Main definitions of pall in English

: pall¹ pall²

pall¹

noun

1A cloth spread over a coffin, hearse, or tomb.
- ‘During the mass, they covered the coffin with a pall, some kind of cloth. we took it off on the way out the door to the church, and then draped the American flag over his coffin.’
- ‘Ultimately, the only recognition Railton received was to see the bloodstained Union Jack he had used as a pall for temporary burials lowered over the coffin of the Unknown Warrior in the Abbey.’
- ‘There were immense black plumes at each corner and a black velvet pall covered the coffin.’
- ‘For his funeral the Archbishop's pall was borne by Sheffield steelworkers to his last resting place in the old churchyard in Bishopthorpe.’
- ‘He had a deep-seated loathing of the panoply of the Victorian funeral: mummers, mutes, plumes, palls, and all.’
funeral cloth, coffin covering
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2A dark cloud of smoke, dust, etc.
‘a pall of black smoke hung over the quarry’
- ‘The most famous skyline in the world had been changed forever, and in its place hung a pall of smoke and dust in the clear autumn sky.’
- ‘The women on the left are sharply defined but a pall of dust or smoke from a fire obscures the features of those on the right.’
- ‘The night was very dark; a pall of shadowy clouds obscured the moon.’
- ‘Black palls of smoke were seen rising from the block adjacent.’
- ‘It was a huge pall of thick black smoke billowing high into the air, west of the capital, that attracted our attention.’
- ‘A heavy pall of dense black smoke and fumes poured from the building.’
- ‘Witnesses reported explosions as well as towering flames and a huge pall of black smoke at the scrapyard.’
- ‘Huge thick palls of dirty black smoke stretched up into the orange evening sky from unchecked fires.’
- ‘Thankfully, the wind had died down, although it left a pall of greasy black smoke over the harbor area.’
- ‘The scene around him looked like the world's end - fire trucks and ambulances grinding their way across a white lake of dust and debris from which the pall of smoke still rose a few blocks away.’
- ‘Instantly, a pall of black smoke belched out at them, enveloping them and turning everything dark.’
- ‘And as the palls of smoke from the pyres on which animals are being incinerated spread, the livelihood of countless farmers hangs in the balance.’
- ‘I saw the fireball closely followed by the bang and the pall of smoke.’
- ‘More explosions followed and the pall of smoke grew.’
- ‘There was an enormous pall of smoke everywhere.’
- ‘While a pall of acrid fumes spread over the town centre, police sealed off the area to shoppers and firefighters in four engines began tackling the blaze.’
- ‘Pouring from the top of this volcano, like smoke out of a factory chimney, is a rapidly spreading pall of what looks like steam.’
- ‘The cost to the health of citizens who stand daily at the roadside in palls of deadly diesel fumes is incalculable.’
- ‘A naughty pall of mist has descended on the countryside, but it is far from sombre.’
- ‘The city is sited at the foot of the Port Hills and when there is little wind a pall of smog lies over the city in winter.’
cloud, covering, cloak, mantle, veil, shroud, layer, blanket, sheet, curtain, canopy
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1. 2.1Something regarded as enveloping a situation with an air of gloom or fear.
  ‘torture and murder have cast a pall of terror over the villages’
  ‘Later, in a memorial service for the disaster's victims, Gustav sought to spread a pall of general bafflement over events, including the government's dereliction.’
  ‘I felt like today there was a pall over all of campus.’
  ‘But don't expect the multiple deaths to put a pall on the plot.’
  ‘In the afternoon pall of a holiday weekend - everyone seems to have left the neighborhood, it seems - I went for a walk.’
  ‘Soon after, a Taoist priest comes along and informs Mr Tung that his house is ‘covered with a pall of malignant atmosphere’.’
  ‘And so a pall of defeat, and a sense of wasted lives hangs over Christiane's story, for which her uneasy family reunion cannot quite compensate.’
  ‘I suppose he had that Presbyterian character that hangs like a pall over Scotland.’
  ‘Despite a bulging schedule of films and the presence of filmmakers of renown, a pall hung over last year's Local Heroes Film Festival.’
  ‘A pall of misery hangs over the film until about the last 20 minutes.’
  ‘Yet, last Christmas, people enjoyed the first festive season in decades without the pall of war hanging over their heads.’
  ‘After the Fermanagh game, a pall of depression hung over the county.’
  ‘The pall has lifted, but all has not gone swimmingly with Rumania ever since.’
  ‘For people who followed the game in person and on television, there was a pall of suspicion about the series from the very start.’
  ‘A pall of shock and horror now hangs over the tiny community.’
  ‘And my learned friends will be throwing the pall of their caution over the theatre as well, to the impoverishment of all of us.’
  ‘A pall descended on the Palace of Westminster, a kind of anxious ennui.’
  ‘The rain has stopped, but a gray pall still hangs in the air, claiming the day as its own.’
  ‘The outcry over the case has thrown a pall over Scotland's justice system.’
  ‘It should have brought a pall of despondency to a wine industry that many claim is on the verge of glut.’
  ‘It's as though a grimy pall has been lifted off the city and a Bohemian spirit has returned once more to Bohemia.’
  spoil, take the enjoyment out of, take the fun out of, take the pleasure out of, cast a shadow over, overshadow, envelop in gloom, darken, cloud, put a damper on, mar, blight
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3An ecclesiastical pallium.
‘The bishop's Pall typifies the wandering sheep, and the Prelate, when arrayed in this vestment, bears the image of the Saviour Christ.’
‘In the twelfth place, the bishop puts on the Pall, to show himself that he imitates Christ, Who bare our sicknesses.’
1. 3.1Heraldry A Y-shaped charge representing the front of an ecclesiastical pallium.
  ‘The arms of Dublin are virtually identical to those of Armagh, except that the Y-shaped pall has five rather than four black crosses on it.’
  ‘The arms of the See of Canterbury (Plate I, Figure D) are ‘azure, an episcopal staff in pale or, ensigned with a cross pattée argent, surmounted of a pall of the last, edged and fringed of the second charged with four crosses pattée fitchée sable.’’

