WordofTheDay.US

hall

/hɔːl/ noun

In Latin: auditorium Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hall at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A corridor; a hallway.
    The drinking fountain was out in the hall.
  2. A large meeting room.
    The hotel had three halls for conferences, and two were in use by the convention.
  3. A manor house (originally because a magistrate's court was held in the hall of his mansion).
    The duke lived in a great hall overlooking the sea.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English halle (“hall”), from Old English heall (“hall, dwelling, house, palace, temple, law-court”), from Proto-West Germanic *hallu (“hall”), from Proto-Germanic *hallō (“hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”). Cognate with Scots hall, haw (“hall”), Dutch hal (“hall”), German Halle (“hall”), Danish hal (“hall, sports centre”), Faroese høll (“hall, palace”), Icelandic höll (“palace”), Norwegian hall (“hall”), Swedish hall (“hall”), Latin cella (“room, cell”), Sanskrit शाला (śā́lā, “house, mansion, hall”). Doublet of cell and cella.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)