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Jail vs Stall - What's the difference?

jail | stall |

As nouns the difference between jail and stall

is that jail is a place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding while stall is a compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed.

As verbs the difference between jail and stall

is that jail is to imprison while stall is to put (an animal etc) in a stall.

jail

English

Alternative forms

* gaol

Noun

  • A place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 1966 , title = , author= , page = 218 , edition = first , chapter = Part II, section 11 , passage = Taking a shower at the high school, Tommy (the Kitten) Cavanaugh kids Ugly Palmers. "Ugly, if you think the world is coming to an end," he says, "what are you wasting your time here at this jail for? You gonna need American history up there?" }}
  • (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.}}
  • (horse racing) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).
  • In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.

    • Usage notes

    * (prison) Like many nouns denoting places where people spend time, (term) requires no article after certain prepositions: hence , and so on. The forms (term), (term), and so on do exist, but tend to imply mere presence in the jail, rather than detention there. * Until Monopoly popularised the spelling jail' in the UK and Australia, ' gaol was the standard spelling in these countries.

    Synonyms

    * slammer

    Coordinate terms

    * (place of confinement) big house, hoosegow, prison

    Derived terms

    * jailbait * jailbird * jailbreak * jailer * jail fever * jailhouse * jail sentence

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To imprison.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}

    Synonyms

    * imprison

    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.
    • Related terms
    * stall-fed * orchestra stalls

    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.