Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A ruse or tactic used to mislead or delay.
  • intransitive verb To employ delaying tactics against.
  • intransitive verb To employ delaying tactics.
  • noun A compartment for one domestic animal in a barn or shed.
  • noun A booth, cubicle, or stand used by a vendor, as at a market.
  • noun A small compartment.
  • noun An enclosed seat in the chancel of a church.
  • noun A pew in a church.
  • noun Chiefly British A seat in the front part of a theater.
  • noun A space marked off, as in a garage, for parking a motor vehicle.
  • noun A protective sheath for a finger or toe.
  • noun The sudden, unintended loss of power or effectiveness in an engine.
  • noun A condition in which an aircraft or airfoil experiences an interruption of airflow resulting in loss of lift and a tendency to drop.
  • intransitive verb To put or lodge in a stall.
  • intransitive verb To maintain in a stall for fattening.
  • intransitive verb To halt the motion or progress of; bring to a standstill.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a motor or motor vehicle) accidentally to stop running.
  • intransitive verb To cause (an aircraft) to go into a stall.
  • intransitive verb To live or be lodged in a stall. Used of an animal.
  • intransitive verb To stick fast in mud or snow.
  • intransitive verb To come to a standstill.
  • intransitive verb To stop running as a result of mechanical failure.
  • intransitive verb To lose forward flying speed, causing a stall. Used of an aircraft.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A standing-place; station; position; place; room.
  • noun A standing-place for horses or cattle; a stable or cattle-shed; also, a division of a stable, cow-house, or cattle-shed, for the accommodation of one horse or ox; the stand or place in a stable where a horse or an ox is kept and fed: as, the stable contains eight stalls.
  • noun A booth, either in the open air or in a building, in which merchandise is exposed for sale, or in which some business or occupation is carried on: as, a butcher's stall.
  • noun A bench or table on which things are exposed for sale: as, a book-stall.
  • noun A seat or throne; a bench.
  • noun One of a range of fixed seats inclosed either wholly or in part at the back and sides, in the choir or chancel of a cathedral or church, and often surmounted by a richly sculptured canopy (see cut in preceding column): mostly appropriated for the clergy: as, a canon's stall; a dean's stall; hence, the position or dignity of canon.
  • noun In a theater, originally, a seat separated from others by arms or rails; now, usually, one of the seats in the front division of the parquet (sometimes called orchestra stalls); but the application of the term is variable.
  • noun In metallurgy, a chamber or compartment in which ores are roasted. See roast-stall.
  • noun A working-place in a coal-mine, varying in size and shape according to the system adopted. Also called chamber, room, breast, etc.
  • noun Same as cot, 4.See also finger-stall.
  • noun An ambush.
  • noun A stale; a stalking-horse; cover; mark; pretext.
  • noun A stool-pigeon; a thief's (especially a pickpocket's) assistant, whose rôle it is to divert the attention of the victim while the thief operates, to conceal the crime, assist the escape of the thief, make off with the booty, or perform similar offices. He is called fore-stall or back-stall according to his position before or behind the victim.
  • To place; set; fix; install.
  • To place in an office with the customary formalities; induct into office; install.
  • To put into or keep in a stall or stable: as, to stall a horse.
  • To set fast in the mire; cause to stick in the mud; mire: as, to stall horses or a carriage.
  • To corner; bring to bay; secure.
  • To forestall.
  • To fatten; fatten with stall-feeding.
  • To postpone the payment of; forbear to claim payment for a time; allow to be paid by instalments.
  • To come to a stand; take up a position.
  • To live as in a stall; dwell; inhabit.
  • To stick or be set fast in the mire.
  • To kennel, as dogs.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (influenced by stall) of obsolete stale, pickpocket's accomplice, from Middle English, decoy, from Anglo-Norman estale, of Germanic origin; possibly akin to Old English stǣl, stathol, place, position; see staddle.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English stalle, from Old English steall, standing place, stable; see stel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English steall ("standing place, position"). Compare Dutch stal ("cattle shed"), German Stall ("cattle shed"), Old Norse stallr. Cognate with stand.

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Examples

  • Got back to the stall at 3pm, totally exhausted from making the fritters, when Fleur had to let me in to the fact that HE had visited the stall… lolz…

    babycartercl Diary Entry babycartercl 2005

  • None of the recorded cockpit conversations included the word "stall," these experts said.

    French Investigators Urge Pilot-Training Review Max Colchester 2011

  • The idea there is to land absolutely at what they call stall speed, which is the speed at which the plane stops flying, and that's as slow as it could be.

    CNN Transcript Nov 17, 2005 2005

  • A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded.

    Animal Farm 1945

  • "We're at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don't grow, jobs aren't created," said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

    unknown title 2011

  • "We're at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don't grow, jobs aren't created," said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

    unknown title 2011

  • "We're at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don't grow, jobs aren't created," said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

    unknown title 2011

  • "We're at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don't grow, jobs aren't created," said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

    unknown title 2011

  • "We're at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don't grow, jobs aren't created," said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

    unknown title 2011

  • "We're at what we call a stall speed in which corporate profits don't grow, jobs aren't created," said Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California.

    unknown title 2011

Comments

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  • You're not impressed by me

    But it's a funny way for you to tell me

    A whisper in a choir stall

    The man was talking about you simultaneously

    Frankly, I let my heavy eyelids flutter

    Because I have been sleeping badly lately

    I know you were historical from all the books I've read

    But I thought you could be bluffing

    And with this chance I've missed I feel remiss

    It's days and months before I see you again.

    (The model, by Belle and Sebastian)

    November 26, 2008

  • 'Citing a Supreme Court precedent that would make Larry Craig's constituents proud, the Minnesota court ruled that the senator picked the wrong place to intrude upon "the right to be let alone." The appellate opinion declared that "the 'privacy interest in avoiding unwanted communication' is very strong in a stall in a public restroom." Craig spent his entire career trying to stop courts from finding a right to privacy in the Constitution, only to end up helping a court find one in the bathroom.'

    Ha! I love that last sentence... The whole article is here.

    December 12, 2008

  • Larry Craig. If only he would just go away.

    December 13, 2008

  • Yeah, the article is about how he's about to do just that--his last appeal is almost done. (Apparently he asked the court to overturn his own guilty plea...?!)

    December 13, 2008