To obstruct or delay progress deliberately through uncooperative behavior; to refuse to answer questions or cooperate.
From the literal stone wall, metaphorically used since the 19th century. The verb sense developed from the idea of creating an impenetrable barrier, popularized in cricket and later politics.
Stonewall shows how defensive architecture becomes a metaphor for human behavior - just as stone walls physically block passage, to stonewall means to create an impenetrable social or bureaucratic barrier, demonstrating our tendency to understand psychology through physical structures.
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