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mall

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Mall

English

Etymology

Probably from The Mall, a major street in London, England, which was originally a pall mall alley.

Pronunciation

Noun

mall (countable and uncountable, plural malls)

  1. (chiefly Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand) A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct. [from 20th c.]
    • 1950 August 15, Philip Hampson, “Field's Plans 15 to 20 Million Shopping Center for Skokie”, in Chicago Daily Tribune‎, page 1:
      The preliminary plans provide for one million square feet of selling space in three main buildings and a double row of shops along a central shopping mall.
    • 2002, Alexander Garvin, The American City: What Works, What Doesn′t, page 179:
      America′s first pedestrianized shopping mall opened in 1959 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Like most later pedestrian malls, it was intended to revive what everybody thought was a decaying downtown.
  2. An enclosed shopping centre. [from 20th c.]
    • 2004, Ralph E. Warner, Get a Life: You Don′t Need a Million to Retire Well, unnumbered page:
      Every day, at about the time the rest of us go to work, groups of retirees gather at many of America′s enclosed shopping malls.
    • 2020, Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, “August”, in Folklore:
      Cancel plans just in case you'd call / And say, "Meet me behind the mall"
  3. (obsolete) An alley where the game of pall mall was played. [17th–19th c.]
  4. A public walk; a level shaded walk, a promenade. [from 18th c.]
    • 1820, Robert Southey, The Life of Wesley; and Rise and Progress of Methodism:
      Part of the area was laid out in gravel walks, and planted with elms; and these convenient and frequented walks obtained the name of the City Mall.
  5. A heavy wooden mallet or hammer used in the game of pall mall. [from 17th c.]
    • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:
      I also fell slightly; but his fall proving a severe one, he arose in wrath, and struck me with the mall which he held in his hand, until my blood flowed copiously […]
  6. (obsolete) The game of polo. [17th c.]
  7. (obsolete) An old game played with malls or mallets and balls; pall mall. [17th–19th c.]
    • 1675, Charles Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque:
      But playing with the Boy ar Mall,
      (I rue the Time, and ever shall)
      I struck the Ball, I know not how

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Russian: молл (moll)

Translations

Verb

mall (third-person singular simple present malls, present participle malling, simple past and past participle malled)

  1. to beat with a mall, or mallet; to beat with something heavy; to bruise
  2. to build up with the development of shopping malls
  3. (informal) to shop at the mall

References

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