▪ I. hall1
(hɔːl)
Forms: 1– hall, 1 heall, heal, 3–7 halle, (4 alle), 4–7 hal, haule, 5 (hale, awle), 5–6 hawl(l)e, 6 haull, Sc. 5 hawe, 8– ha'.
[Com. Teut.: OE. heall str. f. = OS., OHG. halla (MLG., MDu., MHG. halle, Du. hal), ON. hǫll, hall- (Sw. hall, Da. hal):—OTeut. *hallâ-:—*halnâ-, deriv. of ablaut series hel-, hal-, hul- to cover, conceal.]
† 1. A large place covered by a roof; in early times applied to any spacious roofed place, without or with subordinate chambers attached; a temple, palace, court, royal residence. Obs. in gen. sense.
| Beowulf (Z.) 89 He doᵹora ᵹe-hwam dream ᵹehyrde hludne in healle. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 231 Þat se hlaford into þar halle come. c 1205 Lay. 28033 Þa postes..þa heolden up þa halle. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 540 He wende & lai withoute toun, atte kinges halle. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 8098 Loverd! better es a day lastand In þi halles þan a thowsand. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) v. 15 Þ ai make pittes in þe erthe all aboute þe hall. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 32 The virgyne, wych stant..In the hey weye, venus halle by. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 75 Trywmphale hall, hie tour royall Of Godis celsitud. 1606 Holland Sueton. 211 Being once Emperour did set up also in his Haule (or Court yard) the Lineall processe and race of his house. |
| fig. 971 Blickl. Hom. xiv. 163 Seo heall þæs Halᵹan Gastes. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 148 Whiche hathe dwelled in the halle of the maydens wombe. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 33 Doufe, byrd fulle blist, fayre myght the befalle!.. Fulle welle I it wist thou wold com to thi halle. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 136 Stairs That climb into the windy halls of heaven. |
2. a. The large public room in a mansion, palace, etc., used for receptions, banquets, etc., which till nearly 1600 greatly surpassed in size and importance the private rooms or ‘bowers’ (see
bower n.1 2); a large or stately room in a house.
in hall, was often rhetorically contrasted with
in the field.
servants' hall: the common room in a mansion or large house in which the servants dine.
| c 1200, etc. [see bower n.1 2]. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1470 In halle & i bure. c 1325 Poem Times Edw. II 252 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 334 And nu ben theih liouns in halle, and hares in the feld. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 723/7 Hoc atrium, a hawlle. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 388 in Babees Bk. 311 In halle make fyre at yche a mele. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxvi. 23 The honourable vse is all ago, In hall and bour, in burgh and plane. 1530 Palsgr. 228/2 Halle in a house, salle. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxi. 383 The ryche chambers that were on the syde of the hall. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 78 When by a part we understand the whole, as to say..a hall for a house. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 16 The Hall for Audience is on the right hand of the Court. 1717 Frezier Voy. S. Sea 261 The first Room is a large Hall, about 19 Foot Broad, and between 30 and 40 in Length. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The hall..in the houses of ministers of state, public magistrates, &c., is that wherein they dispatch business and give audience. 1834 W. Ind. Sketch Bk. I. 152 One [compartment] occupying nearly half the area, which was designated ‘the hall’, and appropriated to the ordinary daily purposes of drawing and dining-room. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xvi, To quarrel in the servants' hall while waiting for their masters and mistresses. 1874 Parker Goth. Archit. i. iii. 89 Part of the great Norman hall remains, now converted into the servants' hall. |
b. transf. The company assembled in a hall.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, At her comynge gladdeth all the halle. |
3. The residence of a territorial proprietor, a baronial or squire's ‘hall’.
(In early use, not separable from 1.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 23 Se hælend com in-to þas ealdres halle. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8683 Within houses & hallis hard was þere chere. 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 625/19 Quactum, halle, howse. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 189 But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendome, Kate of Kate-hall. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 235 In town she dwelt;—forsaken stood the Hall. 1832 Macaulay Armada 60 The warlike errand.. roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 36 Aylmer followed Aylmer at the Hall, And Averill Averill at the Rectory Thrice over; so that Rectory and Hall, Bound in an immemorial intimacy, Were open to each other. |
4. A term applied,
esp. in the English universities, to a building or buildings set apart for the residence or instruction of students, and, by transference, to the body of students occupying it.
a. Originally applied at Oxford and Cambridge to all residences of students, including the Colleges when these came to be founded. Now only
Hist.,
arch., or
poetic for ‘academic buildings’.
