STALE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Stale

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adjective

Stale adj.

Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer.

Not new; not freshly made; as, stale bread.

Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed. "A stale virgin."

Worn out by use or familiarity; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; trite; common. "Wit itself, if stale is less pleasing." "How weary, stale flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!"

Stale affidavit (Law), an affidavit held above a year.

Stale demand (Law), a claim or demand which has not been pressed or demanded for a long time.

noun

Stale n. (Written also steal, stele, etc) The stock or handle of anything; as, the stale of a rake. "But seeing the arrow's stale without, and that the head did go No further than it might be seen."

Stale n.

That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use. (Obs.)

A prostitute. (Obs.)

Urine, esp. that of beasts. "Stale of horses."

Stale n.

Something set, or offered to view, as an allurement to draw others to any place or purpose; a decoy; a stool pigeon. (Obs.) "Still, as he went, he crafty stales did lay."

A stalking-horse. (Obs.)

(Chess) A stalemate. (Obs.)

A laughingstock; a dupe. (Obs.)

verb

Stale v. t. (past & past part. staled; pres. part. staling) To make vapid or tasteless; to destroy the life, beauty, or use of; to wear out. "Age can not wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety."

Stale v. i. To make water; to discharge urine; said especially of horses and cattle.

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Etymology of 'Stale'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Stale" Quotes from Famous Books

... very trial and experience sufficiently teach, and all men's eyes, whosoever and wheresoever they be, do well enough see and witness for us), it was a foul part of them to charge us with these things; yea, seeing they could find no new and late faults, therefore to seek to procure us envy only with stale and out ...

— The Apology of the Church of England • John Jewel

... who have few or no amusements provided for them; thirdly, that the passing of the old families and the advent of the week-end "merchant princes" do not make a change for the better. All which may be stale news, but after reading this book I think that you will admit that Mr. HOLDENBY has contrived to make an old tale very impressive. In some instances it is true that I could bring evidence directly in opposition to his, but on the whole ...

— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 146., January 14, 1914 • Various

... graceful shoulders. "I have been told that America never takes up anything new in science until it has become stale in Europe. But women as well as men have been flocking to Vienna. Russian princesses have pledged ...

— Black Oxen • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

... the children had very little food, for Mrs. Warren seemed all of a sudden to have changed her tactics. Whether it was the fact that she was really angry at Mrs. Cricket's having fed the boy on chicken and mutton-chops, no one could tell; but all he did have on that eventful Sunday was weak tea, stale bread and butter, ...

— Sue, A Little Heroine • L. T. Meade

... that the broad upper boulevards are filled with tourists and smart English visitors; and in the narrow streets pert factory-hands come noisily from work. Still he climbs on toward the Cathedral, through tortuous streets and little alley-ways. And in the gloomiest of them all there is no odour of a stale antiquity, but the perfume of a garden-full of roses, of a thousand orange-blossoms, and of locusts, honey-sweet, and he begins to think himself enchanted. He feels the dark, old houses are unreal, as if, instead of cobble-stones beneath ...

— Cathedrals and Cloisters of the South of France, Volume 1 • Elise Whitlock Rose

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