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

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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

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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

The play would cast a pall over the whole game, but Raiola managed to throw for 289 yards and two touchdowns against USC’s defense.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

The comments also cast a pall on the company’s reputation for responsible AI development.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Toxic air has covered the San Gabriel Valley and beyond at times, as the fire continues to burn and the wind shifts the pall in different directions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

Pain at the pump may already be casting a pall over the mall.

From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026

Inside the room, the pall of fear had fallen anew.

From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie

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

But the inconvenience of shopping in tropical heat palls compared with farmers afraid their harvests will be scant due to a lack of fertilizer.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2022

I read him all the time, and he never palls.

From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021

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

From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2021

As we made our way through the matchbox-type Tembisa houses, we saw fires and palls of black smoke in the distance.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

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Related Words

• cloak
• shroud
• veil

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