▪ I. pastel1
(ˈpæstəl)
Also 6 -all.
[a. F. pastel (1510 in Hatz.-Darm.), a. Pr. pastel, It. pastello ‘woad to dye blew with’ (Florio); dim. from pasta paste; ‘the name having been applied first to the colouring matter obtained by reducing to a paste the twigs of the plant, then to the plant itself’ (Hatz.-Darm.).
OF. had pastel in the senses ‘paste, plaster, cake’, etc.]
The plant Woad, Isatis tinctoria; also, the blue dye obtained from it.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xlvi. 66 This herbe is called..in English Woad, or Pastel: in French Guesde or Pastel: in Spanish also Pastel: in Italian Guado. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Pastel, otherwise called Woad... It is of great use among the Dyers. 1783 Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Indies VI. 13 Indigo, when mixed with pastel,..rendered the colours..more lasting. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 382 Thus prepared, pastel has a yellow or greenish-yellow colour. |
b. Comb. pastel-vat: see quots.
| 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 382 To prepare the pastel vat, 4 parts of indigo, 50 parts of pastel, 2 parts of madder, and 2 parts of potash are employed. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1636/1 Pastel,..woad. It gives its name to the vat in which pastel and indigo are used, the pastel-vat. |
▪ II. pastel2
(ˈpæstəl)
Also 7–9 -il, (9 erron. -elle).
[a. F. pastel (1676 in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. It. pastello: see pastel1.]
1. A kind of dry paste made by grinding pigments and compounding them with gum-water, used as a crayon or for making crayons. in pastel, drawn with pastels: cf. crayon n. 1 b.
| 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. v. Misc. Writ. (1805) 314 Rubbing in the shades with pastills and dry compositions. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 144/2 Pastils are rouls of Plaster or Clay..to draw withal. 1696 in Phillips (ed. 5). 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Pastil, or Pastel,..a sort of paste made of several colours, ground up with gum-water, either together or separately; in order to make crayons to paint with on paper, or parchment. 1735 Dict. Polygraph. s.v., Also the crayons themselves, are call'd pastils. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 316 Coloured crayons, or pastels, are made by the mixture of colour with a colourless base. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, Portraits in pastel of pearly-skinned ladies with hair-powder. |
2. a. A drawing in pastel; also, the art of drawing with pastels.
| 1855 Thackeray Newcomes lxiii, What awfully bad pastels there were on the walls! 1882 Hamerton Graphic Arts xviii. 152 The principle of pastel is that the colours, when on the paper, are in a state of dry powder, most of which is slightly adherent. 1884 Century Mag. XXIX. 205 It is a question among artists..whether pastel should be called a process of drawing or of painting. 1893 F. Adams New Egypt 154 Two charming portraits,..two pastels standing in all the piquant incompleteness of a rapid reality. |
b. transf. to a kind of literary sketch.
| 1893 Critic (U.S.) 22 Apr. 249/1 The French pastel is really a little study (without a very definite beginning or end) of a trifling topic which lacks complexity, and needs little more than a very moderate space. |
3. Applied to certain soft tints of dress-material and to soft or subdued shades used generally in textiles, interior decoration, etc. Usu. attrib.
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 3/1 A gown in the new pale blue we call pastel. 1899 Daily News 21 Oct. 7/7 The soft, wraith-like tints..are now in fashion again. The modern name for them is ‘pastels’,..for these soft, half-faded tones bear the same relation to real colours as pastels do to oil-paintings. Ibid. 4 Nov. 7/6 Pastel blue or pink, hydrangea blue or pastel green. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 8 Mar. 3/1 Pastel tones are ubiquitous in both silks and woollens. 1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 678/1 Gloves..washable suède, light grey, pastelle, or white. 1934 Archit. Rev. LXXV. 14/2 There is, for instance, a stone known as Quartzite, which..when worked to a rough surface provides an everlasting wall lining in a variety of cool pastel shades. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 19/1 Upholstered fibre furniture..is available in various pastel shades. 1970 H. Ratcliffe Home Decorating xiii. 84/2 White plus a colour is a tint, white plus colour plus grey or black is a pastel shade. 1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 96 A glimpse of pastel green tiles. 1976 Star (Sheffield) 26 Nov. 24 (Advt.), 1976 (P) Cavalier 1600 L 4-door. In pastel beige. Fitted radio. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as pastel painter, pastel picture; pastel-coloured, pastel-like, pastel-tinted adjs. (See also 3.)
| 1884 Century Mag. XXIX. 207/1 The pastel painters of to-day. 1889 Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 2/3 His ‘Leisure Hour’ is very decorative and pastel-like. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 10 Feb. 3/1 The strongest hues of the pastel-box. 1922 H. Crane Let. 2 Mar. (1965) 80 Delicate pastel tinted flowers. 1932 Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 4/4 Pearls on Pastel Gowns. Pearls are to be worn even more than usual this season. The reason is the vogue for pastel coloured gowns. 1952 Granta 29 Nov. 8/1 We find it agreeable to place a Victorian chair or print among the blond woods and foam rubber, or to hang pastel-tinted antlers on the wall near a mobile. 1978 B. Freemantle Clap Hands iv. 26 A fine-featured..man who affected pastel coloured shirts with matching socks. |
Hence ˌpastelleˈteer (nonce-wd.) [after pamphleteer], a writer of literary pastels (2 b); ˈpastelling, the production of pastel-pictures.
| 1893 Critic (U.S.) 22 Apr. 249/1 Mr. Harrison S. Morris, who has given to Arcadia..a neat parody-burlesque of the pastel, adds a few pungent sentences upon it... He calls it Ollendorfian; and the ‘pastelleteer’ the seeker after ‘odd similitudes’. 1899 Daily News 1 Aug. 6/4 The Artistic Ghost moves in higher circles than those of pavement pastelling. |
Add: [3.] b. attrib. (passing into adj.). Applied to articles of a pastel shade or colour.
| 1932 Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 4/4 (heading) Pearls on pastel gowns. 1974 Times–Picayune (New Orleans) 14 Aug. iii. 4/1 Their bouquets were of pastel daisies, miniature carnations, sweetheart roses and baby's breath. 1989 Oxford Times (Limited Edition Suppl.) Mar. 13/2 (Advt.), Cane furniture... Natural, dark or the very latest rainbow pastel cane. |