pall

UK: /ˈpɔːl/ US: /pɔl/ ,(pôl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

pall¹ /pɔl/   n. [countable]

1. something that covers over, esp. with darkness:
   [usually singular] A pall of smoke hung over the site of the explosion.
2. a feeling of gloom, sadness, mystery, etc., that seems to spread over a group of people:
   [usually singular] A deep pall of gloom hung over the room when we heard the news of the election.
3. a cloth for spreading over a coffin or tomb.
4. a coffin.

pall² /pɔl/   v. [no object]

1. to cause tiredness or weariness;
   to become dull or uninteresting:
   The pleasures of that nightclub began to pall after a few months.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

pall¹  (pôl), n. 

1. a cloth, often of velvet, for spreading over a coffin, bier, or tomb.
2. a coffin.
3. anything that covers, shrouds, or overspreads, esp. with darkness or gloom.
4. Religion [Eccles.]
   • pallium (def. 2b).
   • a linen cloth or a square cloth-covered piece of cardboard used to cover a chalice.
5. Heraldry pairle.
6. [Archaic.] a cloth spread upon an altar;
   corporal.
7. [Archaic.] a garment, esp. a robe, cloak, or the like.

v.t. 

8. to cover with or as with a pall.

• Latin pallium cloak
• bef. 900; Middle English; Old English pæll pope's pallium

pall′-like′, adj. 
Synonyms

• 3. shadow, melancholy, oppression.

pall²  (pôl), v.i. 

1. to have a wearying or tiresome effect (usually fol. by on or upon).
2. to become distasteful or unpleasant.
3. to become satiated or cloyed with something.

v.t. 

4. to satiate or cloy.
5. to make dull, distasteful, or unpleasant.

• 1350–1400; Middle English pallen; aphetic variant of appall

Synonyms

• 4. glut, sate, surfeit.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

pall / pɔːl/ noun

1. a cloth covering, usually black, spread over a coffin or tomb
2. a coffin, esp during the funeral ceremony
3. a dark heavy covering; shroud: the clouds formed a pall over the sky
4. a depressing or oppressive atmosphere: her bereavement cast a pall on the party
5. an ordinary consisting of a Y-shaped bearing
6. a small square linen cloth with which the chalice is covered at the Eucharist
7. an archaic word for pallium2
8. an obsolete word for cloak

verb

1. (transitive) to cover or depress with a pall

Etymology: Old English pæll, from Latin: pallium

pall / pɔːl/ verb

1. (intransitive) often followed by on: to become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to): history classes palled on me
2. to cloy or satiate, or become cloyed or satiated

Etymology: 14th Century: variant of appal