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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.

See images of 'Stale'

Etymology of 'Stale'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Stale" Quotes from Famous Books

... these lines. A Greek poet could not have conceived them: unless we imagine to ourselves what AEschylus or Pindar, oppressed by long illness, and forgetful of the gods, might possibly have felt. In its sense of spiritual vacancy, when the world and all its uses have become flat, stale, unprofitable, and the sentient soul oscillates like a pendulum between weariful extremes, seeking repose in restless movement, and hurling the ruins of a life into the gulf of its exhausted cravings, we perceive ...

— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete - Series I, II, and III • John Symonds

... Crags, the light of dawn stole in through the windows and turned the brilliant light of the lamps into a pale glow. The odor of stale flowers was all about. Mrs. Wellington, with a headache, stood in the doorway. Her husband sat in an armchair with legs outstretched, smoking about his fortieth cigar. Sara Van Valkenberg stood in the middle of ...

— Prince or Chauffeur? - A Story of Newport • Lawrence Perry

... dwelling and soon exhausted every hole and corner of it in a vain hunt for some token of the clerk. The kennels at the back were empty and forlorn; and some bread which they found in the hermit's tiny larder was mouldy and very stale. ...

— Robin Hood • Paul Creswick

... side. On the pavement in front of it and of its neighbour, the Cafe Continental, the vendors of lottery tickets were bawling the lucky numbers they had for sale. Even in this wide space the air was close and stale. Within, a few people left over in the town had strayed in to dine at tables placed against the walls under flamboyant decorations in the style of Fragonard. At a table Hillyard was sitting alone over his coffee. Across the room one of the panels represented a gleaming ...

— The Summons • A.E.W. Mason

... out of the inexhaustible store where they were kept for the public entertainment. Austria, and then Germany, made a not bad attempt on public attention by raking up some forgotten sensation over a stale excitement at a place called Sarajevo; but on the twenty-sixth, Ireland magnificently filled the bill again by the far more serious affair of Nationalist Volunteers landing three thousand rifles and marching with them into Dublin. Troops fired on the ...

— If Winter Comes • A.S.M. Hutchinson

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