 239 Upon Pase monday was a twelmonth last past. 1579 G. Gilpin tr. Rabbotem's Bee-Hive Rom. Ch. ii. (1580) 15 Holy ashes, holy paceegges, & flames, palmes and palme boughes. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Pasque, Oeufs de Pasques, Paste-egges. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. vii. ii, There was a great cracking of eggs at Paas or Easter. 1872 Hardwick Trad. Lanc. 73 [They] sallied forth during Easterweek ‘a pace-egging’ as it was termed. 1876 Prayer Bk. Interleaved 117 The custom of asking for Pace..eggs. |
† b. Extended, like med.L. pascha (see Du Cange) to other great church festivals, e.g. Christmas. (Cf. OF. pasque de Noël, Sp. pascua de Natividad or simply Pascua.) Obs.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3393 Done solempnite of pace. |
▪ III. pace, v.
(peɪs)
Also 6–7 pase.
[f. pace n.1]
1. a. intr. To move with paces or steps; to walk with a slow, steady, or regular pace: to step along.
| 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 161 The payntit povne, pasand with plomys gym, Kest vp his taill. 1570 Levins Manip. 7/3 To Pace, gradi. 1587 Greene Euphues his Censure Wks. (Grosart) VI. 164 Hector pazing hand in hand with Achilles, Troilus with Vlisses. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iii. 120, I will euen take my leaue of you, & pace softly towards my Kinsmans. 1769 Gray Install. Ode 35 Pacing forth With solemn steps and slow. 1814 Cary Dante, Inf. xxiv. 11 There paces to and fro, wailing his lot, As a discomfited and helpless man. |
b. transf. and fig. To proceed or advance in speech or action.
| 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. i. 23, I..with speed so pace To speake of Perdita. 1639 W. Sclater Worthy Commun. 49 Let not the moone pace over the Zodaick oftner..then we performe, if possible, our course this way. |
c. Also to pace it. (See it 9.)
| 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. i. vi. 8 The nimble dactyls striving to out-go, The drawling spondees pacing it below. 1652 Peyton Catastr. Ho. Stuarts (1731) 23 Charles insted of pacing it, ran violently to destroy his subjects. |
d. trans. with cognate or adverbial object.
| 1598 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vi. 12 Where is the horse that doth vntread againe His tedious measures with the vnbated fire, That he did pace them first? 1634 Documents agst. Prynne (Camden) 20 Soe many paces as a man paceth in daunceinge soe manye steppes hee is forward to hell. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 438 Sentinels paced the rounds day and night. |
e. With away: To spend (time) in pacing.
| 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 194 He paced away the pleasant hours of ease. |
2. trans. To traverse with paces or steps; to walk with measured pace along (a path) or about (a place); hence, To measure by pacing. Also fig.
| 1571 Digges Pantom. ii. xi. N j b, You maye..measure euery side, and line..as exactely as with corde, or pole, ye should paynfully pase it ouer. 1693 in Hearne's Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 342, I paced it, and found it to bee 70 of my Paces in Length. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest v, Louis was pacing the room in apparent agitation. 1801 Southey Thalaba v. note, It..is, as far as I could judge by my pacing it, a large quarter of a league. 1878 Masque Poets 195 She rose and paced the room like one distracted. 1921 W. de la Mare Veil 24 She paced in pride The uncharted paths men trace in ocean's foam. 1955 Sci. News Let. 26 Mar. 201/1 The red maple is one of the first trees to wear its now flower-patterned spring frock. Experts use it as a milestick for pacing spring weather northward because it is one of the few trees that grows from Florida to Quebec. |
3. a. intr. Of a horse, etc.: To move with the gait called a pace (see pace n.1 6 b): (a) to amble; (b) in recent use (chiefly U.S.), to rack (rack v.4).
| 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 317/2 I'll..have thy pasterns well roll'd, and thou shalt pace again by to-morrow. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 137 Men for a space pace in prosperity, But at the last trot hard in misery. 1673 Lond. Gaz. No. 819/4 Stolen..one Bay Mare..paces naturally. 1677 Ibid. No. 1222/4 A Sorrel Chesnut Gelding..walks well, paces little, but trotteth high. 1709 Ibid. No. 4543/4 Stray'd or stoln..a Sorrel Gelding..does not pace. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike 42 The procession..overtook Mr. W.,.. pacing to business on his gray pony. 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., Pace, to move, as a horse, at the pace, by lifting the feet on the same side synchronously. 1903 Daily Mail 11 Mar., A horse trots when his off fore and near hind legs strike the ground simultaneously, and he paces when the legs of a side move in unison, like those of two riders on a tandem cycle. |
b. trans. (With cognate or adverbial object.)
