stall

noun

• 1a stand, booth, or compartment for the sale of goods in a market or large covered area:fruit and vegetable stalls

• 2an individual compartment for an animal in a stable or cowshed, enclosed on three sides.
• a stable or cowshed.
• North American a marked-out parking space for a vehicle: a parking stall
• (also starting stall) a cage-like compartment in which a horse is held immediately prior to the start of a race.
• a compartment for one person in a set of toilets, shower cubicles, etc..

• 3a fixed seat in the choir or chancel of a church, enclosed at the back and sides and often canopied, typically reserved for a particular member of the clergy.

• 4 (stalls) British the seats on the ground floor in a theatre: [as modifier]:a stalls seat

• 5an instance of an engine, vehicle, aircraft, or boat stalling: speed must be maintained to avoid a stall and loss of control

verb

• 1 [no object] (of a motor vehicle or its engine) stop running, typically because of an overload on the engine:her car stalled at the crossroads
• (of an aircraft) stop flying and begin to fall because the speed is too low or the angle of attack too large to maintain adequate lift.
• Sailing have insufficient wind power in the sails to give controlled motion.
• [with object] cause to stall.

• 2stop or cause to stop making progress: [no object]:his career had stalled, hers taken off [with object]:the government has stalled the much-needed project

• 3 [no object] speak or act in a deliberately vague way in order to gain more time to deal with something; prevaricate:she was stalling for time
• [with object] delay or divert (someone) by prevarication:stall him until I’ve had time to take a look

• 4 [with object] put or keep (an animal) in a stall, especially in order to fatten it: the horses were stalled at Upper Bolney Farm