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stale
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
stale
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a musty/stale/sour smell (=old and not fresh)
▪ The clothes in the wardrobe had a damp musty smell.
stale beer (=old beer which has an unpleasant smell)
▪ The hotel smelt of cigarette smoke and stale beer.
stale sweat
▪ The room smelt of stale sweat.
stale (=hard and no longer fresh)
▪ This bread’s stale – shall I throw it away?
stale (=not fresh and often full of smoke)
▪ The room was full of stale air and tobacco smoke.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
air
▪ Seven minutes left, plus a while longer breathing staler and staler air.
▪ He lurched forward and groped his way up the staircase, gasping and retching in the stale air.
▪ As the stale air travels slowly through the flues, so carbon dioxide flows out and oxygen flows in.
▪ I sit watching Victor's television through stale air thick with tobacco smoke.
▪ Walking clears the mind and removes stale air from the lungs.
▪ The office, which displayed portraits of both the last president and the new one, was filled with stale air.
▪ Very much like now, come to think of it: bored and fidgeting, breathing stale air while time stands still.
bread
▪ The gaoler returned hours later with a cup of brackish water, a bowl of badly-cooked meat and hard, stale bread.
▪ She stopped cooking, and for days the boy and his sisters ate stale bread and tamarind jam by the spoonful.
▪ Jamie was moping around his flat, existing on cups of tea and stale bread toast.
▪ Say what you like, but this stale bread they served here was no substitute.
▪ Non-washable papers just need brushing down or rubbing with stale bread or a soft rubber.
smell
▪ It had the slightly stale smell of such untended places.
▪ After the crisp freshness of the shop, the flat had a musty stale smell.
▪ The scent of rose water hung in the air, covering the stale smell of pipe tobacco and strong drink.
▪ The stale smell of socks and the constant din contributed to the normal post-gymnastic atmosphere.
▪ Rain recognized the stale smell, and her glance went to the half-open shutters.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
stale advertising images
stale cookies
▪ All we got was a cup of tea and a bit of stale cake.
▪ All we hear around here is stale, old gossip.
▪ It was cold outside and the smell of stale tobacco clung to their winter coats.
▪ Nicholson's routine was full of stale old jokes that we'd all heard before.
▪ Put the biscuits back in the tin or they'll go stale.
▪ She noticed the stale smell of drink on his breath.
▪ The air in the office was stale and heavy.
▪ This bread's stale - have we got another loaf?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A stale breath came from him, sour, disordered, which was not only because he might have drunk too much.
▪ My impression is their sites are kind of stale.
▪ Sometimes scarred tissue feels tough, its resilience like a stale marshmallow.
▪ The money smelled stale, and humid.
▪ Then, just as it seemed in danger of becoming stale and repetitive, it threw up De La Soul.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stale

Stale \Stale\ (st[=a]l), n. [OE. stale, stele, AS. st[ae]l, stel; akin to LG. & D. steel, G. stiel; cf. L. stilus stake, stalk, stem, Gr. steleo`n a handle, and E. stall, stalk, n.] 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.
--Chapman.

Stale

Stale \Stale\, v. i. [Akin to D. & G. stallen, Dan. stalle, Sw. stalla, and E. stall a stable. [root] 163. See Stall, n., and cf. Stale, a.] To make water; to discharge urine; -- said especially of horses and cattle.
--Hudibras.

Stale

Stale \Stale\, n. [See Stale, a. & v. i.]

  1. That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use. [Obs.]

  2. A prostitute. [Obs.]
    --Shak.

  3. Urine, esp. that of beasts. ``Stale of horses.''
    --Shak.

Stale

Stale \Stale\, n. [Cf. OF. estal place, position, abode, market, F. ['e]tal a butcher's stall, OHG. stal station, place, stable, G. stall (see Stall, n.); or from OE. stale theft, AS. stalu (see Steal, v. t.).]

  1. 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.
    --Spenser.

  2. A stalking-horse. [Obs.]
    --B. Jonson.

  3. (Chess) A stalemate. [Obs.]
    --Bacon.

