stall
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɔːl/
rhymes: -ɔːl
ipa: /stɔl/
ipa: /stɑl/
homophone: STOL (some accents)
Forms: form: stalls
form: stalling
form: stalled
form: stalled
Etymology: From Middle English stallen (“to abide, dwell, place in a location, stop, come to a standstill”), partly from Old French estaler, ultimately from the same origin as Etymology 1 (see above); and partly from Middle English stalle (“fixed position, stall”).
Senses: examples: text: He stalled the creditors as long as he could.
glosses: To employ delaying tactics against.
examples: text: Soon it became clear that she was stalling to give him time to get away.
text: See the look on my face
From staying too long in one place
But every time I try to leave
I find I keep on stalling
ref: 2007, KT Tunstall, “Saving My Face”, in Drastic Fantastic:
glosses: To employ delaying tactics; to stall for time.
examples: text: [...] the 4-4-0 unhappily stalled after a stop on Reading Old Bank with its eight-coach load and the Reading Up Line pilot, a "Hall", had to bank the train into Reading General.
ref: 1960 July, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 443:
text: But both projects have stalled, with no indication of how they would be funded.
ref: 2023 September 20, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Mayor backs southern rail link for Heathrow Airport”, in RAIL, number 992, page 24:
glosses: To come to a standstill.
examples: text: In Barnhouse's mind, their screwed-up childhoods have left homosexuals stalled at an adolescent point in the normal progression of psycho-social development. Unable to attain the "normal" gender identification and separation from mother, they are forced to lead incomplete lives and thus remain "immature."
ref: 1977 December 10, Eric Rogers, “'Tolerant' Rhetoric Masks Anti-Gay Bias”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 23, page 13:
glosses: To cause to stop making progress; to hinder; to slow down; to delay or forestall.
examples: text: The thrust levers were advanced, the first officer selected the go-around mode for the flight director, and he started to increase the pitch of the aircraft to the command bar indications, 10 degrees nose up. About one second after the first officer acknowledged the go-around, the stick shaker (stall warning) activated. As the aircraft reached 10 degrees nose up, about one and one-half seconds after the stick shaker activated, the captain called flaps and selected them to the go-around setting, the warbler tone associated with the stall protection system (SPS) sounded, and the aircraft stalled aerodynamically. The aircraft rolled right to approximately 55 degrees of bank, and the right wing tip contacted the runway about 2700 feet from the threshold and 45 feet left of the centre line, the right wing tip bending upwards about four feet from the tip.
ref: 1999 April 15, Transportation Safety Board of Canada, “1.1 History of the Flight”, in Aviation Investigation Report A97H0011, Loss of Control on Go-around (Rejected Landing), Air Canada Canadair CL-600-2B19 C-FSKI, Fredericton Airport, New Brunswick, 16 December 1997, archived from the original on 02 Sep 2022, pages 1–2:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in loss of lift.
examples: text: The pilot stalled the plane by pulling the nose up too high at a slow airspeed.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To cause to exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in loss of lift.
examples: text: to stall a cart
text: His horses had been stalled in the snow.
ref: 1884, Edward Everett Hale, The Fortunes of Rachel:
glosses: To plunge into mire or snow so as not to be able to get on; to set; to fix.
glosses: To stop suddenly.
raw_tags: of an engine
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: To cause the engine of a manual-transmission car or truck to stop by going too slowly for the selected gear.
glosses: To be stuck, as in mire or snow; to stick fast.
glosses: To be tired of eating, as cattle.
Synonyms: word: delay
word: postpone
word: put off
word: delay
word: penelopize
word: procrastinate
Derived terms: forestall
stall for time
stall off
stall out