Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A step made in walking; a stride.
  • noun A unit of length equal to 30 inches (0.76 meter).
  • noun The distance spanned by a step or stride, especially.
  • noun The modern version of the Roman pace, measuring five English feet.
  • noun Thirty inches at quick marching time or 36 at double time.
  • noun Five Roman feet or 58.1 English inches, measured from the point at which the heel of one foot is raised to the point at which it is set down again after an intervening step by the other foot.
  • noun The rate of speed at which a person, animal, or group walks or runs.
  • noun The rate of speed at which an activity or movement proceeds.
  • noun A manner of walking or running.
  • noun A gait of a horse in which both feet on one side are lifted and put down together.
  • intransitive verb To walk or stride back and forth across.
  • intransitive verb To measure (a space) by counting the number of steps needed to cover a distance.
  • intransitive verb To walk (a number of steps) in so measuring a space.
  • intransitive verb To set or regulate the rate of speed for (a race or a competitor in a race).
  • intransitive verb To lead (one's team or teammates) with a good performance.
  • intransitive verb To advance or develop (something) for a particular purpose or at a particular rate.
  • intransitive verb To train (a horse) in a particular gait, especially the pace.
  • intransitive verb To walk with long deliberate steps.
  • intransitive verb To go at the pace. Used of a horse or rider.
  • idiom (pace (oneself)) To move or make progress at a sensible or moderate rate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The space or distance traversed by the foot in one completed movement in walking; hence, the movement itself; a step.
  • noun A lineal measure of variable extent, representing the space naturally measured by the movement of the foot in walking.
  • noun Manner or rate of walking or of progression; gait; rate of advance; velocity: as, a quick pace; to set the pace; it is pace that kills.
  • noun Specifically, in music, same as tempo.
  • noun The rate of moving on foot; footpace.
  • noun A gait of the horse, in which the legs of the same side are lifted together. See rack.
  • noun A step; measure; thing to be done.
  • noun A pass or passage.
  • noun Course; direction.
  • noun A space; while.
  • noun A part of a poem or tale; passage; passus.
  • noun A part of a floor slightly raised above the general level; a dais; a broad step or slightly raised space above some level, especially about a tomb.
  • noun A herd or company of beasts: as, a pace of asses.
  • To set the pace for (a contestant) in training for a race, or in racing, as for a boat's crew, for a bicycle rider, etc.
  • noun A dialectal form of pasch.
  • A corruption of parse.
  • To step; walk; move; especially, to step slowly or with measured or stately tread; stride.
  • To go on; advance.
  • Specifically, in the manège, to go at the pace; move by lifting both feet of the same side simultaneously; amble. See pace, n., , and rack.
  • To walk over step by step: as, the sentinel paces his round.
  • To measure by stepping; measure in paces: as, to pace a piece of ground.
  • To train to a certain step, as a horse; hence, to regulate.
  • With or by the leave, permission, or consent of (some person mentioned): usually employed as a courteous form of expressing disagreement, like “A. B. must give me leave (or allow me) to say.”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A single movement from one foot to the other in walking; a step.
  • noun The length of a step in walking or marching, reckoned from the heel of one foot to the heel of the other; -- used as a unit in measuring distances.
  • noun Manner of stepping or moving; gait; walk
  • noun obsolete A slow gait; a footpace.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French pas, from Latin passus, from past participle of pandere, to stretch, spread out; see petə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alteration of Pasch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin pace, “in peace”, ablative form of pax, “peace”.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman pas, Old French pas, and their source, Latin passus.

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Examples

Comments

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  • ...italian

    April 26, 2008

  • Function: preposition

    Etymology: Latin, abl. of pac-, pax peace -- more at PEACE

    : with all due respect or courtesy to (I do not, pace ... the correspondents, claim to have made any "discovery" -- E.M.Almedingen) (pace the feminists, I believe my own sex is largely responsible for this ... impertinent curiosity -- Katharine F. Gerould)

    Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (25 Jul. 2008).

    July 26, 2008

  • "PACE, in the menage, are of four kinds, the walk, trot, gallop and amble. The last, more particularly, is called a pace, wherein the horse raises the two feet of the same side together." (citation in Historical Military Terms list description)

    October 9, 2008