  4. A laughingstock; a dupe. [Obs.]
    --Shak.

Stale

Stale \Stale\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Staled (st[=a]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. 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.
--Shak.

Stale

Stale \Stale\, a. [Akin to stale urine, and to stall, n.; probably from Low German or Scandinavian. Cf. Stale, v. i.]

  1. Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer.

  2. Not new; not freshly made; as, stale bread.

  3. Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed. ``A stale virgin.''
    --Spectator.

  4. Worn out by use or familiarity; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; trite; common.
    --Swift.

    Wit itself, if stale is less pleasing.
    --Grew.

    How weary, stale flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!
    --Shak.

    Stale affidavit (Law), an affidavit held above a year.
    --Craig.

    Stale demand (Law), a claim or demand which has not been pressed or demanded for a long time.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
stale

early 13c., "freed from dregs or lees" (of ale, wine, etc.), probably literally "having stood long enough to clear," ultimately from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet); probably via Old French estal "placed, fixed position," from Frankish *stal- "position" (see stall (n.1)). Cognate with Middle Dutch stel "stale" (of beer and old urine). Originally a desirable quality (in beer and wine); the meaning "not fresh" is first recorded late 15c. Figurative sense (of immaterial things) "old and trite, hackneyed" is recorded from 1560s. As a noun, "that which has become tasteless by exposure," hence "a prostitute" (in Shakespeare, etc.). Related: Staleness.

stale

mid-15c., from stale (adj.). Related: Staled; staling.

Wiktionary
stale

Etymology 1

  1. 1 (context alcohol obsolete English) clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong. 2 no longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc. 3 no longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; cliche, hackneyed, dated. 4 no longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime. 5 (context agriculture obsolete English) fallow, in reference to land. 6 (context legal English) unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions. 7 worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition. 8 (context finance English) out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks. n. (context colloquial English) something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh. v

  2. 1 (context of alcohol obsolete transitive English) To make stale; to age in order to clear and strengthen (a drink, especially beer). 2 (context transitive English) 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. 3 (context intransitive English) To become stale; to grow odious from excessive exposure or consumption. 4 (context alcohol intransitive English) To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age. Etymology 2

    alt. (context transitive obsolete English) To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts. n. 1 A long, thin handle, as of rakes, axes, et

  3. 2 (context dialectical English) The posts and rungs composing a ladder. 3 (context botany obsolete English) The stem of a plant. 4 The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc. vb. (context transitive obsolete English) To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts. Etymology 3

    1. (context chess obsolete English) At a standstill; stalemate

  4. n. 1 (context military obsolete English) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-lin

  5. 2 (context chess uncommon English) A stalemate; a stalemated game. 3 (context military obsolete English) An ambush. 4 (context obsolete English) A band of armed men or hunters. 5 (context Scottish military obsolete English) The main force of an army. vb. 1 (context chess uncommon transitive English) To stalemate. 2 (context chess obsolete intransitive English) To be stalemated. Etymology 4

    n. (context livestock obsolete English) urine, especially used of horses and cattle. vb. (context livestock obsolete intransitive English) To urinate, especially used of horses and cattle. Etymology 5

    n. 1 (context crime obsolete English) theft; the act of stealing. 2 (context crime obsolete English) stealth, used in the phrase ''by stale''. Etymology 6

    n. 1 (context falconry hunting obsolete English) A live bird to lure birds of prey or others of its kind into a trap. 2 (context obsolete English) Any lure, particularly in reference to people used as live bait. 3 (context crime obsolete English) An accomplice of a thief or criminal acting as bait. 4 (context obsolete English) a partner whose beloved abandons or torments him in favor of another. 5 (context obsolete English) A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usually. sinister) designs; a stalking horse. 6 (context crime obsolete English) A prostitute of the lowest sort; any wanton woman. 7 (context hunting obsolete English) any decoy, either stuffed or manufactured. vb. (context rare obsolete transitive English) To serve as a decoy, to lure.

