mall

MAWL/mɔːl/

Pluralmalls

Verbmalls, malling, malled

10 meanings of mall

Practice

1
nouncountable
A large building with many shops, places to eat, and walkways inside.
Like a whole town of shops gathered under one big roof.
We spent Saturday at the mall buying clothes for school.
The new mall has more than a hundred stores under one roof.
Note
2
nounAustraliaCanadaNew ZealandUScountable
A street with no cars, lined with shops where people walk from store to store.
Like a street turned into a big outdoor hallway just for walking.
The town turned its main street into a mall where only people on foot can go.
Shoppers walked down the open-air mall, looking at the storefronts on both sides.
Similarprecinct, plaza, promenade
Note
3
nouncountable
A flat, shady path in a park or public place where people go to walk.
Like a wide garden path made just for slow, easy walking.
Families gathered on the mall to walk under the trees on Sunday afternoons.
A long, tree-lined mall ran through the center of the park.
Similarpromenade, walk, esplanade
Note
4
verbcolloquialintransitive
To go shopping at a shopping center, usually for fun.
Like spending the day walking around shops just for fun.
The teenagers like to mall on weekends with their friends.
We malled all afternoon and barely bought anything.
Similarshop, browse
5
verbtransitive
To fill an area with shopping centers as it gets built up.
Like covering open land with shops until little open space is left.
Developers want to mall the empty fields outside town.
The county was malled almost overnight, with stores replacing farmland.
6
nouncountable
A heavy wooden hammer used to hit the ball in an old ball game.
Like a big wooden hammer used to whack a ball.
He gripped the mall tightly and swung at the ball.
The wooden mall was heavy enough to send the ball flying.
Similarmallet
Note
7
verbtransitive
To hit something hard with a heavy hammer or club, often leaving a bruise.
Like pounding something flat with a big hammer.
The blacksmith would mall the hot iron into shape.
They malled the stakes into the ground with a wooden club.
Similarhammer, pound, beat, batter, maul

Less common meanings

8
nounobsoleteuncountable
An old game played by hitting balls along a lane with wooden mallets.
Like an old form of golf where you hit the ball with a wooden hammer.
They played mall on the green every afternoon that summer.
But playing with the Boy ar Mall, (I rue the Time, and ever shall) I struck the Ball, I know not how
1675, Charles Cotton, Burlesque upon BurlesqueHere, mall means an old game of hitting a ball along an alley with mallets.
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9
nounobsoletecountable
A long, narrow lane where people played an old ball game.
Like a long bowling lane, but outdoors and for an old ball game.
The players met at the mall behind the palace to begin their game.
Workers smoothed the long mall so the balls would roll straight.
Note
10
nounobsoleteuncountable
The game of polo, played on horseback with mallets and a ball.
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of mall apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

The word probably comes from The Mall, a street in London, England, that was once used to play a game called pall mall.