stale
adjEtymology
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.
Definitions
Clear, free of dregs and lees
Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
- Particular care must be taken that the stale beer in which the isinglass is dissolved be perfectly clear and stale.
- 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?
No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
- Near-synonyms: gone bad, spoiled; see also Thesaurus:rotten
- 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.
No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things
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.
- How wary, stale, flat, and vnprofitable Seeme to me all the vses of this world?
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No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people
No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime.
- Near-synonyms: over the hill; see also Thesaurus:elderly
- Rosimunda...hathe an vncle a stale batcheler.
- In barren Women, and stale Maids, Tapping should be very cautiously undertaken.
Not new or recent
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.
Fallow, in reference to land.
- Lime would do very little or no good on stale ploughed lands.
Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions.
- a stale affidavit
- a stale demand
- The jury will rarely give credit to a stale complaint.
Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals…
Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition.
- By this means the [horse's] legs are not made more stale than necessary.
- Dame Agnes will probably be stale after her exertions in the Derby.
Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to…
Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks.
- Stale cheque,...a cheque which has remained unpaid for some considerable time.
Of data
Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy.
- The bug was found to be caused by stale data in the cache.
Something stale
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.
To make stale
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.
To become stale
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.
- Vi's penchant for puns had struck him as cute when he first met her, but it had staled somewhat over the years.
A long, thin handle (of rakes, axes, etc.)
- In Case your Cask is a Butt,...have ready boiling...Water, which put in, and, with a long Stale and a little Birch fastened to its End, scrub the Bottom.
- You came to me with the axe head in one hand and the stale in the other.
One of the posts or uprights of a ladder.
- Stales, the staves, or risings of a ladder, or the staves of a rack in a stable.
- Fruit ladders should be provided beforehand. They differ from the ordinary ladder by having the bottom rungs a little longer and the top of the side stales meeting together so is to rest in the fork of a limb.
- The zigzag determines the order of the currents from [1] which occur on the stales of the ladder and their relation with the currents from [0] which occur on the rungs and ringles between them.
One of the rungs on a ladder.
The stem of a plant.
The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc.
- The Surgians cut of the stale of that shaft in suche wise, that they moued not the heade that was wythin the fleshe.
- But (ſeeing th'arrowes ſtale without,) and […]
To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts.
- For stalyng of the ladders of the Churche xx d.
A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line.
- You cannot take the queen without giving a stale, therefore you lose the game.
A stalemate
A stalemate; a stalemated game.
- They stand at a stay; Like a Stale at Chesse, where it is no Mate, but yet the Game cannot stirre.
An ambush.
- It is a stelling place and sovir harbry, Quhar ost in staill or embuschment may ly.
- The erle of Essex...with .ii. C. speares was layde in a stale, if the Frenchmen had come neerer.
A band of armed men or hunters.
- The staill past throw the wod with sic noyis...yat all the bestis wer rasit fra thair dennys.
- The Lard of Drunlanrig lying al thys while in ambush...forbare to breake out to gyue anye charge vppon his enimies, doubting least the Earle of Lennox hadde kept a stale behynde.
The main force of an army.
- Neveryeles I knaw asweill by Englisemen as Scottishmen that their stale was no les then thre thowsand men.
At a standstill
At a standstill; stalemated.
- Then drawith he & is stale.
To stalemate.
- He shall stale þe black kyng in the pointe þer the crosse standith.
- In China, however, a player who stales his opponent's King, wins the game.
To be stalemated.
- For vnder cuire I got sik check, that I micht neither muife nor neck, bot ather stale or mait.
Urine, especially used of horses and cattle.
- […]That they be not compelled to eate their owne donge, and drinke their owne stale with you?
- The stale of Camels and Goats[…]is good for them that have the dropsie.
- Or annoint thy selfe with the stale of a mule.
To urinate, especially used of horses and cattle.
- Gif ony stal in the yet of the gilde...he sall gif iiijd. to the mendis.
- Tary a whyle, your hors wyll staale.
- Why a pox o' your boxe, once againe: let your little wife stale in it, and she will.
A live bird to lure birds of prey or others of its kind into a trap.
- Like vnto the fowlers, that by their stales draw other birdes into their nets.
- A wife thats more then faire is like a stale, Or chanting whistle which brings birds to thrall.
Any lure, particularly in reference to people used as live bait.
- She ran in all the hast Vnbrased and vnlast... It was a stale to take the deuyll in a brake.
- The Britaynes woulde oftentimes...lay their Cattell...in places conueniente, to bee as a stale to the Romaynes, and when the Romaynes shoulde make to them to fetche the same away,...they would fall vpon them.
- Her daughter Margerit was the stale to lure...them that otherwise flewe hyghe...and could not be gotten.
An accomplice of a thief or criminal acting as bait.
- Their mynisters, be false bretherne or false sustern, stales of the deuyll.
- This is Captain Whibble, the Towne stale, For all cheating imployments.
a partner whose beloved abandons or torments him in favor of another.
- I perceiue Lucilla (sayd he) that I was made thy stale, and Philautus thy laughinge stocke.
- Was I then chose and wedded for his stale?
- Did I for this loose all my friends...to be made A stale to a common whore?
A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usu.…
A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usu. sinister) designs; a stalking horse.
- That of the two nominated, one should be an unfit Man, and as it were a Stale, to bring the Office to the other.
- Had he none else to make a stale but me?
- Eurydice...meaning nothing lesse than to let her husband serue as a Stale, keeping the throne warme till another were growne old enough to sit in it.
A prostitute of the lowest sort
A prostitute of the lowest sort; any wanton woman.
- Spare not to tell him, that he hath wronged his honor in marrying the renowned Claudio...to a contaminated stale.
- But to be leaft for such a one as she, The stale of all, what will folke thinke of me?
- ...detesting as he said the insatiable impudency of a prostitute Stale.
Any decoy, either stuffed or manufactured.
- 'Tis the living bird that makes the best stale to draw others into the net.
- If my live birds aren't all drownded and my stales spoiled.
To serve as a decoy, to lure.
- The eye...Doth serue to stale her here and there where she doth come and go.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at stale. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at stale. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
9 hops · closes at stale
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA