▪ I. pall, n.1
(pɔːl)
Forms: 1 pæll, 1, 4 pell, 3 pel, peal, 3–5 pelle, 3–7 pal, palle, 5 Sc. paulle, 5, 7 pale, 6 paule, pawl(e, Sc. paill, 3– pall.
[OE. pæll, pęll ‘costly cloak or robe, purple robe, purple’, ad. L. palli-um pall, coverlet, curtain, cloak; a Greek cloak or mantle, the philosophers' cloak; in Tertullian, the garment worn by Christians instead of the Roman toga; later in various eccles. uses: see Du Cange. The historical order of the senses in Eng. is not that of the development of L. pallium.]
I. Cloth, a cloth.
1. Fine or rich cloth (as a material); esp. as used for the robes of persons of high rank; in OE. purple cloth, ‘purple’. Obs., exc. as poet. arch.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. i. (1890) 26 Of þam bið ᵹeweorht se weolocreada tælgh [MS. B. pæl]. c 1000 ælfric Colloquy in Wr.-Wülcker 96/19 Pællas and sidan (purpurum et sericum) deorwyrþe gymmas and gold. c 1200 Ormin 8173 & all þatt wæde þatt tær wass Uppo þe bære fundenn, All wass itt off þe bettste pall Þatt aniȝ mann maȝȝ aȝhenn. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1461 I-schrud & i-prud ba wið pel & wið purpre. c 1330 King of Tars 364 In cloth of riche purpel palle. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 2836 And in the temple..Arne clothes fele of gold and palle. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 86 Where is bicome cesar, þat lorde was of al, Or þe riche man cloþid in purpur & in pal? c 1460 How a Marchande etc. 197 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 205 Sche put on hur a garment of palle, And mett the marchand in the halle. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 173 They bene yclad in purple and pall. a 1700 Little Musgrave in Ritson Eng. Songs II. 215 The one of them was clad in green, The other was clad in pall. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iv. xii, If pall and vair no more I wear. 1814 ― Ld. of Isles iv. xxiii. |
2. A rich cloth spread upon or over something; a coverlet, canopy, etc. Obs. or arch. in gen. sense.
| 13.. K. Alis. 370 Hire bed was mad, forsothe, With pallis, and with riche clothis. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11235 And in hure chaumbre vpon a pal Þey corouned hure wyþ a coronal. 1457 in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 173 [A piece of cloth of gold called] le palle. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxvii. 13 To beir the paill of veluet cramase Abone hir heid. a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 943 Hangynge aboute the walles Clothes of golde & palles. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. I. 359 Ane paill of gould sett witht pratious stouns sett abone the kingis heid quhene he sat at meit. 1725 Pope Odyss. xix. 364 With splendid palls the downy fleece adorn. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xlii, Over the whole bedding was thrown a counterpane, or pall, of black velvet. 1858 Morris Judgm. of God 170 He sat beneath a broad white pall. |
3. Eccl. a. A cloth spread upon the altar, an altar-cloth; esp. a corporal. arch. b. A cloth or hanging for the front of an altar, a frontal. arch. c. A linen cloth with which the chalice is covered. (Cf. palla 2.)
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 508 And þær stod..arwurðe weofod, mid readum pælle ᵹescrydd. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 302/92 Weouedes huy founden þreo, With rede palles huy weren i-heoled. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 33 A myncheon scholde not towche the palles of the awter. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 32 b/1 A woman sholde not touche the holy vessell of the auter, ne the palle. 1519 Churchw. Acc. St. Giles Reading 7 For coleryng ed mendyng of the pall. 1699 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 11th C. IX. 95 Why the Chalice is usually cover'd with a Vail or Pale before the Consecration? 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. v. 63 The Linen with which they covered the blessed Eucharist, was called Corporal, the Pall, the Shrowd, Co-opertorium or Syndon. 1838 Coronation Service in Maskell Mon. Rit. (1847) III. 83 The Queen..makes her first Oblation; which is a Pall or Altar-Cloth of Gold. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 172 The Altar's snow-white pall. |
4. A cloth, usually of black, purple, or white velvet, spread over a coffin, hearse, or tomb.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 378/1 Palle, or pelle, or other clothe leyd on a dede body,..capulare. 1463 Burial Ord. in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 315 The first herse coueryd with whit within the pale & parclose. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 8 A ryche pal to ly on y⊇ corse late fro rome is come. 1538 Croscombe Church-w. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 43 Received of Edyth Honythorne for a knylle and the pall vj.{supd}. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §245 When the Coffin was put in, the black Velvet Pall that had covered it was thrown over it. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 517 ¶2 The coffin was carried by six of his tenants, and the pall held up by six of the quorum. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 6 Mourning when their leaders fall, Warriors carry the warrior's pall. |
