Other forms: stalled, stalls, stalling
A stall is one animal's compartment in a barn or stable. Muck out the stall, lead him into the stall, six stalls along one side.
It is the standard word in stables, and each horse has its own. The word also names a market stall — a table or booth selling goods — and, in a theatre, the stalls are the ground-floor seats. As a verb, an engine stalls when it stops unexpectedly, an aircraft stalls when it loses lift, and a person stalls when they delay deliberately: stop stalling.
1nounhorseOne animal's compartment in a barn.
“There are eight stalls and four of them are full.”
2nountableA table or booth from which goods are sold.
“The stall at the end sells nothing but eggs.”
3verbstopTo stop suddenly, or to delay deliberately.
“The engine stalled twice at the same junction.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
stall is a standing place, or a stopping.
Old English steall meant a standing place, from the same root as stand and stable. A stall is where an animal stands, a market stall is where a trader stands, and stalling is refusing to move — all one idea.
Proto-Indo-European
*stel- — to place, put, post, stand
Proto-Germanic
*stallaz
Old English
steall — standing place, position
Middle English
stall
English, today
stall
From Middle English stall, stalle, from Old English steall (“standing place, position”), from Proto-Germanic stallaz, from Proto-Indo-European stel- (“to place, put, post, stand”). Cognate with French étal, Italian stallo, German Stall, Swedish stall.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA