1. a large building or series of connected buildings containing a variety of retail stores and typically also restaurants.North American
2. a sheltered walk or promenade.
▪ a section of a street, typically in the downtown area of a city, from which vehicular traffic is excluded.
3. another term for the game pall-mallhistorical
▪ an alley used for pall-mall.
Word Originmid 17th century (in mall (sense 3)): probably a shortening of pall-mall. mall (sense 2) derives from The Mall, a tree-bordered walk in St James's Park, London, formerly the site of a pall-mall alley. mall (sense 1) dates from the 1960s.