II. A garment, a vestment.
5. A robe, cloak, mantle; in early times, esp. of rich stuff. Obs. or arch. in gen. sense.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xliii. (Z.) 257 Pallium, pæl, palliatus, mid pælle ᵹescryd. c 1205 Lay. 897 Ȝef us peal [c 1275 pal], ȝeue us hors, ȝeue us haihe scrud. Ibid. 24597 ælc oniht hafde pal on And mid golde bigon. 1382 Wyclif Esther viii. 15 Mardoch..schynede in kingis clothis..wrappid with a silken pal and purper. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 44/2 Anon she toke her palle or mantel & covered her. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 5 One of the ten Sibills..cumly clad in a pall of white sylk. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 37 In a long purple pall, whose skirt with gold Was fretted all about, she was arayd. 1652 Needham Selden's Mare Cl. 245 It is represented in the Figure of a woman, clothed with a Pall or linen frock. 1745 T. Warton Pleas. Melanch. 214 Divine Melpomene..Queen of the stately step, and flowing pall. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xl. song, He sweeps along in his dusky pall. |
6. spec. a. Eccl. A woollen vestment worn by the Pope, and conferred by him on certain ecclesiastics, esp. metropolitans or archbishops (such conferment being a necessary preliminary to the special functions of their office); it is now a narrow band passing over the shoulders, with short lappets hanging down before and behind, and ornamented with crosses. (Now more usually called pallium; formerly also pallion.) Hence transf. The office or dignity of metropolitan or archbishop.
| 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 25 Offa worshiped Adulph bisshop of lichfeld with the archebisshops palle. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxi. 243 This palle is an indument that euery archebysshop must haue, and is nat in full auctoritie of an archebysshop tyll he haue receyued his palle of the pope. 1538 Leland Itin. IV. 102 After such tyme as the Pall of the Archb. of Lichfeild was taken from Lichfeild and restored againe to Canterbury. 1563 Homilies ii. Agst. Rebell. (1859) 592 The Romish rag, which he calleth a pall, scarce worth twelve-pence. 1650 Sir R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres iii. 54 Besides his Pall, the Popes Chamberlain, brought him from Rome, a Cardinalls hat. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 92 After Consecration he shall have the Pall sent him. 1848 A. Herbert in Todd's Irish Nennius Notes 5 The copier places York and Canterbury, the two palls or archiepiscopates of England, first and second. |
b. A robe or mantle put upon the sovereign at coronation; now called the ‘royal robe’.
| 1643 Baker Chron., Rich. II 2 After this, he [the Archbishop] put upon him [Richard II] an upper Vesture called a Pall, saying, Accipe Pallium. 1847 W. Maskell Mon. Rit. III. 115 This now called ‘Royal Robe’ is the ancient pallium; the ‘open pall’ as it is called in the orders of Charles II and James II. |
7. Her. A bearing representing the front half of an archbishop's pall, consisting of three bands in the form of a capital Y, charged with crosses. (Also called cross-pall.)
(party) per pall: said of the shield when divided into three parts, of different tinctures, by lines in the directions of those of a capital Y.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie 182 The fielde is Azure, a Paule Sable. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iv. ii. 193. 1766 Porny Heraldry (1777) Dict., Pall, a figure like a Greek υ, about the breadth of a Pallet: it is by some Heralds called a Cross-Pall. 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. (ed. 3) xxi. 356 Surmounted by a pall of the last. |
III. 8. fig. (Chiefly from 5, or now esp. 4.) Something that covers or conceals, a ‘mantle’, ‘cloak’; in mod. use esp. something, such as a cloud, that extends over a thing or region and produces an effect of gloom.
