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

Amid a landscape of anonymous mall multiplexes, Smith is all about capturing the magic that kids of his generation felt going to their neighborhood movie theater. —Pat Saperstein, Variety, 4 Apr. 2024

At 6:18 am on Tuesday, a car slammed through the front window of Workout Anytime, a gym located in a mall in East Plano, Texas. —Cara Lynn Shultz, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024

As of Monday afternoon, mall representatives were not available for comment. —Brianna Taylor, Sacramento Bee, 1 Apr. 2024

Norridge, Illinois police are searching for at least three Black men who were seen on video smashing through glass display cases of a mall jewelry store and stealing fists full of items. —Greg Wehner, Fox News, 25 Mar. 2024

How intent were mall officials to pull off this miracle? —Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024

In all, there are six Pirch showrooms scattered throughout Southern California, including two in San Diego County — in the Westfield UTC mall and in Solana Beach. —Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Mar. 2024

The remaining mall demolition is to begin this year. —Tom Daykin, Journal Sentinel, 20 Mar. 2024

According to videos of the attack, the Crocus City gunmen appeared to run unimpeded for a significant period through a crowded Friday night mall, despite public warnings from the US to the Kremlin for weeks of a threat to public spaces. —Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 23 Mar. 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

• shopping mall
• pall-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.