Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Mall \Mall\ (m[add]l), n.
A public access area containing a promenade for pedestrians; as, to gather near the Washington monument on the mall in Washington.
The paved or grassy strip between two roadways.
A shopping area with multiple shops and a concourse for predominantly or exclusively pedestrian use; in cities the concourse is usually a city street which may be temporarily or permamently closed to motor vehicles; in suburban areas, a mall is often located on a convenient highway, may be large, contained in one building or in multiple buildings connected by (usually covered) walkways. Also called shopping mall
Wiktionary
n. (context US English) shopping center
WordNet
n. mercantile establishment consisting of a carefully landscaped complex of shops representing leading merchandisers; usually includes restaurants and a convenient parking area; a modern version of the traditional marketplace; "a good plaza should have a movie house"; "they spent their weekends at the local malls" [syn: plaza, mall, center, shopping center, shopping centre]
Wikipedia
A shopping mall is a modern, chiefly North American, term for a form of shopping precinct or shopping center, in which one or more buildings form a complex of shops representing merchandisers with interconnecting walkways that enable customers to walk from unit to unit. A shopping arcade is a specific form serving the same purpose.
Many early shopping arcades such the Burlington Arcade in London, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, and numerous arcades in Paris are famous and still trading. However, many smaller arcades have been demolished, replaced with large centers or "malls", often accessible by vehicle. Technical innovations such as electric lighting and escalators were introduced from the late 19th century.
From the late 20th century, entertainment venues such as movie theaters and restaurants began to be added. As a single built structure, early shopping centers were often architecturally significant constructions, enabling wealthier patrons to buy goods in spaces protected from the weather.
Usage examples of "shopping mall".
It was times like this, chained to a wall by the nameless evil who planned to use a shopping mall to take over the world, that a few hours of unconsciousness followed by a little puking started to look good.
Because when I busted up your control room at the shopping mall over there, it didn't make any difference at all.
It had been taken from a low angle as Floyd Wayne Vishniak rode down an escalator at a shopping mall some.
When he was assigned to it minutes after the call to Brice, he had sent a man over to the courthouse to dig up the blueprints to the shopping mall, and then he had come straight out here as fast as he could drive.
When you got down to it, growing up was like going to the shopping mall to buy underwear.
However, if the scene of the crime is a street or shopping mall, plan to bring a small Thermossoft drinks and wine coolers are acceptable, though champagne is considered poor taste.
However, if the scene of the crime is a street or shopping mall, plan to bring a small Thermos&mdash.
Maya then drove the Escort to the International Shopping Mall on U.
Something inside her brain cracked like a funhouse mirror that existed only to reflect a distorted world, and as the fragments of the funhouse mirror fell apart other images were revealed behind it: herself as a younger, more attractive woman, pushing a stroller in a shopping mall.
As they watched, it heeled over like a yacht tacking against the wind, turned a full ninety degrees, and plunged into the car park of the Neil Armstrong Shopping Mall.
My brother and his wife told me that a developer was about to build a big shopping mall outside town and most of the bigger merchants were going to move out there.
Buddy watched until the boy was taken by the curve of the off-ramp, and he was staring out at space and the enormous yellow-and-purple sign of a shopping mall.