WordNet
stale
  1. adj. showing deterioration from age; "stale bread" [ant: fresh]

  2. lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new; "moth-eaten theories about race" [syn: old, moth-eaten]

  3. no longer new; uninteresting; "cold (or stale) news" [syn: cold]

stale

v. urinate, of cattle and horses

Wikipedia
Stale (disambiguation)

Stale may refer to:

  • Ståle, a Norwegian surname
  • Stale, Poland, a village in Gmina Grębów, Tarnobrzeg County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland
  • Stale mate, a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal move
  • Stale pointer bug, or aliasing bug, a class of programming error in dynamic memory allocation where a pointer designates deallocated memory
Ståle

Ståle is a given name. Notable people with the name include:

  • Ståle Dyrvik (born 1943), Norwegian historian
  • Ståle Eskeland (born 1943), Norwegian jurist
  • Ståle Kleiberg (born 1958), contemporary Norwegian classical composer and musicologist
  • Ståle Kyllingstad (1903–1987), Norwegian sculptor and designer
  • Ståle Petter Lyngstadaas, researcher with a focus on biomaterials and bone regeneration
  • Ståle Økland (born 1976), Norwegian writer, thinker, trend expert and public speaker
  • Ståle Steen Sæthre (born 1993), Norwegian football forward
  • Ståle Sandbech (born 1993), Norwegian snowboarder
  • Ståle Schumacher (born 1972), played a major role in making the program Pretty Good Privacy available outside the United States
  • Ståle Søbye (born 1971), retired Norwegian football (soccer) midfielder who was a two time first team All American
  • Ståle Solbakken (born 1968), Norwegian former international football player and the current head coach of Danish Superliga side Copenhagen
  • Ståle Stensaas (born 1971), Norwegian football coach and former player
  • Ståle Storli, the title of a Norwegian folksong and a novel by John Lie, published in 1880
  • Ståle Storløkken (born 1969), Norwegian jazz musician (keyboards, organ and piano) and composer

Usage examples of "stale".

Rather than the hot meal and sleep the weary soldiers had been looking forward to, they settled for filthy water, what few remains of stale bread had survived the plundering, and a blanketless rest on the hard ground.

They are dying out day by day in such manner that I fear greatly to see these illustrious fragments of the ancient breviary spat upon, staled upon, set at naught, dishonoured, and blamed, the which I should be loath to see, since I have and bear great respect for the refuse of our Gallic antiquities.

She had gone some way before the scent of wine, mixed with the bitter-sweet stench of stale cooking from the great abbey kitchens above, told her that she was nearing the section of the hypogeum reserved for the storage of wine.

Johnson had become a little stale, and Miss Meteyard received it coldly.

He knew that he was seeing -- ah yes Miguel thank you -- three months back sitting in the Metropole nodded out over a stale yellow eclair that would poison a cat two hours later, decided that the effort involved in seeing Miguel at all 10 A.

Dying embers still glowed in the hearth, awaiting another stirring to life at morningtide, while the stench of stale ale, peat smoke, and sweat seemed to hang close above their heads, held there by the low ceiling.

They had located some stale hash cookies and decided to pool all of their fireworks purchases and construct a single multistage rocketship held together with masking tape and hallucinogenic optimism.

The heater kicked in with an angry growl and blasted hot, dry air, recirculating the aroma of stale smoke.

It was hot and airless in the slave pen and I shouldered my way forward eagerly when a lad with a bucket and ladle walked down the lines, dipping stale water into eagerly cupped hands.

Even though there were only the three of us, with a trail of ashes fallen out of the tinfoil ashtray and sprinkled over the table, with the too many chairs, with the stale air in the room, it felt crowded.

It rattled the strutters and creens and stirred the hay which covered the floors, releasing the smell of stale woodruff, tossing the fire smoke back down into the rooms.

The distinctive sulphury smell of the infernal chymical mingled with the usual harbor odors of decaying fish, tar, stale beer, and human waste.

Beneath the grease, she thought she could smell moldy linens and stale, uncirculated air.

The only Jedi Knights present were the trio Luke had ordered to meet him hereTesar, Lowbacca, and Tahiriand the air had a stale, uncirculated smell.

He went down like a felled tree, stinking of years-old sweat, stale wine, and uncured goat skin.