At Cambridge this use survived till modern times, when some of the smaller colleges, though corporations, were still called
halls; the older designation survives, for distinction's sake, in the name of Trinity Hall.
| [1379 Patent Roll Rich. II, i. 32 (New Coll. Oxon.) Custos et scholares collegii, domus, sive aulæ prædicti.] c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 83 Poure clerkes two That dwelten in this halle of which I seye. 1474 in Wood City of Oxford (O.H.S.) I. 126 Tenementum magistri et scholarium Collegii vulgariter nuncupati University Halle. ? 15.. Ibid. I. 580 Gardinum quod pertinet ad Collegium de Queen Hall. 1847 Tennyson Princess Prol. 140 Pretty were the sight If our old halls could change their sex, and flaunt With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans, And sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair. 1886 tr. Statutes of Trinity Hall in Willis & Clark Cambridge Introd. 17 The house [domus] which the aforesaid college shall inhabit, shall be named the Hall [aula] of the Holy Trinity of Norwich. |
b. After the institution of the colleges, applied specifically to those buildings and societies which, unlike the colleges, were governed by a head only (and not by head and fellows), and whose property was held in trust for them, they not being bodies corporate. (
Cf. college 4.)
The ‘Halls’ were originally very numerous, but in Queen Elizabeth's time only eight remained in Oxford, and they are now almost extinct.
| 1535–6 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 42 §1 Provostshippes, Maister⁓shippes, Halles, Hostelles. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 950 In Oxford..he founded also Magdaleyn Hall. 1611 Florio, Allóggio..also a skollers house, as the halls in Oxford, that haue no lands, but all liue of themselues. 1683 Wood Life 18 May (O.H.S.) III. 47 A Master of every College and Hall to have procuratoriall power during the duke of York's being at Oxon. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 699 In colleges and halls, in ancient days, When learning, virtue, piety and truth Were precious. 1877 Statutes of Univ. Oxf. Commissioners (1882) 215 A Statute for the Union of Balliol College and New Inn Hall. 1896 Kelly's Oxford Directory 91 The halls are governed by the Statuta Aulularia, a code of regulations originally formed by the University, and since amended by Convocation. Ibid. 92 The four Dyke Scholarships formerly belonging to this hall [St. Mary] have now been suppressed. |
c. In recent times applied to buildings in University towns, established, whether by the Universities or not, for the use of students in the higher learning, sometimes enjoying the privileges of the University and sometimes not:
e.g. at Oxford, private halls for the residence of undergraduate members of the University, under the charge of a member of Convocation; theological halls (
e.g. Wycliffe Hall), halls for women students (
e.g. Somerville Hall, Lady Margaret Hall).
For the last two classes the name ‘college’ has also been assumed: see
college 4 e.
Divinity Hall, the name applied to the theological department of the Scottish Universities, and to the theological colleges of the Nonconformist churches.
| 1879 Minutes of Committee of Assoc. for Education of Women 21 June, The Scholarship to be called the Mary Somerville Scholarship tenable at Somerville Hall for 3 years. 1879 Times 23 June, Other exhibitions and scholarships have been and will be awarded by the Lady Margaret and Somerville Halls. 1882 Addenda to Statutes (Oxford) 879 §1 Of the granting of Licenses to open private Halls. Ibid. §6 Of the Conditions upon which a Private Hall may become a Public Hall of the University. 1896 Kelly's Oxford Directory 94 To open a suitable building as a private hall for the reception and tuition of matriculated students who shall be admissable to degrees..the proprietor of such hall is to bear the title of ‘Licensed Master’. |
d. In American colleges: A room or building appropriated to the meetings of a literary or other society; also the society itself.
| 1888 J. A. Porter in Cent. Mag. Sep. 751 The twin literary societies, or ‘halls’, generally secret, and always intense in mutual rivalry, which have been institutions at every leading college in the land. Ibid., Oliver Ellsworth, afterward Chief-Justice..founded Clio Hall at Princeton, and a few years later, in 1769, Whig Hall arose at the same college. |
5. a. In English colleges, etc.: The large room in which the members and students dine in common.
| 1577 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 371 The Comedie played publiklie in the hawlle at Christmas. 1683 Wood Life 19 May, They went into the hall [of Queen's Coll. Oxford], and viewed the pictures of King Charles I and his queen. 1853 C. Bede Verdant Green vi, That he might make his first appearance in Hall with proper éclat. 1877 Blackmore Cripps xix. (1895) 111 Will you dine in hall with me? Mod. Concert in Balliol Hall. |
b. transf. The dinner in a college hall.
