mall
/mɔːl/ noun, verb
Forms malls malling malled
- noun (chiefly Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand) A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct.
- noun An enclosed shopping centre.
- noun (obsolete) An alley where the game of pall mall was played.
- noun A public walk; a level shaded walk, a promenade.
- noun A heavy wooden mallet or hammer used in the game of pall mall.
- noun (obsolete) The game of polo.
- noun (obsolete) An old game played with malls or mallets and balls; pall mall.
- verb to beat with a mall, or mallet; to beat with something heavy; to bruise
- verb to build up with the development of shopping malls
- verb (informal) to shop at the mall
Synonyms
promenade plaza center shopping mall shopping center shopping centre
Etymology
Probably from The Mall, a major street in London, England, which was originally a pall mall alley.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large heavy wooden beetle; a mallet for driving anything with force; a maul. Addison.
- noun A heavy blow. [Obs.] Spenser.
- verb To beat with a mall; to beat with something heavy; to bruise; to maul.
- noun Formerly, among Teutonic nations, a meeting of the notables of a state for the transaction of public business, such meeting being a modification of the ancient popular assembly. Hence: (a) A court of justice.
Etymology [OE. malle, F. mail, L. malleus. Cf. Malleus.]
Etymology [Cf. OF. mailler. See Mall beetle, and cf. Malleate.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mall”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details