Origin

Old English pæll ‘rich (purple) cloth’, ‘cloth cover for a chalice’, from Latin pallium ‘covering, cloak’.

Pronunciation

pall

/pɔːl/

Main definitions of pall in English

: pall¹ pall²

pall²

verb

[with object]

Become less appealing or interesting through familiarity.
‘the novelty of the quiet life palled’
- ‘But for one man at least, the role of cheerless automaton seems to be palling.’
- ‘But, surprisingly for someone who has experience of the former Soviet Union, Roxburgh overlooks the fact that the attractions of capitalism have palled for many people in the former socialist bloc.’
- ‘But its extravagant sorrows and symphonic self-seriousness soon palled.’
- ‘The stories never palled and the joy of reading them never faded.’
- ‘Tea has stayed with me as a drug of choice where others have palled or become unobtainable.’
- ‘But such intensity quickly palled, and the Fitzgeralds grew disenchanted with the life they were leading.’
- ‘However, I found the noise palled after a while.’
- ‘Her first enchantment with the dazzling array had quickly palled.’
- ‘So when the retail experience palls, you can go on safari.’
- ‘Perhaps England is beyond description, a country so unsure of its place in the world now that its present palls in comparison with its imperial past.’
- ‘Eating out every night wasn't on, both for financial reasons and because even the best restaurant food palls after a while.’
- ‘It all falls apart when each gratification palls in the face of mindless repetition.’
- ‘What never palls, however, is the revelation of lifestyle and the personal family saga.’
- ‘These days the only things I combine are various sorts of books, something that is good for my liver and, moreover, ensures my reading never palls.’
- ‘But the atmosphere soon palls as you're forced to follow a predetermined path through ALL the store's departments before you can check out.’
- ‘Occasionally, the sheer weight of detail palls, though Yates's style is always light and accessible.’
- ‘Oliver becomes someone to whom things happen and his innate goodness and innocence palls when he's surrounded by so many more vibrant and colourful characters.’
- ‘There is, of course, a limit to how gripping a narration of running up a stairway can be, and this over-descriptive style palls after a while.’
- ‘The concept starts to flag after a while, as Max's smooth chat palls before repeated atrocities.’
- ‘But I want only this one night, for I am tired, and the game sometimes palls.’
become tedious, grow tedious, become boring, grow boring, become tiresome, grow tiresome, lose its interest, lose their interest, lose attraction, wear off, cloy
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