| 1859 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i, You ought to dine in hall perhaps four days a week. Hall is at five o'clock. a 1890 R. F. Burton in Life (1893) I. 74 The time for ‘Hall’, that is to say for college dinner, was five p.m. |
6. A house or building belonging to a guild or fraternity of merchants or tradesmen.
At these places the business of the respective guilds was transacted; and in some instances they served as the market-houses for the sale of the goods of the associated members; as
Apothecaries' Hall,
Haberdashers' Hall,
Merchant Tailors' Hall,
Saddlers' Hall, etc. etc. in London. See also
cloth-hall (
cloth 19),
common hall,
guild-hall, etc.
| c 1302 [see common hall 1]. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 370 To sitten in a yeldehalle on a deys. 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VI, 170 The Mayre..ordeyned, that all Wardeins of misteries, should assemble their felowship in their particular hawles. 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry v. i, And therefore use a conscience (tho' it be Forbidden in our Hall towards other men). 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 233 Examine the truth of it at Stationers Hall. 1708 New View Lond. 593 An Alphabetical Account of Companies and their Halls. 1869 Arundell London & Liv. Comp. 187 The custom of possessing magnificent halls had not..become general. |
7. a. A large room or building for the transaction of public business, the holding of courts of justice, or any public assemblies, meetings, or entertainments. (See also music-hall, town-hall, etc.)
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 390 The tour he made of Londone, Wyllam þys proute kyng, And muche halle of Londone, þat so muche was þoru all thyng. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxvii. 27 Thanne kniȝtis of the president takynge Jhesu in the mote halle. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 237 The king and the Erle went hand in hand to the great Hall of the Towne. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. ix. 334 They desir'd the ambassadors to go out of the hall. 1802 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 79 The House [Congress]..adjourned..for the purpose of giving opportunity to workmen to fix some ventilators, which were greatly wanted in the Hall. 1826 H. N. Coleridge West Indies 193 The Court House..contains a hall on the ground floor for the Assembly. |
† b. the Hall, Westminster Hall, formerly the seat of the High Court of Justice in England; hence, the administration of justice.
Obs.| 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 185 b, To Westmynster, and there set in the hawle, with the scepter royall in his hand. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. i. 2 Whether away so fast?.. Eu'n to the Hall, to heare what shall become Of the great Duke of Buckingham. 1738 Pope Epil. Sat. ii. 218 To Virtue's work provoke the tardy Hall. |
† c. A formal assembly held by the sovereign, or by the mayor or principal municipal officer of a town; usually in
phr. to keep hall,
call a hall.
Obs. (see also
common hall.)
| 1551–2 Edw. VI Jrnl. 7 Jan. in Lit. Rem. (Roxb.) II. 388, I went to Detford to dine there, and brake up the halle. 1568 Grafton Chron. (1809) II. 526 [Christmas] kept at Greenewiche with open hous-hold, and franke resorte to the Court (which is called keping of the Hall). c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1848) 162 Whereupon a hall was called, and the danger of the place declared to the whole town. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1956/4 The next day the Mayor called a Hall, and..swore all the Aldermen. |
d. Also in
pl. (
occas. in
sing.),
abbrev. of
music-hall.
| 1862 A. J. Munby Diary 29 Mar. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 119 Socially speaking, the audience were a good deal higher than those I have seen in similar Halls at Islington & elsewhere. 1867 Dickens Lett. 16 Dec. (1880) II. 318, I have to go to the hall to try an enlarged background. 1895 Chevalier & Daly A. Chevalier 115 He was one of the few actors of any prominence who had migrated to the halls. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 29 He've tried every small 'all in town, even the pubs wot gits up ‘smokers’. 1905 Morton & Newton (title) Sixty years' stage service, being a record of the life of Charles Morton, ‘the Father of the Halls’. 1923 N. Coward Coll. Sk. & Lyrics (1931) 75 Doing a turn of me own on the halls—very trying work—and so cosmopolitan. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock i. 25 Robey's on the 'alls; but this gentleman..used to hentertain the toffs. 1942 E. Blom Mus. in Eng. x. 168 The ‘halls’ were the last places where anybody would have thought of going for the sake of music. 1967 Listener 8 June 760/2 The vital and self-confident art of the halls..a London Sound to set beside the Liverpool sort. |
8. The entrance-room or vestibule of a house; hence, the lobby or entrance passage.
(The entrance-room was formerly often one of the principal sitting-rooms, of which many examples still remain in old country houses.)
| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 10 The Hall of a private-house, serving for the most part but for a Passage. 1706–7 Farquhar Beaux' Strat. i. i, The Company..has stood in the Hall this Hour, and no Body to shew them to their Chambers. 1790 J. B. Moreton W. Ind. Isl. 24 Do not keep loitering about the hall or piazza. 1848 Thackeray Dinner at Timmins's iii, Fitz tumbled over the basket..which stood in the hall. 1897 M. Hamilton McLeod of Camerons 259 They were still standing in the hall of the hotel. |
† 9. A space in a garden or grove enclosed by trees or hedges.
