paling
/ˈpeɪlɪŋ/
paling is the present participle and gerund of pale.
Noun
paling (plural palings)
- A pointed stick used to make a fence.
- The boys continued hitting the tennis ball with pailings snatched from a fence […]1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 20, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 117
- The smell of the damp eucalypt palings that clad the walls exhaling their aromatic resin into the house, mingling with the fragrance of the myrtle burning in the fireplace.1997, Richard Flanagan, chapter 6, in The Sound of One Hand Clapping, New York: Grove Press, published 2014
- A fence made of palings.
- Gentlemen must have observed that many of the nurserymen’s plantations were wide and extensive, some of them covering several acres; and that their palings and fences were for the most part low, and might be so weak and out of repair, as to afford a very insufficient security against the inroads of...1789, Alderman Le Mesurier), addressing the House of Commons, in The Parliamentary Register,ᴴᵃⁿˢᵃʳᵈ London: John Debrett, Volume 26, p. 172
- The park paling was still the boundary on one side, and she soon passed one of the gates into the ground.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 12, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
- A fence made of galvanized sheeting.
- He worked badly. He had to paint a large sign on a corrugated iron paling. Doing letters on a corrugated surface was bad enough; to paint a cow and a gate, as he had to, was maddening.1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, London: André Deutsch, Part One, Chapter 3, p. 118
Meaning of pale
Verb (1)
pale (third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)
- To turn pale; to lose colour.
- But a man— / Note men !—they are but women after all, / As women are but Auroras !—there are men / Born tender, apt to pale at a trodden worm, / Who paint for pastime, in their favourite dream, / Spruce auto-vestments flowered with crocus-flames / There are, too, who believe in hell and lie : […]1856, Elizabeth Browning, Aurora Leigh, New York: C. S. Francis & Co., published 1857, page 282
- Synonyms:
- blanch
- To become insignificant.
- (Although the conditions are rather different, the generosity of the offer certainly pales by comparison with the "Eurailpass" now available to tourists from North and South America at $125 (£44 13s.), which allows two months' unlimited first class travel throughout the railway systems of thirteen...1959 May, “Talking of Trains: "Rail-rovers" again”, in Trains Illustrated, page 236
- To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
- The Glow-worme ſhowes the Matine to be neere, / And gins to pale his vneffectuall Fire : / Adue, adue, Hamlet : remember me.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Verb (2)
pale (third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)
- To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
- […] your iſle, which ſtands / As Neptunes Parke, ribb’d, and pal’d in / With Oakes vnſkaleable, and roaring Waters, / With Sands that will not bear your Enemies Boates, / But ſuck them vp to th’ Top-maſt.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
Proper noun capitalized: Paling
Paling (plural Palings)
- A surname.
Forms of paling
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | palings |
| alternative form | pailing |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Palings |
Origin of paling
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
From Middle English palyng, palynge, equivalent to pale + -ing.
Variant of Palin.
Words formed from paling
Phrases with paling
Words that rhyme with paling
Questions about paling
- What does paling mean?
- Paling means a pointed stick used to make a fence.
- What is paling the present participle and gerund of?
- Paling is the present participle and gerund of pale.
- What part of speech is paling?
- Paling can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce paling?
- Paling is pronounced /ˈpeɪlɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of paling?
- The plural of paling is palings.
Words near paling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paling (page history and authors); Paling (page history and authors); pale (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-paling.wav.
Cite this entry: “paling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.