stale
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
Origin uncertain.
Adjective [edit]
stale (comparative staler, superlative stalest)
- Having lost its freshness from age; (of food) still edible, but hard or unpleasant from age.
- The steak is as stale as the beer.
- If you don't enter a room for some days, the air will become stale.
- No longer new; no longer interesting; established; old.
- stale news
- a stale joke
Antonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
having lost its freshness
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no longer new or interesting
Related terms [edit]
Verb [edit]
stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)
- (intransitive) To lose its freshness; to become stale.
- Some baked goods stale very quickly.
- (transitive) To make vapid or tasteless; to destroy the life, beauty, or use of; to wear out.
- Shakespeare
- Age can not wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety.
- Shakespeare
Derived terms [edit]
Etymology 2 [edit]
Apparently from Anglo-Norman estale (“pigeon used to entice a hawk”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic.
Noun [edit]
stale (plural stales)
- (obsolete) A bird used as a decoy to trap other birds.
- (obsolete) Any trap or lure.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.i:
- Still as he went, he craftie stales did lay / With cunning traines him to entrap vnwares.
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 4 scene 1
- (Prospero, to Ariel)
- This was well done, my bird.
- Thy shape invisible retain thou still:
- The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither
- For stale to catch these thieves.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.i:
- (obsolete) A low class of prostitute (originally used as a decoy by other criminals).
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1
- I stand dishonor'd, that have gone about / To link my dear friend to a common stale [...].
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1
Etymology 3 [edit]
From Old French estal (from French étal), from Frankish *stal, from Proto-Germanic *stallo-, earlier *staþlo-. Ultimately related to stand.
Noun [edit]
stale (plural stales)
- (obsolete) A person's position, especially in a battle-line.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
- for ony stowre that ever ye see us bestadde, stondys in your stale and sterte ye no ferther.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
- (obsolete) An ambush.
- (obsolete) A division of armed men posted in a specific place, either for an ambush or for other reasons.
- a handle of a broom or rake
Etymology 4 [edit]
Origin uncertain.
Noun [edit]
stale (uncountable)
- Urine, especially of horses or cattle.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.48:
- Those of Crotta being hardly besieged by Metellus, were reduced to so hard a pinch, and strait necessitie of all manner of other beverage, that they were forced to drinke the stale or urine of their horses.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.48:
Verb [edit]
stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)
- To urinate (of livestock, especially horses)
- cir. 1920, Aleister Crowley in "Leigh Sublime", a poem about Leigh Hirsig:
- You stale like a mare
- And fart as you stale;
- cir. 1920, Aleister Crowley in "Leigh Sublime", a poem about Leigh Hirsig:
Anagrams [edit]
Polish [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Adverb [edit]
stale