Pale Horse

noun

1. a representation of Death, as in literature or the Bible.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pale Horse¹

First recorded in 1640–50; after the Biblical pale horse on which Death rides (Revelation 6:8)

Example Sentences

The actors in “Rashomon” were all at the peak of their powers—Machiko Kyo as the noblewoman, by turns pleading and vicious; Takashi Shimura, whose woodcutter comes to accept his own cowardice; Masayuki Mori as the noble samurai, so fearful of losing face in the eyes of his wife; and most charismatic of all, Mifune, scratching himself and slapping away mosquitoes as his bandit insolently declares his desire for the lady on the pale horse.

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We are indeed haunted by demons sent to divide us, while the man sitting on top of the pale horse is driving us to hell.

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On Aug. 19, St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado Canyon received an email from Richardson in which he claimed to be the “rider of the pale horse,” the last of the four horsemen in the Book of Revelation, who personifies death.

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He then allegedly followed the priest into a private area of the church and informed him that “he came to do the Lord’s work, to separate the weak from the weeds, and that he rode his white pale horse from Alabama,” prosecutors said.

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Goodie Mob painted with dark lyrics gleaned from a copy of Milton William Cooper’s Illuminati manifesto “Behold a Pale Horse” that Busta Rhymes gave to the group.

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