Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday July 6, 2011
stonewall \STOHN-wawl\
, verb:
1. To block, stall, or resist intentionally.
2. In cricket, to play a defensive game, as by persistently blocking the ball instead of batting it for distance and runs.
3. To filibuster.
Often, they will stonewall you with silence and brief answers.
-- Beverly A. Potter, From conflict to cooperation: How to mediate a dispute
Shelley was standing right in front of me so I had to stonewall it by saying that Tarah was "delusional" just like they'd said about me at the trial.
-- Jim Harrison, The Woman Lit by Fireflies
While to stonewall conjures associations with the bar in New York that played a role in the gay rights movement as well as Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, this verb originates in the simple sense of obstruction conjured by a wall made of stone. The first recorded use of the verb form occurs in 1914.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for stonewall
