STALL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Stall

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/stɔl/ Listen

noun

Stall n.

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."

2.

A stable; a place for cattle. "At last he found a stall where oxen stood."

3.

A small apartment or shed in which merchandise is exposed for sale; as, a butcher's stall; a bookstall.

4.

A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale. "How peddlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid."

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. "The dignified clergy, out of humility, have called their thrones by the names of stalls." "Loud the monks sang in their stalls."

6.

In the theater, a seat with arms or otherwise partly inclosed, as distinguished from the benches, sofas, etc.

7.

(Mining) The space left by excavation between pillars. See Post and stall, under Post.

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.

Stall reader, one who reads books at a stall where they are exposed for sale. "Cries the stall reader, "Bless us! what a word on A titlepage is this!""

verb

Stall v. t. (past & past part. stalled; pres. part. stalling)

1.

To put into a stall or stable; to keep in a stall or stalls; as, to stall an ox. "Where King Latinus then his oxen stalled."

2.

To fatten; as, to stall cattle. (Prov. Eng.)

3.

To place in an office with the customary formalities; to install. (Obs.)

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. "His horses had been stalled in the snow."

5.

To forestall; to anticipate. (Obs.) "This is not to be stall'd by my report."

6.

To keep close; to keep secret. (Obs.) "Stall this in your bosom."

Stall v. i.

1.

To live in, or as in, a stall; to dwell. (Obs.) "We could not stall together In the whole world."

2.

To kennel, as dogs.

3.

To be set, as in mire or snow; to stick fast.

4.

To be tired of eating, as cattle. (Prov. Eng.)

See images of 'Stall'

Etymology of 'Stall'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Stall" Quotes from Famous Books

... stuff was slipped into the horse's oats, that no slippery gent got the show to put Little Saxon out of the game. He even took the precaution to partition off a tiny room for himself in the hay loft above Little Saxon's stall, where he spent the nights dozing and snatching up the ancient shot gun down the muzzle of which his enthusiastic fingers had rammed enough buck shot to explode the piece and blow himself as well as any unhappy ...

— The Short Cut • Jackson Gregory

... "and have you never given it a serious thought, dear? To begin with, you are fifty years old. Then you have just the sort of face to put on a fruit stall; if the woman tried to sell you for a pumpkin, no one would contradict her. You puff and blow like a seal when you come upstairs; your paunch rises and falls like the diamond on a woman's forehead! It is pretty ...

— Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories • Edited by Julian Hawthorne

... to my astonishment, as he entered the chapel directly behind the body, in a situation in which he should have been apparently, if not really, absorbed in the melancholy duty he was performing, he darted up to Strathaven, who was ranged on one side below the Dean's stall, shook him heartily by the hand, and then went on nodding to the right and left. He had previously gone as chief mourner to sit for an hour at the head of the body as it lay in state, and he walked in procession ...

— The Greville Memoirs - A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II • Charles C. F. Greville

... the diversion of horseracing. They ride boldly without a saddle or stirrups, frequently throwing their hands upwards whilst pushing their horse to full speed. The bit of the bridle is of iron, and has several joints; the head-stall and reins of rattan: in some parts the reins, or halter rather, is of iju, and the bit of wood. They are, like the rest of the Sumatrans, much addicted to gaming, and the practice is under no kind of restraint, until it destroys itself by the ruin of one of the parties. ...

— The History of Sumatra - Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And - Manners Of The Native Inhabitants • William Marsden

... distributed, even the secret police can't go armed! What price dictators then? For that matter, what price soldiers? The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be a conquering army in the modern sense. The tanks wouldn't run. The cars would stall. And the guns—An invasion would have to be made with horse-drawn transport and the troops armed with bows and spears. That amounts to disarmament, Lockley! A consummation devoutly to be wished! I'm going to look forward to a ripe old age now. I ...

— Operation Terror • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

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