stale
/steɪl/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms staler stalest stales staling staled stele steal steel stail
- adjective No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
- adjective No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; clichéd, hackneyed, dated.
- adjective (in general) Not new or recent; having been in place or in effect for some time.
- adjective (law) Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions. “a stale affidavit”
- adjective Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition.
- adjective (finance) Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks.
- adjective (computing) Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy. “The bug was found to be caused by stale data in the cache.”
- adjective (obsolete, of people) No longer nubile or suitable for marriage; past one's prime.
- noun (colloquial) Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh.
- verb (transitive) 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.
- verb (intransitive) To become stale; to grow odious from excessive exposure or consumption.
- verb (intransitive, of alcohol) To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age.
- verb (obsolete, transitive, of alcohol) To make stale; to age in order to clear and strengthen (a drink, especially beer).
- noun A long, thin handle (of rakes, axes, etc.)
- noun (dialectal) One of the posts or uprights of a ladder.
- noun One of the rungs on a ladder.
- noun (botany, obsolete) The stem of a plant.
- noun The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts.
- noun (military, obsolete) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line.
Synonyms
fusty gone bad spoiled bad gone off maggoted rotten banal played out trite bathetic bromidic cheesy stock clichéd commonplace corny dog-eared hackneyed hoary cold dusty moth-eaten
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“fixed position, place”), but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’.
From Middle English stale, from Old English stalu, from Proto-Germanic *stal-; compare English stell from this root. The development was paralleled by the ablaut which became English steal, from Middle English stele, from Old English stela, from Proto-Germanic *stel-. Both are from the same Proto-Indo-European root *stel-, *stol- (“to place, establish”), whence also Ancient Greek στελεός (steleós, “handle”). See also English stele.
From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“place, something placed”) (compare French étal), from Frankish stal, from Proto-Germanic *stallaz, earlier *staþlaz. Related to stall and stand.
Noun from Middle English stale, from Anglo-Norman estal (“urine”), from Middle Dutch stal (“urine”). Cognate with Middle Low German stal (“horse urine; bowel movement”). Verb from Middle English stalen, from Old French estaler (“urinate”), related to Middle High German stallen (“to piss”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The stock or handle of anything; as, the stale of a rake.
- adjective Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer.
- adjective Not new; not freshly made; as, stele bread.
- verb 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.
Etymology [OE. stale, stele, AS. stæl, stel; akin to LG. & D. steel, G. stiel; cf. L. stilus stake, stalk, stem, Gr. stall, stalk, n.]
Etymology [Akin to stale urine, and to stall, n.; probably from Low German or Scandinavian. Cf. Stale, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stale”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details