a rate of movement, esp. in stepping, walking, etc.: to walk at a brisk pace of five miles an hour.
2.
a rate of activity, progress, growth, performance, etc.; tempo.
3.
any of various standard linear measures, representing the space naturally measured by the movement of the feet in walking: roughly 30 to 40 in. (75 cm to 1 m). Compare geometrical pace, military pace, Roman pace.
4.
a single step: She took three paces in the direction of the door.
5.
the distance covered in a step: Stand six paces inside the gates.
6.
a manner of stepping; gait.
7.
a gait of a horse or other animal in which the feet on the same side are lifted and put down together.
8.
any of the gaits of a horse.
9.
a raised step or platform.
–verb (used with object)
10.
to set the pace for, as in racing.
11.
to traverse or go over with steps: He paced the floor nervously.
12.
to measure by paces.
13.
to train to a certain pace; exercise in pacing: to pace a horse.
14.
(of a horse) to run (a distance) at a pace: Hanover II paced a mile.
–verb (used without object)
15.
to take slow, regular steps.
16.
to walk up and down nervously, as to expend nervous energy.
17.
(of a horse) to go at a pace.
—Idioms
18.
put through one's paces, to cause someone to demonstrate his or her ability or to show her or his skill: The French teacher put her pupils through their paces for the visitors.
19.
set the pace, to act as an example for others to equal or rival; be the most progressive or successful: an agency that sets the pace in advertising.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME pas < OF < L passus step, pace, equiv. to pad-, var. s. of pandere to spread (the legs, in walking) + -tus suffix of v. action, with dt > ss]
—Synonyms 8. step, amble, rack, trot, jog, canter, gallop, walk, run, singlefoot. 15.Pace,plod,trudge refer to a steady and monotonous kind of walking. Pace suggests steady, measured steps as of one completely lost in thought or impelled by some distraction: to pace up and down. Plod implies a slow, heavy, laborious, weary walk: The mailman plods his weary way. Trudge implies a spiritless but usually steady and doggedly persistent walk: The farmer trudged to his village to buy his supplies.
The distance spanned by a step or stride, especially:
The modern version of the Roman pace, measuring five English feet. Also called geometric pace.
Thirty inches at quick marching time or 36 at double time.
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.
The rate of speed at which a person, animal, or group walks or runs.
The rate of speed at which an activity or movement proceeds.
The rate of speed at which a person, animal, or group walks or runs.
The rate of speed at which an activity or movement proceeds.
A manner of walking or running: a jaunty pace.
A gait of a horse in which both feet on one side are lifted and put down together.
v.
paced, pac·ing, pac·es
v.
tr.
To walk or stride back and forth across: paced the floor nervously.
To measure by counting the number of steps needed to cover a distance.
To set or regulate the rate of speed for.
To advance or develop (something) at a particular rate or tempo: a thriller that was paced at a breathtaking speed.
To train (a horse) in a particular gait, especially the pace.
v.
intr.
To walk with long deliberate steps.
To go at the pace. Used of a horse or rider.
[Middle English, from Old French pas, from Latin passus, from past participle of pandere, to stretch, spread out; see petə- in Indo-European roots.]
pa·ce 2Audio Help (pä'chā, -kā, pā'sē) Pronunciation Key
prep.
With the permission of; with deference to. Used to express polite or ironically polite disagreement: I have not, pace my detractors, entered into any secret negotiations.
[Latin pāce, ablative of pāx, peace; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]
"a step," c.1280, from O.Fr. pas, from L. passus "a step," lit. pp. of pandere "to stretch (the leg), spread out," from PIE *pat-no-, from base *pete- "to spread" (cf. Gk. petalon "a leaf," O.E. fæðm "embrace, bosom, fathom"). The verb is first attested 1513, from the noun. Also, "a measure of five feet" [Johnson]. Pace-maker was originally (1884) a rider or boat that sets the pace for others in training; sense of "man-made device for stimulating and regulating heartbeat" is from 1951. Pace-setter in fashion is from 1895.
Pace, FL (CDP, FIPS 53725) Location: 30.59987 N, 87.15970 W Population (1990): 6277 (2526 housing units) Area: 24.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 32571
Pace, MS (town, FIPS 54920) Location: 33.79206 N, 90.85908 W Population (1990): 354 (130 housing units) Area: 0.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
A*pace"\, adv. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.] With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. His dewy locks did drop with brine apace. --Spenser. A visible triumph of the gospel draws on apace. --I. Taylor.
