stale
IPA: stˈeɪɫ
noun
- (colloquial) Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh.
- A long, thin handle (of rakes, axes, etc.)
- (dialectal) One of the posts or uprights of a ladder.
- One of the rungs on a ladder.
- (botany, obsolete) The stem of a plant.
- The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc.
- (military, obsolete) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line.
- (chess, uncommon) A stalemate; a stalemated game.
- (military, obsolete) An ambush.
- (obsolete) A band of armed men or hunters.
- (Scotland, military, obsolete) The main force of an army.
- (livestock, obsolete) Urine, especially used of horses and cattle.
- (falconry, hunting, obsolete) A live bird to lure birds of prey or others of its kind into a trap.
- (obsolete) Any lure, particularly in reference to people used as live bait.
- (crime, obsolete) An accomplice of a thief or criminal acting as bait.
- (obsolete) a partner whose beloved abandons or torments him in favor of another.
- (obsolete) A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usu. sinister) designs; a stalking horse.
- (crime, obsolete) A prostitute of the lowest sort; any wanton woman.
- (hunting, obsolete) Any decoy, either stuffed or manufactured.
verb
- (of alcohol, obsolete, transitive) To make stale; to age in order to clear and strengthen (a drink, especially beer).
- (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.
- (intransitive) To become stale; to grow odious from excessive exposure or consumption.
- (alcoholic beverages, intransitive) To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age.
- (transitive, obsolete) To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts.
- (chess, uncommon, transitive) To stalemate.
- (chess, obsolete, intransitive) To be stalemated.
- (livestock, obsolete, intransitive) To urinate, especially used of horses and cattle.
- (rare, obsolete, transitive) To serve as a decoy, to lure.
adjective
- (alcoholic beverages, obsolete) Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
- No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
- No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; clichéd, hackneyed, dated.
- (obsolete) No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime.
- (in general) Not new or recent; having been in place or in effect for some time.
- (agriculture, obsolete) Fallow, in reference to land.
- (law) Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions.
- Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition.
- (finance) Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks.
- (computing) Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy.
- (chess, obsolete) At a standstill; stalemated.
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Examples of "stale" in Sentences
- All the pages went stale.
- The meat was pretty stale.
- The air in the hold was hot and stale.
- I found some stale corn flakes in the pantry.
- He found some stale corn flakes in the pantry.
- Did the writers think the show was going stale
- Blnguyen ran the CU but the previous accounts are stale.
- In the end, it never happened, the thread went stale in the archives.
- Another editor saw that the discussion was stale and removed the notice.
- That's an eon in the world of slang, enough time to render a term stale.
- It simply wafts up, once again, the old stale odors of conspiracy theory.
- What was old and getting stale is now reborn into something entirely different.
- You don't want to use the word stale but you look for some kind of spark, Laich said.
- He estimates that is the calculated total for every person in that state who bought what he calls a stale ticket.
- During the presidential campaign, we know that Barack Obama promised to move away from what he called the stale and divisive politics of the past.
- I'm a little embarrassed to say that I simply can't remember the environment variable that I need to set in order to remove what I call "stale" network adapters in Device Manager.
- As if a mere human could compete with clogged freeways and Sisyphean paper pushing (or its more up-to-date equivalent, paperless pushing) and burnt-coffee-laced afternoons counting the acoustic tiles in stale conference rooms, and the hours spent arguing over the wording of a memo that within minutes after its dissemination will be dragged into the now-two-dimensional circular file.
- Should this form of vitality cease with the tree another principle which we call stale life takes possession and constructs another tree which is just the reverse of the living tree, and builds a tree after its own power of formulation from the dead matter, to which it imparts a principle of stale life, which life produces mushrooms, frogstools and other peculiar forms of stale beings, from this form of growth.
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