[syn: stall, conk]
3. deliberately delay an event or action;
- Example: "she doesn't want to write the report, so she is stalling"
4. put into, or keep in, a stall;
- Example: "Stall the horse"
5. experience a stall in flight, of airplanes;
6. cause an airplane to go into a stall;
7. cause an engine to stop;
- Example: "The inexperienced driver kept stalling the car"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Stall \Stall\ (st[add]l), n. [OE. stal, AS. steall, stall, a
place, seat, or station, a stable; akin to D. & OHG. stal, G.
& Sw. stall, Icel. stallr, Dan. stald, originally, a standing
place; akin also to G. stelle a place, stellen to place, Gr.
ste`llein to set, place, send, and E. stand. [root]163. See
Stand, and cf. Apostle, Epistle, Forestall,
Install, Stale, a. & v. i., 1st Stalk, Stallion,
Still.]
1. A stand; a station; a fixed spot; hence, the stand or
place where a horse or an ox is kept and fed; the division
of a stable, or the compartment, for one horse, ox, or
other animal. "In an oxes stall." --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. A stable; a place for cattle.
[1913 Webster]
At last he found a stall where oxen stood. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
3. A small apartment or shed in which merchandise is exposed
for sale; as, a butcher's stall; a bookstall.
[1913 Webster]
4. A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise
are exposed for sale.
[1913 Webster]
How peddlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid.
--Gay.
[1913 Webster]
5. A seat in the choir of a church, for one of the
officiating clergy. It is inclosed, either wholly or
partially, at the back and sides. The stalls are
frequently very rich, with canopies and elaborate carving.
[1913 Webster]
The dignified clergy, out of humility, have called
their thrones by the names of stalls. --Bp.
Warburton.
[1913 Webster]
Loud the monks sang in their stalls. --Longfellow.
[1913 Webster]
6. In the theater, a seat with arms or otherwise partly
inclosed, as distinguished from the benches, sofas, etc.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Mining) The space left by excavation between pillars. See
Post and stall, under Post.
[1913 Webster]
8. A covering or sheath, as of leather, horn, of iron, for a
finger or thumb; a cot; as, a thumb stall; a finger stall.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Stall reader, one who reads books at a stall where they are
exposed for sale.
[1913 Webster]
Cries the stall reader, "Bless us! what a word on
A titlepage is this!" --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Stall \Stall\, v. i. [AS. steallian to have room. See Stall,
n.]
1. To live in, or as in, a stall; to dwell. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
We could not stall together
In the whole world. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. To kennel, as dogs. --Johnson.
[1913 Webster]
3. To be set, as in mire or snow; to stick fast.
[1913 Webster]
4. To be tired of eating, as cattle. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Stall \Stall\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stalled (st[add]ld); p. pr.
& vb. n. Stalling.] [Cf. Sw. stalla, Dan. stalde.]
1. To put into a stall or stable; to keep in a stall or
stalls; as, to stall an ox.
[1913 Webster]
Where King Latinus then his oxen stalled. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. To fatten; as, to stall cattle. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
3. To place in an office with the customary formalities; to
install. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. To plunge into mire or snow so as not to be able to get
on; to set; to fix; as, to stall a cart. --Burton.
[1913 Webster]
His horses had been stalled in the snow. --E. E.
Hale.
[1913 Webster]
5. To forestall; to anticipate. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
This is not to be stall'd by my report. --Massinger.
[1913 Webster]
6. To keep close; to keep secret. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Stall this in your bosom. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
stall
n 1: a compartment in a stable where a single animal is confined
and fed
2: small area set off by walls for special use [syn: booth,
cubicle, stall, kiosk]
3: a booth where articles are displayed for sale [syn: stall,
stand, sales booth]
4: a malfunction in the flight of an aircraft in which there is
a sudden loss of lift that results in a downward plunge; "the
plane went into a stall and I couldn't control it"
5: seating in the forward part of the main level of a theater
6: small individual study area in a library [syn: carrel,
carrell, cubicle, stall]
7: a tactic used to mislead or delay [syn: stall, stalling]
v 1: postpone doing what one should be doing; "He did not want
to write the letter and procrastinated for days" [syn:
procrastinate, stall, drag one's feet, drag one's
heels, shillyshally, dilly-dally, dillydally]
2: come to a stop; "The car stalled in the driveway" [syn:
stall, conk]
3: deliberately delay an event or action; "she doesn't want to
write the report, so she is stalling"
4: put into, or keep in, a stall; "Stall the horse"
5: experience a stall in flight, of airplanes
6: cause an airplane to go into a stall
7: cause an engine to stop; "The inexperienced driver kept
stalling the car"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
212 Moby Thesaurus words for "stall":
Fabian policy, Micawberism, Nissen hut, Quonset hut, acrobatics,
aerobatics, alcove, amen corner, anxious bench, anxious seat, area,
arrest, artifice, auditorium, backwardness, balcony, banking, barn,
be dilatory, block, booth, box, box seat, brake, bring to,
bring up, bring up short, byre, cavity, cease fire, cell, cellule,
chamber, chandelle, check, checkmate, cloy, come up short,
compartment, conk out, coop, corral, cote, counter, cowbarn,
cowbyre, cowhouse, cowshed, crabbing, crib, crypt, cubicle,
cut short, dally, dam, dawdle, deadlock, delay, die, dilatoriness,
dither, dive, diving, draw rein, draw up, dress circle,
enclosed space, enclosure, equivocate, fail, fauteuil, fetch up,
filibuster, fill, fishtailing, flame out, fold, foot-dragging,
freeze, gain time, gallery, gatehouse, glide, glut, go dead, gorge,
halt, hang, hang back, hang fire, haver, hedge, hedging, hesitate,
hesitation, hold, hold off, hold-off, hole, hollow, hut, hutch,
interrupt, jade, kiosk, laxness, lean-to, linger, loge, loiter,
lose power, make time, manger, mews, move, mugwump, news kiosk,
newsstand, nigger heaven, nose dive, obstructionism, orchestra,
orchestra circle, outbuilding, outhouse, pall, paradise, parquet,
parquet circle, parterre, pavilion, peanut gallery, pen,
penitent form, pew, pit, play for time, power dive, pretext,
prevaricate, procrastinate, procrastinating, procrastination,
proscenium boxes, pull up, pull-up, pullout, pushdown, put off,
put paid to, quarters, quit, remissness, rolling, ruse, sate,
section, sedilia, sentry box, shack, shanty, shed, shut down,
sideslip, slackness, slot, slow down, slowness, space, spiral,
sputter and stop, stable, stalemate, stall for time, stall off,
stand, stand off, standing room, stay, stem, stem the tide, stick,
stodge, stonewall, stonewalling, stooge around, stop, stop cold,
stop dead, stop short, stratagem, stunting, sty, stymie,
subterfuge, surfeit, suspend, table, tactical maneuvers,
talk against time, temporization, temporize, theatre stall,
tollbooth, tollhouse, trick, vacillate, vault, volplane,
waste time, wile, zoom