i Register
In some senses, stale is marked as obsolete, colloquial, rare. Watch for register when choosing this word.
stale
/steɪl/
noun 17verb 9adj 6
Collocations
5(adj.)
VERBS
be, look, smell, taste
The bread tasted stale after sitting in the cupboard for two weeks.
become, go, turn
The milk turned stale after I left it out of the refrigerator for three days.
ADV
extremely, very | a bit, a little, rather, slightly
PREP
with
The old bakery smelled stale with the odor of bread from yesterday.
Definitions
adj
1
Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
The stronger Beere is divided into two parts (viz.) mild and stale; the first may ease a man of a drought, but the later is like water cast into a Smiths forge, and breeds more heartburning, and as rust eates into Iron, so overstale Beere gnawes auletholes in the entrales, or else my skill failes, and what I have written of it is to be held as a jest.
Particular care must be taken that the stale beer in which the isinglass is dissolved be perfectly clear and stale.
2
No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
Stale as breed or drinke is, rassis. Stale as meate is that begynneth to savoure, viel.
New freshe blood to ouersprinkle their stale mete that it may seme...newly kylled.
3
No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; clichéd, hackneyed, dated.
Better is...be it new or stale, A harmelesse lie, than a harmefull true tale.
Doist thou smyle to reade this stale and beggarlye stuffe.
4
No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime.
Rosimunda...hathe an vncle a stale batcheler.
In barren Women, and stale Maids, Tapping should be very cautiously undertaken.
5
Not new or recent; having been in place or in effect for some time.
In most states, you can be ticketed for failing to clear the intersection, even if you are hemmed in by traffic. One good clue to a stale green light is the pedestrian signal.
noun
1
Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh.
I went to Riggs's batty-cake shop, and asked 'em for a penneth of the cheapest and nicest stales, that were all but blue-mouldy, but not quite.
Frayed-looking sweet-cakes...bought as ‘stales’ from the baker.
verb
1
To make stale; to age in order to clear and strengthen (a drink, especially beer).
Stalyn, or make stale drynke, defeco.
A stock of old porter should be kept, sufficient for staling the consumption of twelve months.
2
To make stale; to cause to go out of fashion or currency; to diminish the novelty or interest of, particularly by excessive exposure or consumption.
Ile goe tell all the Argument of his Play aforehand, and so stale his Inuention to the Auditory before it come foorth.
Not content To stale himselfe in all societies, He makes my house as common as a Mart.
3
To become stale; to grow odious from excessive exposure or consumption.
They have got so much of Christ as to be staled of his company.
Philanthropy was beginning to stale.
4
To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age.
The Drink from that Time flattens and stales.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
adjective — lacking originality or spontaneity
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
The stronger Beere is divided into two parts (viz.) mild and stale; the first may ease a man of a drought, but the later is like water cast into a Smiths forge, and breeds more heartburning, and as ru
Wiktionary02
Particular care must be taken that the stale beer in which the isinglass is dissolved be perfectly clear and stale.
Wiktionary03
Is not that hard or stale beer mixed to give the porter the appearance of age at once, which formerly was allowed to be matured by time?
Wiktionary04
I went to Riggs's batty-cake shop, and asked 'em for a penneth of the cheapest and nicest stales, that were all but blue-mouldy, but not quite.
Wiktionary05
Frayed-looking sweet-cakes...bought as ‘stales’ from the baker.
Wiktionary06
Stalyn, or make stale drynke, defeco.
WiktionaryUsage Notes
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