In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
STONEWALL
stonewall
(verb) engage in delaying tactics or refuse to cooperate; “The President stonewalled when he realized the plot was being uncovered by a journalist”
stonewall
(verb) obstruct or hinder any discussion; “Nixon stonewalled the Watergate investigation”; “When she doesn’t like to face a problem, she simply stonewalls”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
stonewall (plural stonewalls)
(idiomatic) An obstruction.
(idiomatic) A refusal to cooperate.
(idiomatic, historical) An alcoholic drink popular in colonial America, consisting of apple cider (or sometimes applejack) mixed with rum (or sometimes gin or whisky).
Alternative form of stone wall (“wall made of stone”).
Verb
stonewall (third-person singular simple present stonewalls, present participle stonewalling, simple past and past participle stonewalled)
(transitive) To obstruct.
(intransitive, informal) To refuse to answer or cooperate, especially in supplying information.
Etymology 2
Adjective
stonewall (not comparable)
(Britain, idiomatic) Certain, definite.
Usage notes
The word is most often encountered in sports contexts in reference to refereeing decisions.
Synonyms
• stone cold
Etymology
Noun
Stonewall (plural Stonewalls)
Alternative letter-case form of stonewall (“alcoholic drink”)
Proper noun
Stonewall
A series of riots in 1969 New York City, beginning with the patrons of the gay bar "The Stonewall Inn" resisting police arrest, which marked the beginning of the militant gay rights movement.
Confederate general Thomas Jonathan Jackson.
A formation in chess (a variation of the Queen's Pawn Game) in which white plays pawns to d4 and several other positions, requiring black to react energetically (see Stonewall Attack).
Any of several places
A town in Manitoba, Canada.
A former gold-mining town in California, in the Cuyamaca Mountains.
A town in Louisiana.
A town in Mississippi.
A town in North Carolina.
A town in Oklahoma.
An unincorporated community in Texas.
An unincorporated community in West Virginia.
Source: Wiktionary
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