|
  • Search Results
  • Advanced Search
  • List Builder
  • Random Word

pall

A pall was originally a coffin’s cloak. Now pall usually means that an event or situation is — literally or figuratively — covered in gloom, like disappointing news that casts a pall on your day.

The noun pall comes from the Latin word, pallium, “covering or cloak.” This use of pall has come to mean "gloom" like your grandparents' not being there to celebrate with you that casts a pall over your graduation. The verb pall is used when someone or something becomes boring or less interesting over time, like your initial willingness to perform household that began to pall when you realize no one else wants to pitch in to keep things neat.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: pall

1
 nv
burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
cover with a pall
2
 v
lose strength or effectiveness; become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to)
FULL DEFINITIONS OF: pall
1

n burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped

Synonyms:
cerement, shroud, winding-clothes, winding-sheet
Type of:
burial garment
cloth used to cover a corpse in preparation for burial

n hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)

Synonyms:
curtain, drape, drapery, mantle
Types:
show 7 types...
hide 7 types...
drop, drop cloth, drop curtain
a curtain that can be lowered and raised onto a stage from the flies; often used as background scenery
festoon
a curtain of fabric draped and bound at intervals to form graceful curves
frontal
a drapery that covers the front of an altar
portiere
a heavy curtain hung across a doorway
shower curtain
a curtain that keeps water from splashing out of the shower area
theater curtain, theatre curtain
a hanging cloth that conceals the stage from the view of the audience; rises or parts at the beginning and descends or closes between acts and at the end of a performance
safety curtain
a fireproof theater curtain to be dropped in case of fire
Type of:
blind, screen
a protective covering that keeps things out or hinders sight
furnishing
(usually plural) the instrumentalities (furniture and appliances and other movable accessories including curtains and rugs) that make a home (or other area) livable

n a sudden numbing dread

Synonyms:
chill
Type of:
apprehension, apprehensiveness, dread
fearful expectation or anticipation

v cover with a pall

Type of:
cover
provide with a covering or cause to be covered
2

v lose strength or effectiveness; become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to)

Type of:
weaken
become weaker

v become less interesting or attractive

Synonyms:
dull
Type of:
change
undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature

v lose interest or become bored with something or somebody

Synonyms:
fatigue, jade, tire, weary
Types:
conk out, peter out, poop out, run down, run out
use up all one's strength and energy and stop working
retire, withdraw
lose interest
back down, back off, bow out, chicken out, pull out
remove oneself from an obligation
Type of:
degenerate, deteriorate, devolve, drop
grow worse

v cause to become flat

“pall the beer”
Type of:
alter, change, modify
cause to change; make different; cause a transformation

v lose sparkle or bouquet

“wine and beer can pall”
Synonyms:
become flat, die
Type of:
change
undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature

v cause surfeit through excess though initially pleasing

Synonyms:
cloy
Type of:
fill, replete, sate, satiate
fill to satisfaction

v cause to lose courage

Synonyms:
dash, daunt, frighten away, frighten off, scare, scare away, scare off
Type of:
intimidate, restrain
to compel or deter by or as if by threats
Learn Launch
WORD FAMILY
USAGE EXAMPLES