pall1

 
Pronunciation: /pɔːl/

noun

  • 1a cloth spread over a coffin, hearse, or tomb.
  • 2a dark cloud of smoke, dust, etc.: a pall of black smoke hung over the quarry
  • something regarded as enveloping a situation with an air of gloom or fear: torture and murder have cast a pall of terror over the villages
  • 3an ecclesiastical pallium.
  • Heraldry a Y-shaped charge representing the front of an ecclesiastical pallium.

Origin:

Old English pæll 'rich (purple) cloth', 'cloth cover for a chalice', from Latin pallium 'covering, cloak'