pall

Etymology 1

From Middle English pal, palle, from Old English pæl, pæll, from Old French paile and Latin pallium (“cloak; covering”) (and thus a doublet of pallium), probably from palla (“piece of cloth worn as apparel”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; hide, skin; cloth”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

noun

1. Senses relating to cloth.
   1. (archaic, poetic) Fine cloth, especially purple cloth used for robes.
   2. A heavy cloth laid over a coffin or tomb; a shroud laid over a corpse.
   3. (Christianity) A piece of cardboard, covered with linen and embroidered on one side, used to cover the chalice during the Eucharist.
   4. (Christianity, obsolete) A cloth used for various purposes on the altar in a church, such as a corporal (“cloth on which elements of the Eucharist are placed”) or frontal (“drapery covering the front of an altar”).
2. Senses relating to clothing.
   1. (archaic) An outer garment; a cloak, mantle, or robe.
   2. (figurative) Something that covers or surrounds like a cloak; in particular, a cloud of dust, smoke, etc., or a feeling of fear, gloom, or suspicion.
      The early election results cast a pall over what was supposed to be a celebration.
      A pall came over the crowd when the fourth goal was scored.
      The smoke-pall of industrial Lancashire hung over the landscape; perhaps slagscape would be a more fitting term. The general prospect was a succession of chimney-stacks, factories, pit-heads, slagheaps, junctions, sidings and coal wagons. 1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 11
      […]and the pillar of smoke which had recently begun to dissipate, as many of the fires amidships had been smothered by the onrushing water, was replaced by a vast mushroom cloud of steam, smoke, flame, and debris as the magazines detonated. In the pall of this apocalyptic destruction, the U.S. fleet takes stock. 5 May 2021, Drachinifel, 42:53 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?, archived from the original on 2022-08-19
   3. (Christianity) Especially in Roman Catholicism: a pallium (“liturgical vestment worn over the chasuble”).
      By the way, a pall is a pontifical vestment, considerable for the matter, making, and mysteries thereof. […] But, to speak plainly, the mystery of mysteries in this pall was, that the archbishops' receiving it showed therein their dependence on Rome; and a mote, in this manner ceremoniously taken, was an acknowledgement of their subjection. And as it owned Rome's power, so in after-ages it increased their profit. For, though now such palls were freely given to archbishops, […] yet in after-ages the archbishop of Canterbury's pall was sold for five thousand florins: […] 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section II. The Seventh Century.”, in The Church-history of Britain; from the Birth of Jesus Christ, untill the Year M.DC.XLVIII, London: Printed for Iohn Williams, →OCLC; The Church History of Britain,[…] In Three Volumes, 3rd edition, volume I, London: Printed for Thomas Tegg,[…], 1842, →OCLC, section 38 (What a Pall is), page 107
      Or it might be a magnificent pall, in the days in which this garment had lost its primitive character, that taxed the skill and the patience of the fair needlewoman. It was about the year a.d. 601 that Pope Gregory [I] sent two archbishop's palls into England; the one for London, which see was afterwards removed to Canterbury, and the other to York. 1840, [Elizabeth Stone], “Needlework of the Dark Ages”, in Countess of Wilton [i.e., Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton], editor, The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages; including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, publisher,[…], →OCLC, page 66
   4. (heraldry) A charge representing an archbishop's pallium, having the form of the letter Y, sometimes charged with crosses.
      The flag of South Africa has a green pall

Etymology 2

From the noun pall (“cloth”).

verb

1. (transitive) To cloak or cover with, or as if with, a pall.

Etymology 3

Formed by aphesis from appal, appall (“(obsolete) to make pale; to weaken; to become weak; to lose flavour or become stale”), possibly under the influence of the figurative meaning of the unrelated noun pall. Alternatively, the word may be derived from Middle English pallen (“to diminish, impair, weaken; to become faint; to lose spirit”), formed by aphesis from apallen (“to become or make faint or tired; to become indifferent; to fade or cause to fade away; to dim, weaken; to become stale; to be frightened; to frighten; to become pale”), from Old French apalir (“to become or cause to become pale”), possibly from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid; pale with fright, frightened; mouldy, musty”), from palleō (“to be pale, turn pale; to be anxious or fearful; to fade or change colour”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel-, *pelH- (“grey; pale”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives).

verb

1. (transitive) To make vapid or insipid; to make lifeless or spiritless; to dull, to weaken.
   […] Reaſon and Reflection, which by repreſenting perpetually to the mind of Man the meanneſs of all ſenſual Gratifications, do, in great meaſure, blunt the edge of his keeneſt Deſires, and pall all his Enjoyments. 30 August 1706, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preach’d in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul; at the Funeral of Mr. Tho. Bennet, August 30. 1706, London: Printed and sold by H. Hills,[…], published 1707, →OCLC, page 4
2. (intransitive) To become dull, insipid, tasteless, or vapid; to lose life, spirit, strength, or taste.
   The liquor palls.
   Beauty ſoon grows familiar to the lover, / Fades in the eye, and palls upon the ſenſe. 1712, [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy (A Select Collection of English Plays; IV), Edinburgh: Printed for G. Hamilton, and J. Balfour, published 1755, →OCLC, act I, scene iv, page 15
   And one day the new port palled, like a book one has read too often, or a picture one has looked at over-long. And it was sheet home the royals and off to a new port, where there were new strange people, and streets laid another way, and other things in the merchants' booths, and a new language to pick up a phrase or two of. 1922, Donn Byrne [i.e., Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne], “The Wake at Ardee”, in The Wind Bloweth, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, § 4, page 74

Etymology 4

From the verb pall (“to make vapid”).

noun

1. (obsolete, rare) A feeling of nausea caused by disgust or overindulgence.
   Tho the Impatience of abſtaining be greater; the Pleaſure of Indulgence is really leſs. The Palls or Nauseatings which continually intervene, are of the worſt and moſt hateful kind of Senſation. Hardly is there any thing taſted which is wholly free from this ill reliſh of a ſurfeited Senſe and ruin'd Appetite. 1699, [Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury], An Inquiry Concerning Virtue: In Two Discourses,[…], London: Printed for A. Bell … E. Castle … and S. Buckley, →OCLC; republished as “Treatise IV. Viz. An Inquiry Concerning Virtue, or Merit.[…]”, in Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes, volume II, [London: Printed by John Darby], 1711, →OCLC, book II, part II, section II, pages 149–150