Emily Dickinson Lexicon

pain (-'s), n. [ME < OFr peine < L. pœna penalty, punishment.] (webplay: animal, bodies, bowed, childbirth, death, difficult, displeasure, expect, fear, fly, friends, future, gain, grief, heart, inflicted, limb, lose, mind, parts, past, pressure, presume, prospect, service, sorrow, suffer, surgery, taking pains to rise, tired, trouble, uneasy, work).

1. Trial; mental difficulty; emotional suffering; spiritual agony.
2. Hurt; discomfort; physical suffering; bodily affliction.
3. Work; labor; toil; exertion; effort.
4. Grief; misery; sorrow; [fig.] mortality; life on earth; human experience.
5. Offense; insult; pang of regret or sorrow.
6. Ache; heartbreak; [fig.] vein.

paint (-ed, -s), v. [OFr peind-re.] (webplay: art, canvas, colors, eye, house, mind, picture, simple).

1. Color; tint; cover with a bright hue.
2. Draw; create; form; represent on canvas.
3. Bring to life; brighten; animate; [fig.] affect; influence; impact.
4. [Fig.] change from green to bright red and gold [as leaves in autumn.]

painter (-s), n. [see paint, v.] (webplay: art).

Artist; one skilled in drawing with colors on canvas.

pair (-s), n. [Fr. < L. pār, equal.] (webplay: endure, heaven, match, nerves, same, shoes, suited, throw, two).

1. Set of two; matching duo; similar couple; grouping of two identical things which belong together.
2. Both.

palace (-s), n. [OFr < L. palatium, one of the seven hills of Rome; the house of Augustus situated there; later applied to residences of the Caesars.] (webplay: king).

1. Mansion; luxurious abode; royal dwelling place; majestic habitation; lavish residence.
2. Celestial home; heavenly chamber.
3. Riches; wealth; fortune; treasure; inheritance; legacy.
4. [Fig.] coffin; grave; burial place.

palate (-s), n. [L. palatum.]

1. Mouth; taste buds; physical sense of taste.
2. Hunger; appetite; desire; craving.
3. Taste; liking; preference.

pale (-r), adj. [ME < OFr < L. pallēre.] (webplay: red).

1. Dull; dim; colorless; lacking brightness; plain; undesirable; bereft of beauty or glory in comparison.
2. Appalled; frightened; alarmed; white; stricken colorless from fear or awe; [fig.] deathly; withered in appearance; ashen in color from illness and near approach of death.

pale, v. [see pale, adj.] (webplay: red).

Become dull; lose color; turn white; lose previously perceived beauty in comparison; become less interesting or attractive.

pall (-s), n. [OE pæll, pęll, costly cloak or robe, purple robe, purple; cloak or mantle. See purple. NW says related to “pale.”] (webplay: cool, cover, funerals, life, lose).

1. Burial cloth; covering placed over the body of the deceased at a funeral; [word play] pale color of a corpse; bloodless appearance of the body after death.
2. Royal robe; coronation vestment; ceremonial cloak of rich purple cloth; majestic mantle signifying high honor or status.

palliate, v. [Late L. palliare, to cloak.] (webplay: eased).

Ease the effect of; lessen the sting of; reduce the impact of.