/pel"mel", pal"mal", pawl"mawl"/ , n.
1. a game, popular in the 17th century, in which a ball of boxwood was struck with a mallet in an attempt to drive it through a raised iron ring at the end of a playing alley.
2. a playing alley on which this game was played.
[ 1560-70; pallemaille pallamaglio, equiv. to palla ball ( maglio MALLET ( malleus ). See BALL 1 , MALL, MELL ]