word choice - What's the difference between "stall" and "stall out"?



Can a car engine stall out?


It seems to me that a plane can stall out, but a car can only stall.



Answer



Of the first ten written instances of stalled out in Google Books, only two involve planes, but most of the rest involve trucks, cars, outboard motors, etc.


So the answer is - Yes, a car engine can stall out, as can lots of things besides planes. OP may be thinking that only planes fall out of the sky when they stall, but I don't think that makes any difference here.


EDIT: Having never heard "stalled out" before, I checked written instances of 'motor stalled {out}', confirming my suspicion that the "out" version is comparitively 'below the radar'. But it is used.


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