Stale STALE, a. [I do not find this word in the other Teutonic dialects. It is probably from the root of still, G., to set, and equivalent to stagnant.]
1. Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit and flavor from being long kept; as stale beer.
2. Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed; as a stale virgin.
3. Worn out by use; trite; common; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; as a stale remark.
STALE, n. [G. See Stall.]
1. Something set or offered to view as an allurement to draw others to any place or purpose; a decoy; a stool-fowl.
Still as he went, he crafty stales did lay.
A pretense of kindness is the universal stale to all base projects. [In this sense obsolete.]
2. A prostitute.
3. Old vapid beer.
4. A long handle; as the state of a rake.
5. A word applied to the king in chess when stalled or set; that is, when so situated that he cannot be moved without going into check, by which the game is ended.
STALE, v.t. To make void or useless; to destroy the life, beauty or use of; to wear out.
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.
STALE, v.i. [G.] To make water; to discharge urine; as horses and cattle.
STALE, n. Urine; used of horses and cattle.

stale adj 1: lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age; "stale bread"; "the beer was stale" [ant: fresh] 2: lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new; "moth- eaten theories about race"; "stale news" [syn: cold, stale, dusty, moth-eaten] v 1: urinate, of cattle and horses

stale - tecok

stale
1.
adj. & v.
--adj. (staler, stalest)
1 a not fresh, not quite new (stale bread is best for toast). b musty, insipid, or otherwise the worse for age or use.
2 trite or unoriginal (a stale joke; stale news).
3 (of an athlete or other performer) having ability impaired by excessive exertion or practice.
4 Law (esp. of a claim) having been left dormant for an unreasonably long time.
--v.tr. & intr. make or become stale.
Derivatives:
stalely adv. staleness n.
Etymology: ME, prob. f. AF & OF f. estaler halt: cf. STALL(1)
2.
n. & v.
--n. the urine of horses and cattle.
--v.intr. (esp. of horses and cattle) urinate.
Etymology: ME, perh. f. OF estaler adopt a position (cf. STALE(1))

stale (staler, stalest) 1. Stale food is no longer fresh or good to eat. Their daily diet consisted of a lump of stale bread, a bowl of rice and stale water. ≠ fresh ADJ 2. Stale air or a stale smells is unpleasant because it is no longer fresh. A layer of smoke hung low in the stale air. ...the smell of stale sweat. ADJ 3. If you say that a place, an activity, or an idea is stale, you mean that it has become boring because it is always the same. Her relationship with Mark has become stale... ADJ [disapproval]

Stale \Stale\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Staled; p. pr. & vb. n. 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. --Shak.

Stale \Stale\, n. [OE. stale, stele, AS. st[ae]l, stel; akin to LG. & D. steel, G. stiel; cf. L. stilus stake, stalk, stem, Gr. ? a handle, and E. stall, stalk, n.] The stock or handle of anything; as, the stale of a rake. [Written also steal, stele, etc.] But seeling the arrow's stale without, and that the head did go No further than it might be seen. --Chapman.

Stale \Stale\, a. [Akin to stale urine, and to stall, n.; probably from Low German or Scandinavian. Cf. Stale, v. i.] 1. Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer. 2. Not new; not freshly made; as, stele bread. 3. Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed. ``A stale virgin.'' --Spectator. 4. Worn out by use or familiarity; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; trite; common. --Swift. Wit itself, if stale is less pleasing. --Grew. How weary, stale flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! --Shak. Stale affidavit (Law), an affidavit held above a year. --Craig. Stale demand (Law), a claim or demand which has not been pressed or demanded for a long time.

Stale \Stale\, v. i. [Akin to D. & G. stallen, Dan. stalle, Sw. stalla, and E. stall a stable. ? 163. See Stall, n., and cf. Stale, a.] To make water; to discharge urine; -- said especially of horses and cattle. --Hudibras.

Stale \Stale\, n. [See Stale, a. & v. i.] 1. That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use. [Obs.] 2. A prostitute. [Obs.] --Shak. 3. Urine, esp. that of beasts. ``Stale of horses.'' --Shak.

Stale \Stale\, n. [Cf. OF. estal place, position, abode, market, F. ['e]tal a butcher's stall, OHG. stal station, place, stable, G. stall (see Stall, n.); or from OE. stale theft, AS. stalu (see Steal, v. t.)] 1. 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. --Spenser. 2. A stalking-horse. [Obs.] --B. Jonson. 3. (Chess) A stalemate. [Obs.] --Bacon. 4. A laughingstock; a dupe. [Obs.] --Shak.

stale a. 1. Vapid, tasteless, insipid, mawkish, flat, flashy, musty, fusty, sour. 2. Old, decayed, faded, effete, time-worn, worn out. 3. Trite, common, hackneyed, commonplace, threadbare, old, vapid, stereotyped.

stale ̈ɪsteɪl adj. 1 old, past its prime, unfresh, dry, dried-out, hardened, limp, wilted, withered, flat, sour, turned, (gone) off, mouldy, musty, spoiled, rotten: All the food is stale because you failed to wrap it carefully. 2 old, banal, overused, antiquated, old-fashioned, threadbare, trite, clich÷d, unoriginal, hackneyed, stereotyped, tired, weary, boring, tiresome, warmed-over, shop-worn, familiar, stock, well-known, Colloq hand-me-down, Brit reach-me-down: These comedians come up with the same old stale jokes year after year.

120 Moby Thesaurus words for "stale": allurement, antiquated, back-number, bait, banal, bewhiskered, blown, boring, bromidic, cliche, cliched, come-on, common, commonplace, corny, crumbling, cut-and-dried, dead, decoy, dilapidated, dilute, diluted, dry, dusty, enticement, fade, familiar, fetid, flat, flavorless, frowy, fusty, gamy, gone off, gone to seed, gruelly, hackney, hackneyed, hand-me-down, hardened, high, inane, indifferent, insipid, jejune, limp, mild, mildewed, milk-and-water, moldering, moldy, moss-grown, moth-eaten, mouldy, musty, noisome, off, old, old hat, old-fashioned, overused, pappy, platitudinous, pulpy, rancid, rank, reechy, reeking, rotten, ruined, ruinous, rusty, sapless, savorless, seducement, set, shopworn, smelly, snare, sour, soured, spiceless, spoiled, square, stenchy, stereotyped, stinking, stock, strong, tainted, tasteless, temptation, thin, threadbare, time-scarred, timeworn, tired, tiresome, trap, trite, truistic, turned, unflavored, unoriginal, unsavory, vapid, warmed-over, washy, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, weary, well-known, well-worn, wilted, wishy-washy, withered, worn, worn thin

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