stall
noun
- abrupt reduction in lift due to flow separation
- temporary merchandise structure
- unexpected, sudden stopping of the engine turning, usually brought about accidentally
- an individual compartment inside a farm building
- (cause to) cease/slow forward motion,
verb
- to stop suddenly as if of own accord
- (cause to) cease/slow forward motion,
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /stɔːl/ / /stɔl/ / /stɑl/
noun
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”).
- 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.”
- Loss of lift due to an airfoil's critical angle of attack being exceeded, normally occurring due to low airspeed.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the asymmetric stall and the ensuing roll of the aircraft because of the uncommanded retraction of the left wing outboard leading edge slats and the loss of stall warning and slat disagreement indication systems resulting from maintenance-induced damage leading to the separation of the No. 1 engine and pylon assembly at a critical point during takeoff. The separation resulted from damage by improper maintenance procedures which led to failure of the pylon structure.”
“The only way to account for it is a structural breakup in flight, a stall, a spin, a death spiral as we call it.”
verb
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”).
- To employ delaying tactics against.
“He stalled the creditors as long as he could.”
- To employ delaying tactics; to stall for time.
“Soon it became clear that she was stalling to give him time to get away.”
“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”
- To come to a standstill.
“On the long 1 in 100 ascent from Staveley to Heath she nearly stalled, and having taken 67¼ min. to cover the 38.2 miles to Nottingham instead of the 51 min. scheduled she gave up the ghost, and came off the train.”
“[...] 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.”
- To cause to stop making progress; to hinder; to slow down; to delay or forestall.
“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."”
“Long stretches of the railroad south from Hankow were torn up by bombs from Chennault’s planes, and their attacks limited traffic to nighttime on the parallel Hsiang River. The combined efforts of the Chinese troops at Heng-yang and Chennault’s pilots effectively stalled the Japanese advance.”
- To exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in loss of lift.
“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.”
- To cause to exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in loss of lift.
“The pilot stalled the plane by pulling the nose up too high at a slow airspeed.”
- To plunge into mire or snow so as not to be able to get on; to set; to fix.
“to stall a cart”
“His horses had been stalled in the snow.”
- To stop suddenly.
- To cause the engine of a manual-transmission car or truck to stop by going too slowly for the selected gear.
- To be stuck, as in mire or snow; to stick fast.
- To be tired of eating, as cattle.