pall1
/pɔːl
/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.
Synonyms
funeral cloth, coffin covering
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.
Synonyms
cloud, covering, cloak, mantle, veil, shroud, layer, blanket, sheet, curtain, canopy
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.
Synonyms
spoil, take the fun/enjoyment/pleasure out of, cast a shadow over, overshadow, envelop in gloom, darken, cloud, put a damper on, mar, blight
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.
3.1 Heraldry 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'.
Rhymes
pall2
/pɔːl/verb [no 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.
Synonyms
become/grow tedious, become/grow boring, become/grow tiresome, lose its/their interest, lose attraction, wear off, cloy;
bore, tire, fatigue, weary, sicken, nauseate;
irritate, irk
Origin
Late Middle English: shortening of appal.