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Gridlock vs Stall - What's the difference?

gridlock | stall |

As nouns the difference between gridlock and stall

is that gridlock is a condition of total, interlocking traffic congestion on the streets or highways of a crowded city, in which no one can move because everyone is in someone else's way while stall is a stand (device to hold something upright or aloft).

As a verb stall is

.

gridlock

Noun

(head)
  • A condition of total, interlocking traffic congestion on the streets or highways of a crowded city, in which no one can move because everyone is in someone else's way.
  • On a smaller scale: the situation in which cars enter a signal-controlled intersection too late during the green light cycle, and are unable to clear the intersection (due to congestion in the next block) when the light turns red, thus blocking the cross traffic when it's their turn to go. Repeated at enough intersections, this phenomenon can lead to citywide gridlock.
  • Figuratively and by extension, any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.
  • See also

    * deadlock

    stall

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) stall, from (etyl) , Old Norse stallr. Cognate with (stand).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable) A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.
  • A stable; a place for cattle.
  • * Dryden
  • At last he found a stall where oxen stood.
  • A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale.
  • * John Gay
  • how peddlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid
  • (countable) A small open-fronted shop, for example in a market.
  • * 1900', , Chapter I,
  • He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days...
  • A very small room used for a shower or a toilet.
  • * (rfdate) John Updike, Rabbit at Rest ,
  • Rabbit eases from the king-size bed, goes into their bathroom with its rose-colored one-piece Fiberglas tub and shower stall , and urinates into the toilet of a matching rose porcelain.
  • (countable) A seat in a theatre close to and (about) level with the stage; traditionally, a seat with arms, or otherwise partly enclosed, as distinguished from the benches, sofas, etc.
  • (aeronautics) Loss of lift due to an airfoil's critical angle of attack being exceeded.
  • (paganism, and, Heathenry) An Heathen altar, typically an indoor one, as contrasted with a more substantial outdoor harrow .
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1989 , author=Edred Thorsson , title=A Book of Troth , publisher=Llewellyn Publications , chapter= , volume= , volume_plain= , section= , url= , isbn=9780875427775 , page=156 , passage=In a private rite, a ring is drawn on the ground around a harrow or before an indoor stall .}}
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2006 , author=Selene Silverwind , title=Everything you need to know about Paganism , publisher=David & Charles , chapter=Asatruar Tools and Practices citation , isbn=9780715324868 , page=117 , passage=Some Asatruar kindreds call their indoor altars stalls and their outdoor altars harrows.}}
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2006 , author=Mark Puryear , publisher=iUniverse , title=The Nature of Asatru: An Overview of the Ideals and Philosophy of the Indigenous Religion of Northern Europe citation , isbn=9780595389643 , page=237 , passage=Stalli (STAL-i) - Altar .}}
  • A seat in a church, especially one next to the chancel or choir, reserved for church officials and dignitaries.
  • A church office that entitles the incumbent to the use of a church stall.
  • * 1910 [1840], , P. F. Collier edition,
  • When he had been some months installed there as a priest-in-charge, he received a prebendal stall , thanks to the same patrons, in the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix.
  • A sheath to protect the finger.
  • (mining) The space left by excavation between pillars.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To put (an animal etc) in a stall.
  • to stall an ox
  • * Dryden
  • where King Latinus then his oxen stalled
  • To fatten.
  • to stall cattle
  • To come to a standstill.
  • To plunge into mire or snow so as not to be able to get on; to set; to fix.
  • to stall a cart
  • * E. E. Hale
  • His horses had been stalled in the snow.
  • (aeronautics) To exceed the critical angle of attack, resulting in total loss of lift.
  • (obsolete) To live in, or as if in, a stall; to dwell.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We could not stall together / In the whole world.
  • (obsolete) To be stuck, as in mire or snow; to stick fast.
  • (obsolete) To be tired of eating, as cattle.
  • To place in an office with the customary formalities; to install.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To forestall; to anticipate.
  • * Massinger
  • not to be stall'd by my report
  • To keep close; to keep secret.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Stall this in your bosom.

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To employ delaying tactics against
  • He stalled the creditors as long as he could.
  • To employ delaying tactics
  • Soon it became clear that she was stalling to give him time to get away.