Stonewall

English

Noun

Stonewall (plural Stonewalls)

1. A wall made up of stone.

Verb

Stonewall (third-person singular simple present Stonewalls, present participle Stonewalling, simple past and past participle Stonewalled)

1. (informal) To refuse to cooperate, especially in supplying information.

   At the press conference, the Prime Minister appeared to be stonewalling when asked about tax increases.

Adjective

Stonewall (not comparable)

1. (UK, idiomatic) certain, stone cold

   Martin Smith, Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2007:

   Fortune favoured the fortunate when Martin Atkinson ignored a stonewall penalty

   Gordon Parks, Daily Record, 13 January 2011:

   Lennon also pointed to a booking for Niall McGinn for diving as a stonewall penalty to add to his grievances.

Thesaurus

baffle, balk, blast, brave, challenge, checkmate, circumvent, confound, confront, contravene, counter, counteract, countermand, counterwork, cross, dash, deceive, defeat, defy, destroy, discomfit, disconcert, discountenance, dish, disrupt, elude, evade, flummox, foil, frustrate, get around, get round, give the runaround, give the slip, go one better, knock the chocks, nonplus, outfigure, outflank, outgeneral, outguess, outmaneuver, outplay, outreach, outsmart, outwit, overreach, pass the buck, perplex, ruin, sabotage, scotch, spike, spoil, stump, thwart, upset, victimize

Pronunciation

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Translations

Verb

To refuse to cooperate

Spanish: entorpecer (es)

Notes

Most often encountered in sports, in reference to refereeing decisions; apparently a corruption of "stone cold".