prison pallor

[ priz-uhn pal-er ]

noun

1. extreme paleness, as if one has experienced a lengthy deprivation of natural light due to imprisonment or other indoor confinement:

   These kids need to get off the couch, get outside, and get rid of their prison pallor.

Word History and Origins

Origin of prison pallor¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

The constant reiteration of that question of horrid significance: "Have you any objection to capital punishment as practised in this State?" struck at the roots of her courage, enhanced her prison pallor; and that immovable battery of eyes, hostile, or coldly observant, critical, appraising, made her long to grind her teeth, to rise in her chair and tell those men and women, insolent in their freedom, what she thought of their vulgar insensibility.

From Project Gutenberg

The heroine, Lucy, is described at length: “She is slender, dark, beautiful, with large eyes, which she attempts to keep always mysterious and brooding, smiling lips, which she resolutely compresses to express melancholy determination, a healthy complexion subdued by powder to a proper prison pallor and a vigorous, lithe body which frets restlessly beneath the restriction of studied, artificial movements.”

From New York Times

His friends had first noticed it in Paris, in '39, but had expected it to wear off as soon as the prison pallor disappeared.

From Project Gutenberg

His mustache has a villainous smeariness, his skin a trace of prison pallor, his voice a con-mannerly suavity, his big soft eyes the expression of a slightly sneaky sheep.

From Time Magazine Archive

I understand now the prison pallor; I understand the sensitiveness of this prison audience; I understand the high nervous tension which makes anything possible.

From Project Gutenberg