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Stau

noun · /ʃtaʊ̯/ ·
Etymology

18th century, from Low German Stau, from Middle Low German stouw, stouwe (“weir”), probably a back-formation from stouwen (“to stop, dam”), from Old Saxon *stōwa, from Proto-West Germanic *stōu, ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic *stōō (“place”). Cognate with Dutch stuw. Alternatively the Dutch and Low German forms could be inherited from the Germanic noun (like English stow), but the sense makes a new deverbal derivation more likely.

Translation

  1. congestion, stagnancy of water or anything dammed or otherwise backed-up masculine, strong

    Ein Stau während des Berufsverkehrs verzögerte meine Ankunft um zwei Stunden.

    A rush-hour traffic jam delayed my arrival by two hours.

    Ich hatte nicht mit einem so starken Stau gerechnet.

    I hadn't bargained on such a heavy traffic jam.

    Ich schob die Lieferverzögerung auf einen Stau zurück.

    I attributed the delay in delivery to a traffic jam.

  2. orographic lift source:freedict-eng-deu-dictd
  3. congestion source:wikdict-en-de-stardict
  4. tailback ; traffic backup source:dictcc-tuchemnitz-de-en
  5. ellipsis of Verkehrsstau (“traffic jam”) abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, especially, masculine, strong
  6. weir masculine, strong

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominative Stau Staus
Accusative Stau Staus
Dative Stau Staus
Genitive Staus Staus

stau

verb ·

Translation

to stow

singular imperative of stauen

  1. singular imperative of stauen form-of, imperative, singular
  2. first-person singular present of stauen colloquial, first-person, form-of, present, singular