pale vs ruddle

pale

noun
  • Limits, bounds (especially before of). 

  • A vertical band down the middle of a shield. 

  • A cheese scoop. 

  • The bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgment in civilized company, in the phrase beyond the pale. 

  • A wooden stake; a picket. 

adj
  • Feeble, faint. 

  • Light in color. 

  • Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.). 

verb
  • To make pale; to diminish the brightness of. 

  • To turn pale; to lose colour. 

  • To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off. 

  • To become insignificant. 

ruddle

noun
  • A form of red ochre sometimes used to mark sheep. 

  • A riddle or sieve. 

verb
  • To mark something with red ochre. 

  • To raddle or twist. 

  • To sift together; to mix, as through a sieve. 

How often have the words pale and ruddle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )