Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also stale) a pickpocket’s helper who distracts the attention of the victim whose pocket is being emptied or purse cut.

1578		Lyly Euphues (1916) 81: ‘Then I perceive, Lucilla,’ said he, ‘that I was made thy stale and Philautus thy laughing stock.’.
1592		Greene Disputation Betweene a Hee and a Shee Conny-Catcher (1923) 12: [...] then dogge the partie into a presse where his staule with heauing and shouing shall so molest him, that hee shall not feele when wee strip him of his boung.
1608		Dekker Belman of London (3rd) H1: He that picks the pocket is called a Foist. He that faceth the man, is the Stale. [Ibid.] H2: Then does the Stall keepe a thrusting and a Iustling, whilst in the mean time the Foist is either in their pocket or the Nip hath the purse fast by the strings.
1611		Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle V i: He with the wand is both a stale, whose office is, to face a man i’ the streets, whilst shells are drawn by an other.
c.1620		Beaumont & Fletcher Little French Lawyer III iv: Are we made stales to one another?
1630		J. Taylor ‘A Brood of Cormorants’ in Works (1869) III 8: Liues like a Gentleman by sleight of hand, / Can play the Foist, the Nip, the Stale, the Stand, / The Snap, the Curb, the Crossbite, Warpe and Lift, / Decoy, prig, Cheat (all for a hanging shift).
1850		Ragged School Mag. Dec. 294: I was sometimes the ‘tool,’ and sometimes the ‘stall’ or ‘nark’. Our profession was ‘moll tulers (or ladies’ pickpockets) .
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 85: stall One whose business it is to conceal as far as possible the manipulation of his confederate who is trying to pick a person’s pocket. The stall places himself either in front, back, or side-ways, or by any strategem attracts the attention of the intended victim. Any thing said or done by which the attention is directed from the true state of the case is called a stall.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 8/2: In an instant he was surrounded, and prevented by the front ‘stalls’ from advancing from the park, while the rear ‘stalls’ pressed sufficiently strong to keep him in the fix wanted.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Sept. n.p.: Finally, Charley James, the ‘stall,’ [...] took him in tow and made him an adept.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 243: Don’t yer know what a ‘stall’ is? Why, to be convenient, handylike, in the way to stow the ‘foulcher’ when she’s nobbled it.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 80: Stall, or Stallsman, the assistant of a pickpocket, or thief.
1886		A. Pinkerton Thirty Years a Detective 39: Two of the ‘stalls’ will immediately manage to get in front of the man – and these men are called ‘front stalls’ – this is done for the purpose of stopping him.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 387: The dip’s companion, the one who bumps up against the victim or otherwise diverts his attention while the dip robs him, is called the ‘stall’.
1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 260: The tool picked his mark and the stalls crushed him against the tail of the rattler.
1910		Wash. Post 3 July 3/1: ‘What’s the matter, Hop? What’s gettin’ fierce?’ asked big Joe, the stall.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 303: A pickpocket’s companion, or confederate, is called a stall.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 215: Stall [...] also refers to the yegg assisting the high diver or pickpocket.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 10: Stall: Man who blocks entrance to tram to allow confederates to pick pockets.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 17: One of the operations in picking pockets is to ‘prat a man in,’ which means that one of the stalls backs into a prospect and pushes him around gently in order to get him in a proper position.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		‘I Was a Pickpocket’ in C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 76: The duty of the ‘stalls’ was to distract the attention of the ‘sucker’ [...] or otherwise hide the operations of the ‘dip’.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 819: stall – A pickpocket’s partner, the man who jostles the victim in order that the ‘wire’ may work to better advantage.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 86: A ‘cannon’ [...] took the vacant stool in my right. His ‘stall’ took the one on my left.

2. any form of decoy who works with a criminal gang.

1630		J. Taylor ‘Travels of Twelve-pence’ in Works (1869) I 71: To Sharkes, Stales, Nims, Lifts, Foysts, Cheats, Stands, Decoyes / T’a Cut-purse, and a pocket picking Hound.
1708		J. Hall Memoirs (1714) 6: Faggot and Stall, Such as break into Peoples Houses, and taking away what they please, gag all therein.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 125: Stool [sic], help, assistance.
1862		Birmingham Dly Post 26 Dec. 3/4: ‘We worked our “garotting business” [...] My mate in front of the man was called “Front Stall”; the other [...] behind the man, was called “Back Stall” ’.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 62: They also declared that I was only ‘a stall’.
1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 320: A watch or watcher ... A marking, stall, whisper, stump, crow.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 414: I used to go wirin’ in the main-thoroughfares with the Brennans to stall back and front. [*Footnote: when a juvenile prig attains the dignity of a ‘single-handed wire,’ he is usually accompanied during ‘working hours’ by two comrades who act, respectively, as ‘front’ and ‘back stalls’. The duty of the ‘stall’ is to keep a sharp look-out for the police, and to relieve the operator of any watches, purses, etc.].
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 79: It never occurs to him that he’s being used as a ‘stall’ for a lot of finished grafters.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 42: The bosses put some guy on the ticket fer mayor or governor who’s got a good rep and use him fer a stall to elect a lot of crooked guys.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 419: Stall. Thief’s assistant.
1930		E.H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) 153: A well-dressed young girl [...] makes an excellent lookout or ‘stall’ for her male companions.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 138: The purpose of the ‘stall’ being to distract the attention of the shop assistants.
1951		Schindler in Hamilton Men of the Und. 51: These three expert bank ‘stalls’.
1967		T. Calvano Crnal Close-Out n.p.: The ‘moll-buzzing’ went on also [...] Invariably, this was a two-girl operation; they had to have a ‘stall’ to pass the purse to as they fled.

