pallor
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pal·lor
(păl′ər)n.
Extreme or unnatural paleness.
[Middle English pallour, from Old French palor, from Latin pallor, from pallēre, to be pale; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
pallor
(ˈpælə)n
a pale condition, esp when unnatural: fear gave his face a deathly pallor.
[C17: from Latin: whiteness (of the skin), from pallēre to be pale1]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
pal•lor
(ˈpæl ər)n.
unusual or extreme paleness, as from fear, ill health, or death.
[1650–60; < Latin: paleness <pall(ēre) to be pale]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pallor
of nightwatchmen—Lipton, 1970.Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pallor
See Also: FACIAL COLOR, GRAY, RED, WHITE
- Pale as cardboard —Paige Mitchell
- Pale as white wine —Sir Kenelm Digby
- Blanch like conscious guilt personified —Charlotte Brontë
- Bleached like the skeleton of a stranded walrus —Herman Melville
- A face like paper —J. B. Priestly
- Face like parchment —G. K. Chesterton
- (His long, pendulous) face looked as if it had been dusted with white talc —Aharon Megged
- Face … pale as a Chinese mandarin’s —Nadine Gordimer
- Face … pale as a dead man’s —Ivan Turgenev
- Face … pale as a fish —T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Face, pallid and simmering like a milk pudding over a slow flame —Julia O’Faolain
- His waxy pallor was touched along the underside of his jaw with acne, like two brush burns —John Updike
- Look [pale] like Yom Kippur before sunset —Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Pale as a silkfish —Diane Ackerman
- Pale and dirty as a pulled root —George Garrett
- Pale as a birch —Louise Erdrich
- (A scar) pale as a fishgut —Davis Grubb
- Pale as a ghost with pernicious anemia —Anon
A twist on the cliche, “Pale as a ghost.”
- Pale as a hyacinth grown in a cellar —Edith Wharton
- (Looking as) pale as a magnolia blossom —Sarah Bird
- Pale as a primrose —William Shakespeare
- Pale [after donating a lot of blood] as a princess after a date with Dracula —Kenzaburo Oë
- Pale as a prisoner —Carlos Baker
- (Always cool and) pale as a root —Jayne Anne Phillips
- Pale as a shell —James Wright
- Pale as a smooth-sculptured stone —John Keats
- Pale as a white rose —Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Pale as bleached clay —Z. Vance Wilson
- Pale as candles —Reynolds Price
A more specific version by McKinlay Kantor is “Pale as a tallow candle.”
- Pale as china —Sylvia Plath
- (The desert looks) pale as death —Henry Chettle
According to Stevenson’s Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases, Chettle was the first to use the simile in his seventeenth century play, Hoffman. The earliest linkage to the complexion is variously attributed to Walter Scott’s Guy Mannering, Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge and Henry James’ The Madonna of the Future.
- Pale as distemper —Miles Gibson
- Pale as his shirt —William Shakespeare
- Pale as ivory —Ouida
- Pale as junket —Christina Stead
- Pale as milk —William Shakespeare
The similes from masters like the Bard are often used “as is” or with minor additions such as “Pale as cold milk” seen in Davis Grubb’s novel, The Golden Sickle.
- (Face) pale as sand —Stevie Smith
- Pale as straw —William Evans
- Pale as the bottom of a plate —Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
- Pale … as the mist that hangs over the river —Oscar Wilde
- Pale as the soap in the dish —Jean Thompson
- Pale as the tenant of a tomb —Edgar Allen Poe
- Pale as waxworks —Maxine Kumin
- Paler than ashes —Algernon Charles Swinburne
- Paler than grass in summer —Algernon Charles Swinburne
- (Thighs) pale and soft as snow —Lyn Lifshin
See Also: SOFTNESS
- So white she was almost transparent —Jonathan Gash
- The transparent pallor of her skin was luminous like a sea-shell in green shadow of the pine-trees —Elinor Wylie
- Turned white as a tablecloth —Rudyard Kipling
- Wan as the Polar snows —Stephen Vincent Benét
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | pallor - unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress) |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
pallor
noun paleness, whiteness, lack of colour, wanness, bloodlessness, ashen hue, pallidness Her face had a deathly pallor.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
شُحوب الوَجْه
bledostsinalost
bleghed
fölvi
solgunluk
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
pallid
(ˈpӕlid) adjective unpleasantly pale (usually suggesting ill-health). He looked pallid and sickly.
ˈpallor noun unpleasant paleness. an unhealthy pallor.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
pal·lor
n. palidez.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
pallor
n palidez fEnglish-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.