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pall-mall definition

pall·-mall (pal′mal′, pel′mel′)

noun

  1. an old game in which a boxwood ball was struck by a mallet through an iron ring hung at the end of an alley
  2. the alley in which this game was played

Etymology: MFr palemail < It pallamaglio < palla (< Langobardic palla, akin to OHG balla, ball) + maglio < L malleus, a hammer: see malleable

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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