| 1607 Markham Caval. (1617) 148 In this ring you shall exercise your horse..making him pace it, and doe his changes first uppon foote pace onely; when he can pace them perfitely, then you shall make him trott. Ibid. 152 You may begin with the two distinct or several rings, which after he have pac'd, trotted and gallopped, then..stop. |
4. trans. To train (a horse) to pace; to exercise in pacing. Also fig.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iii. 137. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 64 The third oth' world is yours, which with a Snaffle, You may pace easie, but not such a wife. 1607 Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 82 You must then leaue exercising him in any lesson..and onely pace or trott him fairely forth right. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6258/3 A bay Mare,..lately paced. |
5. a. To set the pace for (a rider, boat's crew, etc.) in racing or training for a race. Also transf. and fig.
| 1886 N.Y. Herald in Cyclist 3 Nov. 82/1 Crocker was paced by Woodside, Rowe and Hender on bicycles. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 22 Mar. 5/3 Oxford had the advantage of the assistance of a Thames Rowing Club eight to pace them. 1961 A. Berkman Singers' Gloss. Show Business 65 Pacing an act, making a line-up plan of the songs used in an act, so that the interest and enthusiasm of the audience builds up to the end. 1962 Listener 31 May 947/1, I had been pacing him in meetings all over the country—that is, talking, to keep the crowd..until Cook should arrive. 1967 Technology Week 23 Jan. 64/1 The past history of the design and construction of the vehicles and their propulsion systems..has been paced by the major developments in the materials fields. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 18/9 The Hawks outscored the Gens 4–1 in the third period to take the victory. Dennis Giannini paced the winners with two goals. 1968 P. Oliver Screening Blues ii. 82 ‘Lining out’ in which a lead singer paces a line and the congregation follows with the same line or a refrain response with a linear reply. 1969 Times 13 Dec. (Sat. Rev.) p. iv/4 He knows to a nicety just how to pace a book. 1973 Internat. Herald Tribune 15 June 15/4 In the American League, Jim Spencer drove in two runs, one with his third homer of the season, in the seventh, to pace Texas to a 4–2 triumph. 1977 Sci. Amer. June 138/3 It is the development of the remarkable military reconnaissance programs that has indirectly paced civilian technology in the postwar years. |
b. Med. To make (the heart) beat at an appropriate rate by stimulating it with pulses of electricity.
| 1963 Brit. Heart Jrnl. XXV. 299 When the heart was paced by ventricular stimulation, mean left atrial pressure was higher..than when the atrium was paced at the same rate. 1973 Segel & Samet in P. Samet Cardiac Pacing iv. 82 The coronary sinus provides another area from which the heart can be paced. |
¶ 6. A corruption of or blunder for parse. Obs. (Showing that pace was pronounced as pass.)
| 1594 Lyly Moth. Bomb. i. iii, I am no Latinist Cand. you must conster it. Can. So I will and pace it too: thou shalt be acquainted with case, gender, and number. |
▪ IV. pace, prep.
(ˈpeɪsiː, ˈpɑːkeɪ)
[L., abl. sing. of pax peace as used e.g. in phr. pāce tuā by your leave.]
By the leave of (a person).
Used chiefly as a courteous or ironical apology for a contradiction or difference of opinion.
| 1863 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 662/1 Mendelssohn was an artist passionately devoted to his art, who (pâce Dr. Trench) regarded art as virtù. 1883 Standard 1 Sept. 2/2 Pace the late Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Mr. Scofield is right. 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 720/1 The colour [of fruit]..is a tacit invitation (pace the gardener) to the feast. 1931 R. L. Mégroz Joseph Conrad's Mind & Method vii. 170 Stevenson..was regarded by the English critics who, (pace Mr. Olage) so dislike fine writing on fine subjects, as a master of prose in fiction. 1955 Times 7 July 9/6 Nor, pace Mr. Smith, was I for one moment defending immorality in the journalist. 1973 A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern Anc. Greek iv. 116 Indeed, pace Chomsky and Halle, we would probably want it to be impossible for mid glides to exist at all. 1974 ‘M. Underwood’ Pinch of Snuff iii. 23 It was something he greatly prized—pace Whitby-Stansford. 1976 Conservation News Nov./Dec. 4/2, I find (a) incredible (pace Herman Kahn). |
b. In Latin phr. pace tanti viri: by the leave or favour of so great a man.
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. II. 101 Dr. Shaw..says, he has seen flakes of sulphur floating in the well.—Pace tanti viri; I, for my part, have never observed any thing like sulphur, either in or about the well. 1855 Sat. Rev. 8 Dec. 100/2 But who seeks for them in Harry Brougham's speeches, or even—pace tanti viri be it spoken—in Henry Lord Brougham's Historical Sketches? 1865 Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. xxvii. 544 Admiration, pace tantorum virorum, is a different thing from wonder. |
▪ V. pace
an early (14–15th c.) spelling of pass v.