stall off v.
1. to impede, to get in the way of, to hinder; thus stall someone out v., to leave someone alone, usu. as imper.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘The Oath of the Canting Crew’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 51: No ballad-basket, bouncing buffer, / Nor any other, will I suffer; / But stall-off now and for ever / All outtiers whatsoever. | |
| Life in London (1869) 267: The Corinthian had some difficulty in stalling him off, he was so nutty upon the charms of this ‘fair one of the tub’. | |
| Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 333: In vain did I endeavour to divert him from his passion of talking of himself, by relating tales of my own adventures; nothing, however, to use a flash term, would stall him off. | |
| , | | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. |
| Sportsman 27 Aug. 2/2: Notes on News [...] Mr Muter, determined not so to be ‘stalled off,’ cut again at the baronet as though he were chopping-block. | |
| Sportsman (London) 6 Jan. 2/2: Nor could the fuctionaries in attendance [in court] ‘stall’ him off. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Term of His Natural Life (1897) 52: She’s got to stall off the sentry and give us the orfice. | |
| Daily Tel. 12 Nov. n.p.: Lovely drew out, and stalling off the challenge of the ungenerous Duke of Richmond won by two lengths [F&H]. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 21: Tell that song an’ dance team in 42 I want their board. They needn’t think they kin stall me off. | |
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. | |
| Silk Hat Harry’s Divorce Suit 18 July [synd. cartoon strip] Tell her I’m out of town, see — stall her off. | |
| Reporter 330: Catsnuts stalls her off and informs her we have to step out. | |
 | Dly Herald (London) 2 Feb. 19/4: [of racehorses] Nasira was usually in the lead and able to stall off the challenge of Bleu de Roi. | |
| Dly Mail (London) 13 Sept. 7/5: [cartoon caption] You can stall Patsy off with these few turnips — tell her the tops make good greens! | |
| Long Good-Bye 122: A private detective has been here asking about you. [...] I stalled him off, but he may come back. | |
| Central Sl. 49: stall-me-out An expression made to another meaning, ‘Leave me alone’. |
2. (UK Und.) to save an accomplice from arrest or disgrace.
| Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 269: stall off: To extricate a person from any dilemma, or save him from disgrace, is called stalling him off; as an accomplice of your’s being detected in a robbery, &c., and about to be given up to justice, you will step up as a stranger, interfere in his behalf, and either by vouching for his innocence, recommending lenity, or some other artifice, persuade his accusers to forego their intention, and let the prisoner escape; you will then boast of having stalled him off in prime twig. | |
| Pelham III 330: Plant your stumps, Master Guinea Pig; you are going to stall off the Daw’s baby in prime twig. |
3. (UK Und.) to avoid a person or place.
| Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 269: stall off: A man walking the streets, and passing a particular shop, or encountering a certain person, which or whom he has reasons for wishing to avoid, will say to any friend who may be with him, I wish you’d stall me off from that crib, (or from that cove, as the case may be) meaning, walk in such a way as to cover or obscure me from notice, until we are past the shop or person in question. |
4. (UK Und.) of a villain’s accomplice, to screen or disguise a robbery.
| Oddities of London Life II 226: One of the urchins went into the shop to ‘stall off’ the shopman's attention [...] the other two pounced on the dainty [i.e. half a pig’s head] and bore it off, together with a loin of pork. | |
| Flash Mirror 4: The Receiving HoleKept by Mother Dobbs, alias the Staller Off. | |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
| Sl. Dict. 308: Stall off [...] to screen a robbery during the perpetration of it by an accomplice. |
5. to use artifice to avoid punishment or problems.
| Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 269: stall off: a term variously applied; generally it means a pretence, excuse, or prevarication-as a person charged with any fault, entering into some plausible story, to excuse himself, his hearers or accusers would say, [...] Aye, aye, stall it off that way if you can. [Ibid.] 270: stall off: To avoid or escape any impending evil or punishment by means of artifice, submission, bribe, or otherwise, is also called stalling it off. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 3 May 2/6: Finding Douglas inexorable, and that [...] he was likely to be ‘stalled off,’ Watts became rather cheeky. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 25 Aug. 7/3: Ruhlin was so weak, however, that he could do no damage , while Fitz, knowing that the time of the round was almost up, only ‘stalled’ off until ihe bell rang. | |
| Parole Chief 130: He had no intention of starting with the mob again. So he palavered with them as a method of stalling them off. |
6. to deceive, misdirect.
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 80: Stall Off, to misdirect on purpose. | |
| Us Boys 25 Mar. [synd. cartoon strip] Gee, I stalled him off nice! He thinks I didn’t know what [the notice] said. I’ll nick off that job and he won’t know nothin’. |
7. to defer, to postpone; e.g. the payment of a debt.
| Sun. Times (Perth) 15 Oct. 1/5: An eloquent Oppositionist successfully stalled off his tailor with seven and six. | |
| ‘West Goes South’ in Everybody’s Oct. 🌐 Well, we been trying to get a firm in Tampa to come over and start work, but they’re so busy they keep stalling us off. | |
| ‘The Maysville Minstrel’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 4: He couldn’t blame other people for not settling when he was stalling off creditors himself. | |
| Kingsport News (TN) 18 Feb. 4/7: Neuroses and imaginary ailments are often developed by wives who wish to ‘stall off’ bearing children. | |
| In For Life 26: I stalled off the inevitable for five years by being lucky. |
8. see stall v.4 (3)