off the trolley

off the trolley
 adj.

   Describes the behavior of a program that malfunctions and goes
   catatonic, but doesn't actually {crash} or abort. See {glitch}, {bug},
   {deep space}, {wedged}.

   This term is much older than computing, and is (uncommon) slang
   elsewhere. A trolley is the small wheel that trolls, or runs against,
   the heavy wire that carries the current to run a streetcar. It's at
   the end of the long pole (the trolley pole) that reaches from the roof
   of the streetcar to the overhead line. When the trolley stops making
   contact with the wire (from passing through a switch, going over bumpy
   track, or whatever), the streetcar comes to a halt, (usually) without
   crashing. The streetcar is then said to be off the trolley, or off the
   wire. Later on, trolley came to mean the streetcar itself. Since
   streetcars became common in the 1890s, the term is more than 100 years
   old. Nowadays, trolleys are only seen on historic streetcars, since
   modern streetcars use pantographs to contact the wire.
    

off the trolley

   Describes the behaviour of a program that malfunctions and
   goes catatonic, but doesn't actually {crash} or abort.  See
   {glitch}, {bug}, {deep space}.

   [{Jargon File}]