Crossword clues for stale
stale
- Like several-days-old bread
- Too old to eat
- Too hard, as bread
- Past its "sell by" date, perhaps
- Not in the least fresh
- Like some crossword clues
- Like rock-hard bread
- Like old rolls
- Like leftover snacks
- Like jokes you've heard before
- Flat and tasteless
- Way past the sell-by date
- Told and retold, perhaps
- Past its best
- Opposite of fresh
- Old, as bread
- Old and worn
- No longer interesting
- No longer fresh, like old bagels
- Like very old bread
- Like twice-told tales
- Like old pretzels
- Like old chips
- Like hard bread
- Like day-old bread that's been left out
- Like a tough cookie?
- Less than fresh
- In need of freshening
- In need of an update
- Hardly avant-garde
- Hard, as bread
- Boringly familiar
- Well past the sell-by date
- Well past the freshness date, in terms of bread
- Too often told
- Ready for the trash
- Past the sell-by date, say
- Past the freshness date
- Past the "Sell By" date, perhaps
- Past the "sell by" date, maybe
- Old, as a joke
- Old (bread)
- No longer yummy
- No longer new or interesting
- No longer fresh, like two-day-old doughnuts
- No longer fresh, like bread
- No longer fresh, like bagels or humor
- No longer fresh, as old bread
- No longer exciting
- No longer a novelty
- Mate of a sort
- Long past the shelf date
- Like yesterday's donuts
- Like week-old bread, often
- Like uninspired writing
- Like unfunny jokes
- Like two-week-old bread
- Like the idea of a "gritty" superhero movie
- Like some hard rolls
- Like old, dry bread
- Like old popcorn
- Like old gossip
- Like old donuts
- Like old cigarettes
- Like month-old bread
- Like many bad jokes
- Like many a crossword clue for the word OREO, or like old Oreos
- Like leftover chips
- Like last week's buns
- Like last week's bread
- Like jokes that kids enjoy, often
- Like hard rolls
- Like dry bread
- Like days-old bread
- Like dated food
- Like cola with no fizz
- Like bread used for stuffing, often
- Like bread made into stuffing, perhaps
- Like bread for pigeons
- Like bread for croutons
- Like bagels that aren't put away
- Like a beaten-to-death joke
- Lacking new ideas
- Kind of bread or joke
- Humdrum, as humor
- Hardened, maybe
- Hard, like bread left out too long
- Hard and dry, like bread
- Fresh? Don't make me laugh
- Fresh no more
- Flat, as pop
- Flat, as cola
- Flat, as a soda
- Flat from overuse
- Far from avant-garde
- Dry, as bread
- All played out
- Hackneyed
- Out of fashion
- Past its prime
- Used
- Tired
- No longer fresh, as bread
- Like an old joke
- Unfresh
- Old hat
- Several-days-old
- Past the shelf date
- Unoriginal
- Like week-old doughnuts
- Days-old
- Like chestnuts
- Like Halloween candy in December
- Like chips that have been set out too long
- Not fresh, as bread
- Flat, like beer
- Like an old cigar
- Played out
- Like old bread
- No longer in style
- Past the expiration date
- Like a day-old baguette
- PassГ©
- Stuffy, as air
- Like week-old bread, possibly
- ClichГ©d
- Trite
- Overused, as a joke
- Past its sell-by date, perhaps
- Too-familiar
- Like yesterday's bagels
- Like yesterday's news
- Like some humor
- So yesterday, say
- No longer crisp, in a way
- *Hackneyed
- Dusty, fusty or musty
- Clich
- Fusty
- Commonplace
- Overtrained
- Vapid
- Insipid
- Tasteless
- Like an old bialy
- Out of practice
- Dated
- Out-of-date
- Warmed-over
- Shopworn, as stories
- Like old potato chips
- Overfamiliar
- Lacking spontaneity
- Banal
- Oft heard
- Stereotyped
- Like Joe Miller jokes
- Unappetizing
- Like leftover beer
- Like some puns or buns
- Like a cliché
- Old and dry
- Tediously familiar
- Like some jokes
- Kind of bread for crumbs
- Like old jokes or popcorn
- Good fellow on the beer becoming overfamiliar
- Good fellow, bitter perhaps, and tired
- Overused story following saint primarily
- Old table top found amongst discounted items
- Second story, no longer new
- Second story is boring
- Beginning of sob story, hackneyed
- Hackneyed introduction to short story
- Far from fresh
- No longer edible
- Done to death
- Like an old loaf
- Lacking originality, as a joke
- No longer novel
- Hardly original
- Far from original
- Hardly fresh
- Told too often
- Lacking freshness
- Out of condition
- Like an old bagel
- Having lost effervescence
- All too familiar
- Like some bread
- Like day-old donuts
- Well past its prime
- Like uncirculated air
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
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\, 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\, n. [See Stale, a. & v. i.]
That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use. [Obs.]
A prostitute. [Obs.]
--Shak.Urine, esp. that of beasts. ``Stale of horses.''
--Shak.
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.).]
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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. A stalking-horse. [Obs.]
--B. Jonson.(Chess) A stalemate. [Obs.]
--Bacon.A laughingstock; a dupe. [Obs.]
--Shak.
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\, a. [Akin to stale urine, and to stall, n.; probably from Low German or Scandinavian. Cf. Stale, v. i.]
Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer.
Not new; not freshly made; as, stale bread.
Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed. ``A stale virgin.''
--Spectator.-
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
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.
mid-15c., from stale (adj.). Related: Staled; staling.
Wiktionary
Etymology 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
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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
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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
(context chess obsolete English) At a standstill; stalemate
n. 1 (context military obsolete English) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-lin
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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
adj. showing deterioration from age; "stale bread" [ant: fresh]
lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new; "moth-eaten theories about race" [syn: old, moth-eaten]
no longer new; uninteresting; "cold (or stale) news" [syn: cold]
v. urinate, of cattle and horses
Wikipedia
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 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.