0 past simple and past participle of stall
1 If an engine stalls, or if you stall it, it stops working suddenly and without you intending it to happen:
2 to delay taking action or avoid giving an answer in order to have more time to make a decision or get an advantage:
She says she'll give me the money next week but I think she's just stalling (for time).
I managed to stall him for a few days until I'd got enough money to pay back the loan.
mainly US The thief broke into the office while his accomplice stalled off the security guard.
Japan's economic growth has stalled, with industrial production contracting in June for the fourth straight month.
Commandos stalled the enemy attack by destroying three bridges.
Fears are growing that a tax increase may stall economic recovery.
Nevertheless, insufficient support was forthcoming and by the project had stalled.
The model stalled about the same time as research on multiple equilibria did.
A draft bill stalled for weeks owing to lack of resources.
Growth in the first few years was very steep, then stalled, but then rebound after the 2005 legislative changes.
My starting point for this article was the evidence of 'stalled well-being', despite rising personal and national incomes in the affluent countries.
The euthanasia debate in particular seems to have become mired in rhetoric and stalled by all-too-familiar arguments.
This diagnosis had initially been made when the infant's weight gain stalled at 1100 grams at four months of age.
Fortunately, these disagreements have not stalled efforts to identify biological or psychological risk markers or to develop and test early intervention and prevention programs.