3. (UK Und.) a pickpocket’s manoeuvre whereby a target is pinioned and rendered open to theft.

1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 159: Here it will be necessary to explain making of the stall, as they term it, one pick-pocket gets in front and squeezes backwards, another behind you, and pushes forward; one each side of you, which, if they can get your arms up, they will prevent your getting them down, again, and then you are sure to be robbed.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 269: stall a violent pressure in a crowd, made by pick-pockets for the more easily effecting their depredatory purposes; this is called making a rum stall in the push.

4. a pretext, an excuse, esp. that which offers an opportunity to steal or cheat.

1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 136: I was wipe-priging, we made a regular stall for a tick and reader, but the cull was up to us, and we couldn’t do him.
1801		G. Hangar Life, Adventures and Opinions II 60: Various impositions, practised daily on the unwary [...] such as making a stall for a reader.
1833		[T. Wontner] Old Bailey Experience 352: [I]t is from the practice of the old women keeping a stand for the sale of fruit, as a blind or cover for their real calling, (buying of stolen articles,) that this term, ‘stall,’ is derived.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 100: STALL, a pretence, a dodge. Ancient cant.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 254/1: One of the lads [...] induced a woman to let him have a halfpenny for ‘a stall;’ that is, as a pretext with which to enter a shop for the purpose of stealing, the display of the coin forming an excuse for his entrance.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 361: No men pronounce themselves as thieves by trade and everyone has what is termed a ‘stall,’ i.e. he professes to some handicraft or trade by which to designate himself, and which is a blind stall to his real proceedings.
1880		W. Hooe Sharping London 36: Stall, a pretence.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 41: They keep a lot of old barrels and bottles for a stall, that is, a show; but never a cent of revenue has their bugjuice paid.
1911		Truth (Sydney) 1 Jan. 8/3: ‘Oh, strike me, / But this are a blooming stall’.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 148: We’re nothing but a lot of grafters, always looking for the best of it and using all those noble sentiments for a stall to get him to put his fingers in the fire for us.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 80: stall [...] A pretense; an equivocation.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1948		H. McCoy Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in Four Novels (1983) 136: If anything goes wrong you can use the old stall, you know, that you [...] just went there to grab us red-handed.

5. (UK Und.) the act of rendering a victim vulnerable to a pickpocket.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 30/1: He was sure there must be a ‘century’ in it [i.e. a purse] [...] and if we would give him a ‘stall’ he would ‘pinch’ her before she entered the carriage that was waiting for her.

6. an act of time-wasting or prevarication, an excuse.

1853		Bell’s Life in Sydney 16 July 2/6: Riley made a stall for himself, by pretending not to be aware of his criminal position.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 45/1: You need not sit down beside us [...] but make some ‘stall’ to the ‘bloke’ and go right out again.
1895		S.F. Chron. 6 June 11/5: He [i.e. a con-man’s victim] beefs an’ de bull con tries make a stall.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 180: The ideer o’ handin’ me that stall, Mis’ Mangle, when yunno I’ve sawr Bill Mangle’s legs covered by them tights, goodness knows how often!
1913		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 78: Huh — I know that chicken he’s with – I’m just going up to buzz him for a stall.
1916		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 17 Nov. [synd. col.] ‘What’s your stall, bo? Youse going to slowe me away?’.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 207: An’ then I thinks mebbe it was a stall er somethin’.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 253: Along comes a letter from Kelly, telling me he had been arrested in Toledo. It was a stall.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 159: Annie was stumped for an answer except a stall.
1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 201: The old cigarette stall.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 207/2: Stall, n. [...] 2. Any maneuver to win postponement or delay.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 52: I was able to come up with a stall.
1966		F. Elli Riot (1967) 40: I thought this list was suppos’ta be a stall while you guys tunnelled your way.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 35: Savvy pros [...] well versed in the fine art of giving a mug like Ingalls the big stall.

7. (Aus./US) a hoax; a disappointment.

1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 101: Hammond couldn’t tell it was a stall. He blazes merrily ahead surveyin’ [...] when the rumor comes to camp that this new line is all a fake.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: stall. A hoax; disappointment.
1931		P. Singer ‘The Electric Warden’ Prison Stories Mar. 🌐 Dis is a stall [...] Dis book is queer! Whoever heard of a banker givin’ kale to a warden?

8. (US Und.) a fraudulent alibi.

1929

V.W. Saul ‘Vocab. of Bums’ in AS IV:5 345: Stall—A faked alibi.

9. a misdirection.

1920

F. Packard White Moll 216: it looked as though Deemer [...] wore the money-belt for a stall, and that he had the sparklers safe somewhere else all the time.