pall

¹ American  

[pawl] / pɔl /

noun

• palls
  plural

1. a cloth, often of velvet, for spreading over a coffin, bier, or tomb.

2. a coffin.

3. anything that covers, shrouds, or overspreads, especially with darkness or gloom.

   Synonyms:

   melancholy, veil, shroud, shadow, darkness, cloud

4. Ecclesiastical.

   1. pallium.

   2. 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, especially a robe, cloak, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cover with or as with a pall.

pall ² American  

[pawl] / pɔl /

verb (used without object)

1. to have a wearying or tiresome effect (usually followed by on orupon ).

2. to become distasteful or unpleasant.

3. to become satiated or cloyed with something.

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verb (used with object)

1. to satiate or cloy.

   Synonyms:

   surfeit, sate, glut

2. to make dull, distasteful, or unpleasant.

pall ¹ British  

/ 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. heraldry an ordinary consisting of a Y-shaped bearing

6. Christianity

   1. a small square linen cloth with which the chalice is covered at the Eucharist

   2. an archaic word for pallium

7. an obsolete word for cloak

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verb

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

pall ² British  

/ pɔːl /

verb

1. to become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to)

   history classes palled on me

2. to cloy or satiate, or become cloyed or satiated

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pall-like
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• palls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pall¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English pal, palle “fine cloth; cloak; robe,” Old English pæll, from Latin pallium “cloak”

Origin of pall²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pallen “impair; weaken”; shortened variant of appall

Explanation

A pall was originally a coffin’s cloak. Now pall usually means that an event or situation is — literally or figuratively — covered in gloom, like disappointing news that casts a pall on your day. The noun pall comes from the Latin word, pallium, “covering or cloak.” This use of pall has come to mean "gloom" like your grandparents' not being there to celebrate with you that casts a pall over your graduation. The verb pall is used when someone or something becomes boring or less interesting over time. Your initial willingness to perform household chores began to pall when you realized that no one else was willing to chip in.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pall palls

Results from computer memory stocks Sandisk and Western Digital weren’t quite good enough, casting a pall over the broader AI and tech stock complex this morning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Vietnam, inner-city riots, and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. had cast a pall over the Day-Glo optimism of the Love Generation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Uncertainty about the trade pact—which has allowed the bulk of Canada’s exports to the U.S. to enter duty free—has cast a pall over investment and hiring plans among businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

The merger with Paramount, which the companies aim to close by the end of September, has cast a pall over Warner Bros., making its box-office success this year bittersweet.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026

A scream was building in Sarai’s mind, and, with it, an awful presentiment that the pall of doom of the past day had been leading to this moment.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

The immediate damage is clear to see, with heavy palls of smoke hanging over the blackened and charred landscape, but a conservation expert said the long-term damage could take hundreds of years to repair.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

All the while, Israeli bombardment has boomed and raised palls of smoke.

From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2024

Especially notable are two chalice palls — or covers — about 7 inches square whose plant motifs are very bold in scale.

From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

“We had palls of smoke across our three major cities.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2021

I fled down alleyways as dark and stifling as the gullets of dragons, through sizzling sparks and palls of smoke, under clotheslines fluttering with singed sheets.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Related Words

• cloak
• shroud
• veil