| c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. lv. 130 There shal I yelde glory & worship for shame & repreef, a palle of preisyng for mornyng [cf. Isa. lxi. 3]. 1504 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iii. viii. 203 (heading) Howe grace is to be hyd vnder the palle of humylyte. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 154 Vnder the pall of very mekenes & symplicite. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ix. 2110 By this dark Pall thrown o'er the silent World! c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 353 The sky was overspread with a pall of blackness. 1866 B. Taylor Winter Solstice Poems 301 Too cold to melt its pall of snow. 1882 F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 438 Overhead by day and by night a murky pall of smoke. |
IV. 9. attrib. and Comb., as pall-canopy, pall-cloth, pall-cloud; pall-like adj.; pall-bearer, -holder, -supporter, one of those attending the coffin at a funeral, to hold up the corners and edges of the pall; † pall-work, work in ‘pall’ or rich cloth (obs.).
| 1707 Hearne Collect. 29 Sept. (O.H.S.) II. 53 *Pall Bearers were Dr. Aldrich, Dr. Turner [etc.]. 1786 Miss E. Clayton in Mrs. Delany's Corr. Ser. ii. III. 411 Lord and Lady Howard are gone to town this morning for poor Pss. Amelia's funeral. She is one of the pall-bearers. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 28 May 8/1 The pall-bearers had taken up their position. |
| 1875 S. Haden Earth to Earth 52 The old English hearse or *pall-canopy. |
| 1541 Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 154 Payd for iij stavys to bere y⊇ *pawle cloth. |
| a 1425 Cursor M. 5125 (Trin.) He dud on him *pal cloþing And on his hond sett riche ring. |
| 1886 Corbett Fall of Asgard II. 28 To raise the storm that was to rive the *pall-cloud that hung over Asgard. |
| 1814 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 348 The other *pall-holders—Mr. Thurston, Dr. Worcester [etc.]. |
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. ii, Of purpure, and *palle werke, and perrè to pay. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 632 All of pall work fyn,..Anerlud with ermyn. |
▪ II. pall, n.2 rare.
(pɔːl)
[f. pall v.1]
A feeling of disgust arising from satiety or insipidity.
| 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. ii. ii. §2 (1737) II. 149 The Palls or Nauseatings which continually intervene, are of the worst and most hateful kind of Sensation. |
▪ III. pall, v.1
(pɔːl)
Also 6–7 pawl, paul.
[app. aphetic from appal v., to which the early senses are parallel. But the literal sense of ‘become’ or ‘make pale’ is of rare occurrence, being expressed by the cognate pale v. from pale a.]
I. Intransitive senses.
† 1. To become pale or dim. Obs.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxv, The name of whom shall pallen in none age, But ever yliche without eclipsing shine. |
† 2. To become faint; to faint, fail (in strength, virtue, etc.). Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 13 That other biter as the galle, Which makth a mannes herte palle. 1540–54 Croke Ps. (Percy Soc.) 22 There-at his hert woll pall. 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. E e ij, Vnuicted strengthes begin to pal. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 9 When our deare plots do paule. |
† b. To decay, waste away, rot. Obs. rare.
| ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 1030 Thus have ye kept your enemy here Pallyng more than seven yere. |
† 3. Of fermented or aerated liquors: To lose briskness or sharpness by exposure to the air; to become flat, vapid, stale, or insipid. b. Of blood: To become pale (?) by separation of clot and serum.
| c 1430 Lydgate [see palled ppl. a.1 2]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 379/2 Pallyn, as ale & drynke,..emorior. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 267 Also yf your swete wyne pale, drawe it in to a romney vessell for lessynge [cf. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 116 Ȝiff swete wyne be seeke or pallid put in a Rompney for lesynge]. 1530 Palsgr. 651/2, I palle, as drinke or bloode dothe, by longe standyng in a thynge, je appallys. This drinke wyll pall (s'appallyra) if it stande vncouered all nyght. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 115 A cup of dead beere, that had stood pawling by him in a pot three dayes. 1634 Habington Castara (Arb.) 63 Sooner..then let pall So pure Canary. 1693 J. Clayton Virginia in Misc. Curiosa (1708) III. 287 When the Weather breaks the Blood palls, and like over-fermented Liquors is depauperated, or turns eager and sharp. 1703 Art & Myst. Vintners 11 Lest such Wines should Pall and die upon their hands. |
4. transf. and fig. To become tasteless, vapid, or insipid to the appetite or interest.
| a 1704 T. Brown Sat. on Marriage Wks. 1730 I. 58 Oh, the virtue and grace of a shrill caterwauling. But it palls in your game. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 2 ¶1 Beauty is a Thing which palls with Possession. 1748 Johnson Vanity Hum. Wishes 265 Now pall the tasteless meats. 1868 Farrar Seekers ii. ii. (1875) 200 Pleasure may pall or cease to be obtainable. 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xviii. 137 His position lost all its charm the instant the work began to pall. |
b. Const. on, upon (the sense, mind, or organ).
