pastel

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A drawing medium of dried paste made of ground pigments and a water-based binder that is manufactured in crayon form.
2. n. A crayon of this material.
3. n. A picture or sketch drawn with this type of crayon.
4. n. The art or process of drawing with pastels.
5. n. A soft delicate hue; a pale color: a room done all in pastels.
6. n. A sketchy or brief prose work.
7. adj. Of, relating to, or made of pastel.
8. adj. Pale and soft in color.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The plant woad, Isatis tinctoria; also, the blue dye obtained from it.
2. n. In art: A colored crayon made of pigments ground with chalk, and compounded with gum-water into a sort of paste.
3. n. A drawing made with colored chalks or crayons; also, the art of drawing with colored crayons.
4. n. Figuratively, a short prose study, poetic, picturesque, but sketchy.
5. n. In textiles, a soft half-faded tint in fabrics used for dress-materials: so called from its resemblance to the tones of old pastel drawings.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several subdued tints of colors, usually associated with pink, peach, yellow, green, blue and lavender
2. n. A drawing made with any of those colors.
3. n. A type of dried paste used to make crayons.
4. n. A crayon made from such a paste.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A crayon made of a paste composed of a color ground with gum water.
2. n. (Bot.) A plant affording a blue dye; the woad (Isatis tinctoria); also, the dye itself.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of various pale or light colors
2. adj. delicate and pale in color
3. adj. lacking in body or vigor