sb. and a. [f. vbl. phrase to stand still: see STILL a.] A. sb.
1. A state of cessation of movement; a halt, pause. lit. and fig. Chiefly in to come, bring to a standstill, to be at a standstill.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., VII. App. (1852), 597. We will here … come to a little stand still, and with mournful hearts look upon the condition of the captives.
1786. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, 23 Dec. I had advanced straight forward…; a matter contrary to all etiquette, which exacts a dead stand-still, and retiring to the side of the walls or houses, when any of the Royal Family appear.
1809. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), IV. 346. If the army was not most successful, this very circumstance would probably bring us to a stand-still.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. iv. (1866), 66. The business would be at a standstill.
1852. C. W. Hoskyns, Talpa, i. (1854), 3. The plough comes to a standstill.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind. (1886), 47. Those stand-stills of the air … forebode a change of weather.
1878. M. Foster, Physiol., III. v. § 2. 479. Stimulation with a strong constant current causes a stand-still in diastole.
1882. Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 875. The growth of the motile zone is by no means at a standstill when the flowers are not performing any movements.
1890. A. W. Du Bray, Upland Shooting, 433. When the shooter is at a standstill—be it in a blind, boat or on a pass.
2. The state of being unable to proceed, owing to exhaustion; in phrases to ride (a horse) to a standstill, to row (a competitor) to a standstill, and the like.
1811. Sporting Mag., XXXVII. 163. Osbaldeston rode his horse to a stand-still.
1912. Throne, 7 Aug., 227/1. Barry … rowed the New Zealander to a standstill a hundred yards from the winning post.
B. adj. That stands still; that is deficient in advancement or progress.
1856. Susan Warner, Hills of Shatemuc, xii. ’Taint a stand-still world, this; what’s up to-day is down to-morrow.
1876. J. Parker, Paracl., II. Epil. 387. A standstill policy is in its very essence a blunder and a crime.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xlii. They are a stand-still people.
Hence Stand-stillism. (nonce-wd.)
1845. W. D. Bushell, in Bristol Mercury, 20 Sept., 8/4. There had been a sort of stand-stillism prevailing in their trade.
1863. W. Phillips, Speeches, xxiv. 560. Neither the calculating or the stupid stand-still-ism of the Cabinet, nor the weakness nor the blunders of our own best leaders, can long delay us.
