mall

noun

ˈmȯl 

 especially British and for sense 1  ˈmal

1

: an alley used for pall-mall

2

[The Mall, promenade in London, originally a pall-mall alley]

a

: a usually public area often set with shade trees and designed as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk

b

: a usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways

3

a

: an urban shopping area featuring a variety of shops surrounding a usually open-air concourse reserved for pedestrian traffic

b

: a usually large suburban building or group of buildings containing various shops with associated passageways

Synonyms

• boardwalk
• promenade
• walk

Examples of mall in a Sentence

They spent the afternoon shopping at the mall.

the pedestrian traffic through the grassy mall is heaviest during the summer lunch hours

Recent Examples on the Web

The feel-good nature of a trip to the mall is hard to beat. —Jonathan Lansner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Apr. 2024

Park entered local art competitions, and after spotting one of her drawings at the mall, a man named Bruce Robertson called her mother. —Dodie Kazanjian, Vogue, 20 Apr. 2024

The claim: Sydney mall attacker was identified as Benjamin Cohen An April 13 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a picture of a man holding a knife. —Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY, 19 Apr. 2024

Aur Society will open across from Sephora, near Starbucks and Dry Goods on the upper level of the mall, 11149 W. 95th St. in Overland Park. —Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 18 Apr. 2024

The Bondi Junction Westfield, as the mall is officially known, is a popular spot to meet, eat, catch a movie, and just hang out, while figuring out where the frick the right bus leaves from. —Belinda Luscombe, TIME, 16 Apr. 2024

The stabbing spree only ended when Cauchi was shot dead at the scene by an officer who single-handedly pursued him through the mall. —Helen Regan, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024

But the only American rapper to play a sub-headlining set on main or Outdoor was Lil Uzi Vert, who on Friday night ran through cacophonous arrangements of their songs against a backdrop that reached for a punkish edge but wound up somewhere in the middle of a mall. —Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 15 Apr. 2024

This memoir stretches across a quarter century to chart the investigation into the author’s mother’s murder, which occurred in 1986, after she was abducted from a mall parking lot in Oklahoma City. —The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

short for obsolete pall-mall mallet used in pall-mall

First Known Use

circa 1660, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing mall

• pall-mall
• shopping mall
• strip mall

Kids Definition

mall

noun

ˈmȯl 

1

: a shaded walk : promenade

2

: a usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways

3

a

: a group of stores and often restaurants arranged about an often covered way for pedestrians

b

: a usually large suburban building or group of buildings containing shops and often restaurants with connecting passageways

Etymology

a shortened form of pall-mall "a game similar to croquet formerly played in England," literally "ball-mallet"

Word Origin

In Italy in the 1500s a popular alley game similar to croquet was known as pallamaglio, from palla "ball," and maglio "mallet." The game (and word) was adopted by the French as pallemalle and in the 1600s by the English as pall-mall. The alley on which the game was played came to be known as a mall. One of the best known of these alleys, covered with sand and crushed shells, was located in London's St. James Park and was known as "The Mall." After the game lost favor, the Mall at St. James, as it continued to be called, was turned into a fashionable walkway with trees and flowers. Similar open-air places came to be called malls also. In the 20th century the word was applied to other public spaces, including the shopping complexes we now know as malls.