Com"pass\, n. [F. compas, fr. LL. compassus circle, prop., a stepping together; com- + passus pace, step. See Pace, Pass.]1. A passing round; circuit; circuitous course. They fetched a compass of seven day's journey. --2 Kings iii. 9. This day I breathed first; time is come round, And where I did begin, there shall I end; My life is run his compass. --Shak. 2. An inclosing limit; boundary; circumference; as, within the compass of an encircling wall. 3. An inclosed space; an area; extent. Their wisdom . . . lies in a very narrow compass. --Addison. 4. Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination. The compass of his argument. --Wordsworth. 5. Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; -- used with within. In two hundred years before (I speak within compass), no such commission had been executed. --Sir J. Davies. 6. (Mus.) The range of notes, or tones, within the capacity of a voice or instrument. You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass. --Shak. 7. An instrument for determining directions upon the earth's surface by means of a magnetized bar or needle turning freely upon a pivot and pointing in a northerly and southerly direction. He that first discovered the use of the compass did more for the supplying and increase of useful commodities than those who built workhouses. --Locke. 8. A pair of compasses. [R.] See Compasses.. To fix one foot of their compass wherever they please. --Swift. 9. A circle; a continent. [Obs.] The tryne compas [the threefold world containing earth, sea, and heaven. --Skeat.] --Chaucer. Azimuth compass. See under Azimuth. Beam compass. See under Beam. Compass card, the circular card attached to the needles of a mariner's compass, on which are marked the thirty-two points or rhumbs. Compass dial, a small pocket compass fitted with a sundial to tell the hour of the day. Compass plane (Carp.), a plane, convex in the direction of its length on the under side, for smoothing the concave faces of curved woodwork. Compass plant, Compass flower (Bot.), a plant of the American prairies (Silphium laciniatum), not unlike a small sunflower; rosinweed. Its lower and root leaves are vertical, and on the prairies are disposed to present their edges north and south. Its leaves are turned to the north as true as the magnet: This is the compass flower. --Longefellow. Compass saw, a saw with a narrow blade, which will cut in a curve; -- called also fret saw and keyhole saw. Compass timber (Shipbuilding), curved or crooked timber. Compass window (Arch.), a circular bay window or oriel window. Mariner's compass, a kind of compass used in navigation. It has two or more magnetic needles permanently attached to a card, which moves freely upon a pivot, and is read with reference to a mark on the box representing the ship's head. The card is divided into thirty-two points, called also rhumbs, and the glass-covered box or bowl containing it is suspended in gimbals within the binnacle, in order to preserve its horizontal position. Surveyor's compass, an instrument used in surveying for measuring horizontal angles. See Circumferentor. Variation compass, a compass of delicate construction, used in observations on the variations of the needle. To fetch a compass, to make a circuit.
Pace\, n. [OE. pas, F. pas, from L. passus a step, pace, orig., a stretching out of the feet in walking; cf. pandere, passum, to spread, stretch; perh. akin to E. patent. Cf. Pas, Pass.]1. A single movement from one foot to the other in walking; a step. 2. 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; as, he advanced fifty paces. "The heigh of sixty pace ." --Chaucer. Note: Ordinarily the pace is estimated at two and one half linear feet; but in measuring distances be stepping, the pace is extended to three feet (one yard) or to three and three tenths feet (one fifth of a rod). The regulation marching pace in the English and United States armies is thirty inches for quick time, and thirty-six inches for double time. The Roman pace (passus) was from the heel of one foot to the heel of the same foot when it next touched the ground, five Roman feet. 3. Manner of stepping or moving; gait; walk; as, the walk, trot, canter, gallop, and amble are paces of the horse; a swaggering pace; a quick pace. --Chaucer. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. --Shak. In the military schools of riding a variety of paces are taught. --Walsh. 4. A slow gait; a footpace. [Obs.] --Chucer. 5. Specifically, a kind of fast amble; a rack. 6. Any single movement, step, or procedure. [R.] The first pace necessary for his majesty to make is to fall into confidence with Spain. --Sir W. Temple. 7. (Arch.) A broad step or platform; any part of a floor slightly raised above the rest, as around an altar, or at the upper end of a hall. 8. (Weaving) A device in a loom, to maintain tension on the warp in pacing the web. Geometrical pace, the space from heel to heel between the spot where one foot is set down and that where the same foot is again set down, loosely estimated at five feet, or by some at four feet and two fifths. See Roman pace in the Note under def. 2. [Obs.] Tokeep, or hold, pace with, to keep up with; to go as fast as. "In intellect and attainments he kept pace with his age." --Southey.
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Audio Help [peys] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, paced, pac·ing. 
