Word.ws English Dictionary

stale

/steɪl/

stale adjective: no longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.

Adjective (1)

stale (comparative staler or more stale, superlative stalest or most stale)

  1. 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.1530, John Palsgrave, L'éclaircissement de la langue française, 325 2
  2. 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.1562, Proverbs & Epigrams, J. Heywood, published 1867, section 95
    • Doist thou smyle to reade this stale and beggarlye stuffe.1579, in G. Harvey, letter book, 60
  3. (usually) 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.2014, David L. Hough, Street Strategies for Motorcyclists
  4. Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions.
    • a stale affidavit
    • a stale demand
  5. 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.1856, “Stonehenge”, in Manual of British Rural Sports, II i vi §7 335
    • Dame Agnes will probably be stale after her exertions in the Derby.1885 May 28, Truth, 853 2
  6. Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks.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.1901, Business Terms & Phrases, second edition, 199
  7. Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy.
    • The bug was found to be caused by stale data in the cache.
  8. (obsolete) No longer nubile or suitable for marriage; past one's prime.
    • Near-synonyms: over the hill; see also Thesaurus:elderly
    • Rosimunda...hathe an vncle a stale batcheler.c. 1580, J. Jeffere, Bugbears, I ii 108
  9. (obsolete) Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
    • The stronger Beere is divided into two parts (viz.) mild and stale; the first may ease a man of a drought, but the later is like water cast into a Smiths forge, and breeds more heartburning, and as rust eates into Iron, so overstale Beere gnawes auletholes in the entrales, or else my skill failes...1637, John Taylor, The Famovs Historie of the most part of Drinks, in use now in the Kingdomes of Great Brittaine and Ireland
    • Particular care must be taken that the stale beer in which the isinglass is dissolved be perfectly clear and stale.1826, A Practical Man, The Vintner's, Brewer's, Spirit Merchant's, and Licensed Victualler's Guide, page 243
  10. (obsolete) Fallow, in reference to land.
    • Lime would do very little or no good on stale ploughed lands.1764, Museum Rusticum, II 306

Noun (1)

stale (plural stales)

  1. (colloquial) 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.1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, II iii 39
    • Frayed-looking sweet-cakes...bought as ‘stales’ from the baker.1937, George Orwell, Road to Wigan Pier, I i 15

Verb (1)

stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)

  1. (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.
    • Ile goe tell all the Argument of his Play aforehand, and so stale his Inuention to the Auditory before it come foorth.1601, Ben Jonson, Fountaine of Self-love, section 36
    • Not content To stale himselfe in all societies, He makes my house as common as a Mart.1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act I, scene...
  2. (intransitive) 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.1717, E. Erskine, Serm. in Wks., 50 1
    • Philanthropy was beginning to stale.1893, “Q”, in Delectable Duchy, section 325
  3. (intransitive) To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age.
    • The Drink from that Time flattens and stales.1742, W. Ellis, London & Country Brewer, 4th edition, I 64
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To make stale; to age in order to clear and strengthen (a drink, especially beer).
    • Stalyn, or make stale drynke, defeco.c. 1440, Promp. Parv., 472 1
    • A stock of old porter should be kept, sufficient for staling the consumption of twelve months.1826, Art of Brewing, second edition, 106

Noun (2)

stale (plural stales)

