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meaning and use of ”to stall”?

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AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgAugust 2020
to stall sb/sth has several meanings.

The first is the sudden stopping of sth which is ongoing, with a high probability that it can restart again.

e.g. "The car engine stalled when we were 25km from the town of Woop Woop." = "The car engine suddenly stopped when we were 25km from the town of Woop Woop. There was a good probability that we could start the engine again (it might have stopped because the engine was too hot).

"Negotiations have stalled because there were arguments about the details of the agreement." = "Negotiations have stopped presently. They should start again once the details of the agreement that were being argued about are resolved.

The second is about using some sort of delaying tactic to postpone sth from happening.

e.g. A pupil stalled the teacher at the start of the class with stupid questions so that another student could finish his homework." = A pupil was delaying the teacher from collecting homework by asking stupid questions. This gave another student in the class time to complete the homework.