stale

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /steɪl/, SAMPA: /steIl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain.

Adjective

stale (comparative staler, superlative stalest)

1. Having lost its freshness from age. Stale food, for instance, is food which is still edible but has lost its deliciousness.

   The steak is as stale as the beer.

   If you don't enter a room for some days, the air will become stale.

2. No longer new; no longer interesting; established; old; as, stale news, a stale joke, etc.

Antonyms

• fresh

Translations

having lost its freshness

Albanian: bajat (sq) Chinese: Mandarin: 陳腐 (zh), 陈腐 (zh) (chénfǔ) Dutch: taai (nl) (bread), ranzig (nl) (butter, fat), vervuild (nl) (water), muf (nl) (air), onfris (nl) (especially clothes)... Esperanto: malfreŝa (eo) Finnish: väljähtänyt (fi), ummehtunut (fi) French: rassis (fr) (bread), rance (fr) (butter, oil, fat), croupi (fr) (water), vicié (fr) (air), défraîchi (fr) (especially clothes)...

German: abgestanden (de), schal (de) Greek: μπαγιάτικος (el) (bagiátikos), στάσιμος (el) (stasimos, for liquids) Japanese: 古い (ja) (ふるい, furui) Russian: несвежий (ru) (n'esv'éžij), чёрствый (ru) (čórstvyj) (bread), затхлый (ru) (zátχlyj) Spanish: duro (es) (bread), revenido (es), pasado (es) (food), viciado (es) (air) Telugu: పాచిన (te) (paachina), వాడిన (te) (vaaDina), వడలిన (te) (vaDalina) Turkish: bayat (tr)

no longer new or interesting

Albanian: bajat (sq) Dutch: ouderwets (nl) Finnish: väljähtänyt (fi), tympeä (fi), kulunut (fi) French: vieilli (fr) m., vieux (fr) m. German: veraltet (de), abgedroschen (de) (joke)

Japanese: 陳腐な (ja) (ちんぷな, chinpu-na) Russian: избитый (ru) (izbítyj), банальный (ru) (banálnyj), (informal, about joke or news) бородатый (ru) (borodátyj) Spanish: manido (es), anquilosado (es) Swedish: passé (sv) Turkish: bayat (tr)

Antonyms

• fresh (1)

Related terms

• stalemate

Etymology 2

Apparently from Anglo-Norman estale (“pigeon used to entice a hawk”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic.

Noun

stale (plural stales)

1. (obsolete) A bird used as a decoy to trap other birds.
2. (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.

3. (obsolete) A low class of prostitute (originally used as a decoy by other criminals).
   • William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV, Scene i, lines 59-60:

     I stand dishonor'd, that have gone about / To link my dear friend to a common stale [...].

Etymology 3

From Old French estal ( > French étal), from Frankish *stal, from Proto-Germanic *stallo-, earlier *staþlo-. Ultimately related to stand.

Noun

stale (plural stales)

1. (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.

2. (obsolete) An ambush.
3. (obsolete) A division of armed men posted in a specific place, either for an ambush or for other reasons.

Etymology 4

Origin uncertain.

Noun

stale (uncountable)

1. 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.

Anagrams

• lates, least, leats, salet, setal, slate, steal, stela, taels, tales, teals, tesla

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈstalɛ/

• audio

  (file)

Adverb

stale

1. constantly, continually

Related terms

• stały