| 1713 Addison Cato i. iv, Beauty soon grows familiar..and palls upon the sense. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. i. iv. §2 They would satiate us and pall upon our senses. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. xxiii. 236 The pastimes of the tilt-yard..began to pall on him. |
5. Of the person or organ: To lose relish or interest; to become satiated or cloyed with.
| 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VIII. xxxiv, If thy stomach palls with it, discontinue it from time to time. 1832 Examiner 673/2 The laity have done much wrong to the clergy in allowing it to..surfeit, and pall..with forbidden wealth. |
II. Transitive senses.
† 6. To make pale, to dim. Obs.
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. xxi. (1541) 35 The men and women have the colour of their vysage pallyd [edd. 1541–1612 palled]. 1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. i. met. v. 12 And Luciϕar palled by ϕebus vpriseth. |
† 7. To make faint or feeble; to enfeeble, weaken; to daunt, appal. Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 311 Unkindeschipe..The trouthe of mannes herte it palleth. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. xviii, The prolixitee Off doubilnesse that doith my wittis pall. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. clxx. (1533) 98 b/1 His knyghtes and soldyours were tyred & palled wyth ouer watche and laboure. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lxxiv. 62 Which..did their harts so pall, That they cride for peace. 1607 Dekker Hist. Sir T. Wyatt Wks. 1873 III. 119 Tis not the name of Traytor Pals me nor pluckes my weapon from my hand. 1686 F. Spence tr. Varillas' Ho. Medicis 302 A caprice which pawl'd fortune in such manner that she utterly turn'd tale. |
† b. To render (breath) inoffensive. Obs.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health xx. 14 A remedy to pall or make swete the breth. |
† 8. To render flat, stale, or insipid; to stale.
| 1625 Massinger New Way i. i, The remainder of a single can Left by a drunken porter, all night pall'd too. 1682 Otway Venice Preserved ii. i, I cannot think Of tasting any thing a fool has pall'd. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Brewing, Leaving your Vent-Peg always open palls it [March Beer]. |
| fig. 1700 Dryden Palamon & Arcite iii. 686 A miracle..Their joy with unexpected sorrow pall'd. 1711 P. H. View two last Parlts. 145 The fortunate issue of that Expedition had pall'd the Enquiry. 1807 E. S. Barrett Rising Sun I. 154 He palls enjoyment by excess. |
9. To deprive of one's relish for something; to satiate, cloy (the appetite, senses, or sentient being).
| 1700 Addison Epil. Brit. Enchanters, And pall the sense with one continu'd show. 1725 N. Robinson Th. Physick 321 For fear of too much palling his Appetite. 1797 Godwin Enquirer ii. xii. 479 He must not pall his readers. 1829 Examiner 355/1 Can even the choicest viands fail to pall the stomach? 1856 Bagehot Lit. Stud., Shelley (1879) I. 113 Languor comes, fatigue palls, melancholy oppresses. |
▪ IV. † pall, v.2 Obs. rare.
[Origin obscure: cf. pale v.4]
1. trans. To beat, strike, knock (down).
| a 1375 Joseph Arim. 499 Þei miȝte I-seo sone His polhache go and proude doun pallede. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 30 Þanne with þe firste pyle I palle hym down. Ibid. 51 Þanne liberum arbitrium..palleth adown þe pouke. |
2. intr. or absol. To fight (one's way) through.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 10022 Þai met on the Mirmydons, macchit hom hard, Pallit thurgh the persans, put hom beside. Ibid. 11132 Þai..Put hom doun prestly, pallit hom þurgh, Slogh hom full sleghly for sleght þat þai couthe. |
▪ V. pall, v.3
(pɔːl)
[f. pall n.1]
trans. To cover with or as with a cloth; to drape with a pall.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 8385 The halle..was pight vp with pilers all of pure stones, Palit full prudly. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. v. 52 Come thick Night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoake of Hell. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 332 Why pall'd in state, and mitred with a wreath Of nightshade, dost thou sit portentiously? 1854 De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. Wks. II. 226–7 Nature..so powerless and extinct as to seem palled in her shroud. 1869 Tennyson Holy Grail 844, I saw the Holy Grail, All pall'd in crimson samite. |
▪ VI. pall
obs. form of pal; variant of pawl.