hall Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
    hallway.
    • the elevators were at the end of the hall
  2. noun a large entrance or reception room or area
    entrance hall; anteroom; antechamber; vestibule; foyer; lobby.
  3. noun a large room for gatherings or entertainment
    • lecture hall
    • pool hall
  4. noun a college or university building containing living quarters for students
    dormitory; dorm; residence hall; student residence.
  5. noun the large room of a manor or castle
    manor hall.
  6. noun English writer whose novel about a lesbian relationship was banned in Britain for many years (1883-1943)
    Radclyffe Hall; Marguerite Radclyffe Hall.
  7. noun United States child psychologist whose theories of child psychology strongly influenced educational psychology (1844-1924)
    G. Stanley Hall; Granville Stanley Hall.
  8. noun United States chemist who developed an economical method of producing aluminum from bauxite (1863-1914)
    Charles Martin Hall.
  9. noun United States explorer who led three expeditions to the Arctic (1821-1871)
    Charles Francis Hall.
  10. noun United States astronomer who discovered Phobos and Deimos (the two satellites of Mars) (1829-1907)
    Asaph Hall.
  11. noun a large and imposing house
    mansion; residence; manse; mansion house.
  12. noun a large building used by a college or university for teaching or research
    • halls of learning
  13. noun a large building for meetings or entertainment

WordNet

Hall noun
Etymology
OE. halle, hal, AS. heal, heall; akin to D. hal, OS. & OHG. halla, G. halle, Icel. hölt, and prob. from a root meaning, to hide, conceal, cover. See Hell, Helmet.
Definitions
  1. A building or room of considerable size and stateliness, used for public purposes; as, Westminster Hall, in London.
  2. (a) The chief room in a castle or manor house, and in early times the only public room, serving as the place of gathering for the lord's family with the retainers and servants, also for cooking and eating. It was often contrasted with the bower, which was the private or sleeping apartment.
    Full sooty was her bower and eke her hall. Chaucer.
    Hence, as the entrance from outside was directly into the hall: (b) A vestibule, entrance room, etc., in the more elaborated buildings of later times. Hence: (c) Any corridor or passage in a building.
  3. A name given to many manor houses because the magistrate's court was held in the hall of his mansion; a chief mansion house. Cowell.
  4. A college in an English university (at Oxford, an unendowed college).
  5. The apartment in which English university students dine in common; hence, the dinner itself; as, hall is at six o'clock.
  6. Cleared passageway in a crowd; -- formerly an exclamation. Obs. "A hall! a hall!" B. Jonson. Syn. -- Entry; court; passage. See Vestibule.

Webster 1913