Hall, n.

n. [A-S. heal, heall, alh, ealh, O. Sax. & O. H. Ger. halla, N. H. Ger. halle, Icel. höll, gen. hallar, Dan. & D. hal, Sw. hall; Goth. alhs, O. Sax. alh, O. H. Ger. alah, temple, Ir. & Gael. talla, hall; Lat. aula, Gr. αὐλή, palace.]

1. A covered edifice or room, usually of stately dimensions, devoted to public business or domestic convenience; especially, (a.) A room or passage-way at the entrance of a house or suite of chambers. (b.) A room in the houses of magistrates where audience is given and justice administered. (c.) A manor-house;—so called because the courts were formerly held in manor-houses. Addison. (d.) A large edifice belonging to a collegiate institution. (e.) A place of public assembly; as, a town hall; a music hall.
2. A college in an English university, or, as in Oxford, an organization differing from a college chiefly in being without endowment.
3. Cleared space or passage-way in a crowd;—formerly used as an exclamation. [Obs.] “A hall! a hall!” B. Jonson.

Syn.—Vestibule; entry; court; passage. See VESTIBULE.