Obs.| 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gard. 19 Groves..Close-Walks, Galleries, and Halls of Verdure. Ibid. 49 You should always..make something Noble in the Middle of a Wood, as a Hall of Horse-Chesnuts, a Water-work..or the like. |
† 10. = halling.
Obs.| 1845 Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 4) I. 197 They [the walls] were also sometimes hung with tapestry or carpeting, and a set of hangings of this kind was occasionally called a Hall or Hallyng. |
11. In allusive phrases:
bachelor's hall, an establishment presided over by an unmarried man, or a man in the absence of his wife.
† cutpurse hall,
† ruffian's hall, a place where cutpurses or ruffians congregate, or exercise their pursuits.
liberty hall, a place where one may do as one likes.
| 1615 T. Tomkis Albumazar iii. vii, 'Tis the cunningst nimmer Of the whole Company of Cut-purse-Hall. 1632 Massinger City Madam i. ii, My gate ruffian's hall! What insolence is this? 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. (Globe) 652/1 This is Liberty-hall, gentlemen. You may do just as you please. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop i, I'll have my Bachelor's Hall at the counting-house. 1844 ― Mart. Chuz. xi, ‘Bachelor's Hall, you know, cousin’, said Mr. Jonas. 1885 C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 226 Captain Sol, who was a widower, and kept bachelor's hall, so to speak. |
† 12. a hall! a hall! a cry or exclamation to clear the way or make sufficient room in a crowd,
esp. for a dance; also to call people together to a ceremony or entertainment, or to summon servants.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. v. 28 A Hall Hall, giue roome, and foote it Girles. 1599 Chapman Hum. dayes Myrth Plays 1873 I. 103 A hall, a hall, the pageant of the Butterie. 1623 Middleton Entertainment at Lord Mayor's Wks. (Bullen) VII. 373 A hall! a hall! below, stand clear. 1689 S. Sewall Diary 19 Mar. (1878) I. 249 When the people cry'd, a Hall, a Hall, the Aldermen came up two by two, the Mace carried before them. 1808 Scott Marm. v. xvii, Lords to the dance,—a hall! a hall! |
13. attrib. and
Comb., as
hall-bible,
hall-board,
hall-book,
hall-ceiling,
hall-chair,
hall-chimney,
hall-cleaner,
hall-clock,
hall-feast,
hall-floor,
hall-hearth,
hall-keeper,
hall-lamp,
hall-man,
hall-pillar,
hall-porter, etc.;
hall-like adj.; also
hall-bedroom U.S., a small bedroom partitioned off at one end of a hall;
hall-bed roomer U.S., one who sleeps in this;
hall-boy, a page-boy in a large house; a call-boy in the hall of a hotel or the like;
hall day = courtday 1;
hall-disputation,
hall-exercise, a disputation in a college hall;
hall-full, as many as a hall will hold;
† hall-reader, one who read the Bible or other book in the college hall;
hall-room U.S., a room at the end of and of the width of a hall; also
v. intr., to live in such a room;
† hall-spoon, a spoon made of hall-marked silver;
hall stand, a piece of furniture used to receive umbrellas, hats, coats, and brushes usually situated near the front door in the hall of the house;
hall-table, (
a) a large, solid table belonging to the hall in a mansion; (
b) a small table situated in the hall near the front door;
hall-tree U.S., a hall stand or hat rack. Also
hall-house, -mark, etc.
