beyond the pale

pale1

pale ¹

 (pāl)

n.

1. A stake or pointed stick; a picket.

2. A fence enclosing an area.

3. The area enclosed by a fence or boundary.

4.

a. A region or district lying within an imposed boundary or constituting a separate jurisdiction.

b. Pale The medieval dominions of the English in Ireland. Used with the.

5. Heraldry A wide vertical band in the center of an escutcheon.

tr.v. paled, pal·ing, pales

To enclose with pales; fence in.

Idiom:

beyond the pale

Irrevocably unacceptable or unreasonable: behavior that was quite beyond the pale.

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[Middle English, from Old French pal, from Latin pālus; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

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pale ²

 (pāl)

adj. pal·er, pal·est

1. Whitish in complexion; pallid.

2.

a. Of a low intensity of color; light.

b. Having high lightness and low saturation.

3. Of a low intensity of light; dim or faint: "a late afternoon sun coming through the el tracks and falling in pale oblongs on the cracked, empty sidewalks" (Jimmy Breslin).

4. Feeble; weak: a pale rendition of the aria.

v. paled, pal·ing, pales

v.tr.

To cause to turn pale.

v.intr.

1. To become pale; blanch: paled with fright.

2. To decrease in relative importance.

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[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pallidus, from pallēre, to be pale; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]

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pale′ly adv.

pale′ness n.

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.

beyond the pale

Utterly intolerable or unacceptable; from the pale being used to mean the boundary between the part of Ireland controlled by the English and the rest of the island which was considered uncivilized.

Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited

Translations

superare ogni limite

over streken