slang. [f. STALL sb.2 Cf. STALE v.5]
1. trans. To screen (a pickpocket or his operations) from observation; also with off. Also, to close up or surround and hustle (a person who is to be robbed).
1592. Greene, Disput. Conny-Catcher, Wks. (Grosart), X. 210. I either nip or foyst, or els staule an other while hee hath stroken, dispatcht, and gone.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., Stall off, I wish you’d stall me off from that crib,… meaning, walk in such a way as to cover or obscure me from notice. Ibid., s.v. Stall up, To stall a person up, (a term used by pickpockets) is to surround him … and by violence force his arms up, and keep them in that position while others of the gang rifle his pockets at pleasure.
1839. in ‘Ducange Anglicus,’ Vulgar T. (1857), 34. To stall, to screen a robbery while it is being perpetrated.
2. To stall off. a. To get rid of by evasive tactics, a trick, plausible tale or the like; also, in sporting parlance, to keep the upper hand of (a competitor).
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., To avoid or escape any impending evil or punishment by means of artifice, submission, bribe, or otherwise, is also called stalling it off.
1821. Sporting Mag., VIII. 151. The hardy mountaineer would not be stalled off.
1862. Sala, Seven Sons, III. viii. 157. [He] did his best … to … stall off the awful truth with discreet shrugs and simpers.
1883. Daily News, 12 Sept., 6/1. To-day she [Fabiola] ran very fast, but could not stall off the challenge by Florence, who won very easily at last.
1905. Athenæum, 7 Oct., 464/2. His very preface should have stalled off denunciations of this kind.
b. To get off or extricate (a person) by artifice.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., To extricate a person from any dilemma or save him from disgrace, is called stalling him off.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, lxxxiii. Plant your stumps, Master Guinea Pig; you are going to stall off the Daw’s baby in prime twig, eh?