| 1738 New Hampsh. Probate Rec. II. 280 Samuel Brewster shall have..ye *Hall Bed Room. 1886 H. James Bostonians II. xxi. 44 One of his rooms was directly above the street-door of the house; such a dormitory, when it is so exiguous, is called in the nomenclature of New York a ‘hall bedroom’. 1922 A. Bennett Lilian i. vi. 57 In New York it would have been termed a hall-bedroom. 1934 L. Mumford in W. Frank et al. Amer. & Alfred Stieglitz ii. 35 Lonely young men and women from the country..faced their first year in the city from hall bedrooms on the top-floor rear of unamiable boarding-houses. |
| 1899 J. L. Williams Stolen Story 230 Like many an other lonely *hall-bed roomer. |
| 1672 Acc. Christ's Coll. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 368 The *Hall-Bible is bound in 1672. 1786, 1823 Ha' bible [see ha']. |
| 1884 N.Y. Herald 27 Oct. 2/2 Janitors and *hall boys in attendance. 1885 C. M. Yonge Nuttie's Father ii. xiii. 158 The hall boy, an alert young fellow, had already dashed down the steps. 1892 ― That Stick I. ii. 23 He had been hall boy to a duke, footman to a viscountess, valet to an earl. 1912 L. J. Vance Destroying Angel xx, The hall-boys said you were busy on the telephone. |
| 1864 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ii. 5 The Veneering establishment, from the *hall-chairs..to the grand pianoforte. 1939 A. Clarke Sister Eucharia i. 7 The stage is seen to be quite bare except for two high hall chairs. |
| 1746 M. Hughes Jrnl. Late Rebellion Back of Title, Entered in the *Hall-Book of the Company of Stationers. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe iv. 23 The hall-clock..points at nine. |
| 1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomenclator 371 Dies fastus..An *hall day: a court day: a day of pleading, as in terme time at Westminster hall, &c. 1700 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 642 A private verdict was given, and will be affirmed the next hall day in court. |
| 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 1765 Amydde the *halle flore. |
| 1883 Black Shandon Bells xxviii, A *hall-full of men smoking pipes. |
| 1705 Hearne Collect. 12 Nov., A *Hall Keeper for Blackwell Hall. |
| 1834 W. Ind. Sketch Bk. I. 153 A common *hall lamp was suspended from one of the centre beams. |
| 1883 D. Cook On Stage I. ix. 204 There is no situation in the world where a man can better study his kind than the *hall⁓porter's chair of a London theatre. 1934 Punch 5 Aug. 164/2 The hall-porter moved wearily across the floor to take my luggage. |
| 1919 T. K. Holmes Man fr. Tall Timber i. 3 ‘Shucks! why didn't you say H. Harvey Stafford?’ interrupted the *hall-man. |
| 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 369 The desk which was used by the *Hall-Reader. |
| 1859 Ladies' Repository XIX. 466/2 The little *hall-room is just large enough for the boys to sleep in. 1886 S. W. Mitchell R. Blake (1895) v. 39 Miss Darnell had for her own use a like space on the third floor, leaving to Miss Wynne a bed⁓chamber..known as a hall-room. 1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million (1916) xiv. 139 The restaurant was next door to the old red brick in which she hall-roomed. Ibid. 140 Schulenberg was to send three meals per diem to Sarah's hall-room. |
| 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2339/4, 15 Spoons, 4 being *Hall Spoons gilt. |
| 1882 Times 31 Jan. 16/6 (Advt.), A very fine carved oak bookcase, two cabinets, a ditto *hall stand and table. 1897 R. Kron Little Londoner (1917) 28 Not far from the door, there are an umbrella-stand, a hat-rack, with several pegs on it, and a large looking-glass; if the three are combined, such a piece of furniture is called a hall-stand. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 4 Apr. 19/1 (Advt.), Oak Hall Stand, Brussels Rugs. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger iii. 23 By applying her eye to one of the coloured panes in the front door, she could make out the dim bulk of a hall-stand. 1952 J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 282 Hall stands were often made wholly of cast iron. |
| 1682 A. Behn City Heiress 52 Being drunk, and falling asleep under the *Hall-table. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. Introd. 52 The huge hall-table's oaken face, Scrubb'd till it shone. 1869 L. M. Alcott Little Women II. xxiii. 327 He..never..expressed..surprise at seeing the Professor's hat on the Marches' hall-table. 1902 H. James Wings of Dove ii. iv. 82, I shan't leave mine [sc. my letters] on the hall-table. a 1941 V. Woolf Haunted House (1943) 44 She touched the letters on the hall table. |
| 1891 Harper's Mag. June 79/1 One could distinguish..the *hall tree, whereon Rhodes's hat swung in its place. 1900 E. E. Peake Darlingtons ix. 79 She..walked back to the sitting-room, stopping to touch up her hair before the glass in the hall⁓tree. 1954 J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday xviii. 108 He busted two windows and run off with the deer-antler hall-tree. |
▪ II. hall obs. form of
haul.