pace

plural paces

1. A step.
   1. A step taken with the foot.First known use 14th c.
   2. The distance covered in a step (or sometimes two), either vaguely or according to various specific set measurements.First known use 14th c.

      I have perambulated your field, and estimate its perimeter to be 219 paces.

      1 more example

      Even at the duel, standing 10 paces apart, he could have satisfied Aaron’s honor.

2. A way of stepping.
   1. A manner of walking, running or dancing; the rate or style of how someone moves with their feet.First known use 14th c.

      We set off at a round pace.

      1 more example

      Netherlands, one of the pre-tournament favourites, combined their undoubted guile, creativity, pace and attacking quality with midfield grit and organisation.

      2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport

   2. Any of various gaits of a horse, specifically a 2-beat, lateral gait.First known use 15th c.
3. Speed or velocity in general.First known use 15th c.

   The fastest women runners can run a mile in well under five minutes, but in order to reach that goal they've had to train at a much slower pace over thousands of miles.

   1983, Kathryn Lance, Running for Health, Bantam, →ISBN

   1 more example

   For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311

   Synonyms: tempo, rhythm

4. ball gamesA measure of the hardness of a pitch and of the tendency of a cricket ball to maintain its speed after bouncing.First known use 19th c.

   He didn't bowl a lot of pace in the first T20I.

5. collectiveA group of donkeys (asses).

   A pace of donkeys fans out in different directions.

   2006 November 9, “Drop the dead donkeys”, in The Economist

   3 more examples

   […] but at Broadstairs and other places along the coast, a pace of donkeys stood on the sea-shore expectant (at least, their owners were expectant) of children clamouring to ride.

   1952, G. B. Stern, The Donkey Shoe, The Macmillan Company, published 1952, page 29

   Like a small farm, the lighthouse compound had its chattering of chicks, pace of donkeys, troop of horses, and fold of sheep.

   2007, Elinor De Wire, The Lightkeepers' Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses, Pineapple Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 200

   we see and then imitate the pros moving about as quickly as a pace of asses pulling cannon through the Pripet Marshes.

   1974, Al Barkow, Golf's Golden Grind: A History of the PGA Tour, Burford Books, page 41

6. A passage, a route.
   1. obsoleteOne's journey or route.First known use 14th–18th c.
   2. obsoleteA passage through difficult terrain; a mountain pass or route vulnerable to ambush etc.First known use 14th–17th c.

      But when she saw them gone she forward went, / As lay her journey, through that perlous Pace [...].

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   3. obsoleteAn aisle in a church.First known use 15th–19th c.

1. not comparableball gamesDescribing a bowler who bowls fast balls.

present singular third person paces · participle present pacing · participle past paced · past paced

1. To walk back and forth in a small distance.

   Groups of men, in all imaginable attitudes, were lying, standing, sitting, or pacing up and down.

   1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Chapter V

   1 more example

   As we stood waiting for the departure time with the setting sun twinkling on the great brass dome of our 2-4-0, the sound of church bells was the only one apart from the measured tread of the guard slowly pacing towards his van, and, standing at an open window, I more than once heard the fireman's "Right away!" to his mate in acknowledgement of a desultory wave of the unfurled green flag.

   1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 19

2. To walk along or through sth with regular strides.
3. To set the speed.

   I helped her train for the marathon by pacing her on a bike.

   1 more example

   The clubs in London, Manchester, Birmingham, etc., hold various track meetings for races varying from one mile to fifty miles, the longer distances being sometimes paced by tandems.

   1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 70

   Synonyms: set the pace

4. To measure by walking.

1. formalWith all due respect to.

   She is marvelous here, but he (pace many critics) is no bumpkin

   1998, Harold Bloom, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human

plural paces

1. Synonym of Easter.

   Synonyms: Easter

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
2. UKabbreviationacronymlawAcronym of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
3. USabbreviationacronymlabor unionAcronym of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union.

1. A surname.
2. A census-designated place in Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States.
3. A town in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States.