Terribly pale, small rings (5)
I believe the answer is:
peals
'rings' is the definition.
('peal' can be a synonym of 'ring')
'terribly pale small' is the wordplay.
'terribly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'pale' with letters rearranged gives 'peal'.
'peal'+'s'='PEALS'
(Other definitions for peals that I've seen before include "Lapse in bell sounds" , "Leaps about with bursts of laughter" , "Loud sounds of bells or laughter" .)