STALE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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

... of perry or stale beer, put to it one ounce of isinglass, beat well and cut or pull'd to small pieces; put it to the perry or beer, and let it steep three or four days. Keep whisking it together, or else the glass will stick to the bottom, and ...

— The Cyder-Maker's Instructor, Sweet-Maker's Assistant, and Victualler's and Housekeeper's Director - In Three Parts • Thomas Chapman

... Englishman; but he was chiefly won by the dolce far niente of the natives, and the Oriental license of polygamy. In a word, Joseph had the same taste for a full-blooded cuffee, that an epicure has for the haut gout of a stale partridge, and was in ecstasies at my extrication. He neglected his siestas and his accounts; he wandered from house to house with the rapture of an impatient bridegroom; and, till every thing was ready ...

— Captain Canot - or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver • Brantz Mayer

... only just been opened, and was being dusted and swept by two slatternly women with dago complexions, and voices like hyenas. It still reeked of stale ...

— The Sorcery Club • Elliott O'Donnell

... out one and deposits its own instead. I revisited the nest a few days afterward and found an egg again cast out, but none had been put in its place. The nest had been abandoned by its owner and the eggs were stale. ...

— In the Catskills • John Burroughs

... fine the tender part of one dozen artichokes. Take one loaf of stale bread crumbs, moisten and squeeze, and add three tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, three cloves of garlic, bruised, one onion chopped fine, several sprigs of parsley chopped fine, a little celery and half a cup of olive oil. Mix all together thoroughly with plenty of pepper and salt and make into ...

— Bohemian San Francisco - Its restaurants and their most famous recipes--The elegant art of dining. • Clarence E. Edwords

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