mall : Idioms & Phrases

• noun a fashionable street in London noted for its many private clubs
  

WordNet

• noun a 17th century game; a wooden ball was driven along an alley with a mallet
  

WordNet

Pall`-mall" noun

Etymology

OF. palemail, It. pallamagio; palla a ball (of German origin, akin to E. ball) + magio hammer, fr. L. malleus. See lst Ball, and Mall a beetle.

Definitions

1. A game formerly common in England, in which a wooden ball was driven with a mallet through an elevated hoop or ring of iron. The name was also given to the mallet used, to the place where the game was played, and to the street, in London, still called Pall Mall. Written also pail-mail and pell-mell. Sir K. Digby. Evelyn.

Webster 1913

• noun mercantile establishment consisting of a carefully landscaped complex of shops representing leading merchandisers; usually includes restaurants and a convenient parking area; a modern version of the traditional marketplace
  center; shopping centre; plaza; mall; shopping center.
  
  • a good plaza should have a movie house
  • they spent their weekends at the local malls

WordNet

• noun a mercantile establishment consisting of a row of various stores and business and restaurants along a road or busy street; usually opening on a parking lot
  

WordNet