stall

Noun

stall (plural stalls)

1. (countable) A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.
2. A stable; a place for cattle.
   • Dryden

     At last he found a stall where oxen stood.

3. A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale.
   • John Gay

     how peddlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid

4. (countable) A small open-fronted shop, for example in a market.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days...

5. A very small room used for a shower or a toilet.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Updike, Rabbit at Rest,

     Rabbit eases from the king-size bed, goes into their bathroom with its rose-colored one-piece Fiberglas tub and shower stall, and urinates into the toilet of a matching rose porcelain.

6. (countable) A seat in a theatre close to and (about) level with the stage; traditionally, a seat with arms, or otherwise partly enclosed, as distinguished from the benches, sofas, etc.
7. (aeronautics) Loss of lift due to an airfoil's critical angle of attack being exceeded.
8. (paganism and Heathenry) An Heathen altar, typically an indoor one, as contrasted with a more substantial outdoor harrow.
   • 1989, Edred Thorsson, A Book of Troth, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 156:

     In a private rite, a ring is drawn on the ground around a harrow or before an indoor stall.

   • 2006, Selene Silverwind, “Asatruar Tools and Practices”, in Everything you need to know about Paganism‎, David & Charles, →ISBN, page 117:

     Some Asatruar kindreds call their indoor altars stalls and their outdoor altars harrows.

   • 2006, Mark Puryear, The Nature of Asatru: An Overview of the Ideals and Philosophy of the Indigenous Religion of Northern Europe‎, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 237:

     Stalli (STAL-i) - Altar.

9. A seat in a church, especially one next to the chancel or choir, reserved for church officials and dignitaries.
10. A church office that entitles the incumbent to the use of a church stall.
    • 1910 [1840], Alexandre Dumas, père, translator not mentioned, Celebrated Crimes: Urbain Grandier, P. F. Collier edition,

      When he had been some months installed there as a priest-in-charge, he received a prebendal stall, thanks to the same patrons, in the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix.

11. A sheath to protect the finger.
12. (mining) The space left by excavation between pillars.
13. (Canada) A parking stall; a space for a vehicle in a parking lot or parkade.

Verb

stall (third-person singular simple present stalls, present participle stalling, simple past and past participle stalled)

1. (transitive) To put (an animal, etc.) in a stall.

   to stall an ox

   • Dryden

     where King Latinus then his oxen stalled

2. To fatten.

   to stall cattle

3. (intransitive) To come to a standstill.
4. (transitive) To cause to stop making progress, to hinder, to slow down, to delay or forestall.
5. To plunge into mire or snow so as not to be able to get on; to set; to fix.

   to stall a cart

   • E. E. Hale

     His horses had been stalled in the snow.

6. (intransitive, aeronautics) To exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in total loss of lift.
7. (obsolete) To live in, or as if in, a stall; to dwell.
   • Shakespeare

     We could not stall together / In the whole world.

8. (obsolete) To be stuck, as in mire or snow; to stick fast.
9. (obsolete) To be tired of eating, as cattle.
10. To place in an office with the customary formalities; to install.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

11. To forestall; to anticipate.
    • Massinger

      not to be stall'd by my report

12. To keep close; to keep secret.
    • Shakespeare

      Stall this in your bosom.

Noun

stall (plural stalls)

1. An action that is intended to cause or actually causes delay.

   His encounters with security, reception, the secretary, and the assistant were all stalls until the general manager's attorney arrived.

Verb

stall (third-person singular simple present stalls, present participle stalling, simple past and past participle stalled)

1. (transitive) To employ delaying tactics against.

   He stalled the creditors as long as he could.

2. (intransitive) To employ delaying tactics.

   Soon it became clear that she was stalling to give him time to get away.

Synonyms

• (transitive): delay, postpone, put off
• (intransitive): delay, penelopize, procrastinate

Declension

Descendants

• Finnish: talli