mall
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /mæl/, /mɔːl/
  • (New Zealand, US (varieties without the cot-caught merger), New England, Australia) IPA: /mɔːl/
  • (US (varieties with the cot-caught merger), Canada) IPA: /mɑl/
Noun

mall

  1. (chiefly, North America, Australia, New Zealand) A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct. [from 20th c.]
    • 2002, Alexander Garvin, The American City: What Works, What Doesn′t, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-0h134NR1s0C&pg=PA179&dq=%22mall%22|%22malls%22+pedestrian+-intitle:%22mall|malls%22+-inauthor:%22mall%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0HynT-2mC6mHmQWi3rXhBA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mall%22|%22malls%22%20pedestrian%20-intitle%3A%22mall|malls%22%20-inauthor%3A%22mall%22&f=false 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, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=q1NZ8W0mRXIC&pg=PT57&dq=%22mall%22|%22malls%22+-intitle:%22mall|malls%22+-inauthor:%22mall%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GXWnT4vIO-yUmQWpn9XhBA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mall%22|%22malls%22%20-intitle%3A%22mall|malls%22%20-inauthor%3A%22mall%22&f=false 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.
  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.]
    • 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.]
Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

mall (malls, present participle malling; 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



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