  1. 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.1742, W. Ellis, London & Country Brewer, 4th edition, I 61
    • You came to me with the axe head in one hand and the stale in the other.1890 February 4, Manchester Guardian, 12 3
  2. (dialectal) 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.1887, W. D. Parish et al., Kentish Dial.
    • 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.1891, T. E. Smith, The Nova Scotia Fruit Grower, page 72
  3. One of the rungs on a ladder.
    • To begin then: not long before this paragraph was written, P fell into doze, and dreamt, he saw Jacob's ladder with one foot standing on the earth, the other reaching up into heaven. Dukes, Marquisses, and other Peers, fancy represented to him, as standing on the upper stales; on the middle ones...1792, Thomas Paine, A Rod in Brine, or a tickler for T. Paine, page 16
    • Mr. Marsden managed, by dint of swimming, to come in contact with the form, to which hemself and friend had previously fixed the cord and thrown overboard; but this, from its shape, would have proved, in all probability, but a doubtful means of escape, had he not, after a time, fallen in with a...1834, Joseph Adshead, A Circumstantial Narrative of the Wreck of the Rothsay, page 236
  4. (obsolete) The stem of a plant.
  5. 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.1553, Q. Curtius Rufus, translated by J. Brende, Hist., section IX
    • But (ſeeing th'arrowes ſtale without,) and […][1611?], Homer, “The Fourth Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, page 53

Verb (2)

stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts.
    • For stalyng of the ladders of the Churche xx d.1492, Archæol. Cant., XVI 304

Noun (3)

stale (plural stales)

  1. (obsolete) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line.
    • Wherefore they had a great avauntage, but in coclusion thie french menne were slayne, and their horses taken, and so the lyght horsement came wyth their catail, nere to the embushment, and the frenchimen folowed, that seyng the englyshmen that kept the stale, came in al hast & rescued their light...1550, Edward Halle, The Vnion of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke
    • All these in great hast came to Newnam bridge, where they found other Englishmen that had woone the bridge of the Frenchmen, and so all togither set foward to assaile the Frenchmen that kept the stale, and tarie till the residue of their companie which were gone a forraging vnto Calis walles were...1808, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, page 580
  2. (uncommon) 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.1625, Francis Bacon, Essays, section 65
  3. (obsolete) An ambush.
    • It is a stelling place and sovir harbry, Quhar ost in staill or embuschment may ly.1513, Virgil, translated by G. Douglas, Æneid, XI x 96
    • The erle of Essex...with .ii. C. speares was layde in a stale, if the Frenchmen had come neerer.1577, R. Holinshed, Chron, II 1479 2
  4. (obsolete) 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.c. 1540, H. Boece, translated by J. Bellenden, Hyst. & Cron. Scotl., XII xvi 184
    • 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.1577, R. Holinshed, Hist. Scotl., 471 2 in Chron., I
  5. (Scotland, obsolete) The main force of an army.
    • Neveryeles I knaw asweill by Englisemen as Scottishmen that their stale was no les then thre thowsand men.1532, State Papers Henry VIII, published 1836, IV 626

Adjective (2)

stale (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) At a standstill; stalemated.
    • Then drawith he & is stale.c. 1470, Ashmolean MS 344, 21

Verb (3)

stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)

  1. (transitive, uncommon) To stalemate.
    • He shall stale þe black kyng in the pointe þer the crosse standith.c. 1470, Ashmole MS 344, 7
    • In China, however, a player who stales his opponent's King, wins the game.1903, H. J. R. Murray, Brit. Chess. Mag., section 283
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To be stalemated.
    • For vnder cuire I got sik check, that I micht neither muife nor neck, bot ather stale or mait.1597, A. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, section 202

Noun (4)

stale (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete, livestock) Urine, especially used of horses and cattle.
    • […]That they be not compelled to eate their owne donge, and drinke their owne stale with you?1535, the Bible, translated by Miles Coverdale, Isaiah, XXXVI.100
    • The stale of Camels and Goats[…]is good for them that have the dropsie.1548, Robert Record, Vrinal of Physick, XI.89

Verb (4)

stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete, livestock) To urinate, especially used of horses and cattle.
    • Gif ony stal in the yet of the gilde...he sall gif iiijd. to the mendis.15th century, Lawis Gild, X in Ancient Laws and Customs of the Burghs of Scotland, 68
    • Tary a whyle, your hors wyll staale.1530, John Palsgrave, L'éclaircissement de la langue française, 732 1

Noun (5)

stale (plural stales)

  1. (obsolete) 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.1579, Thomas North, “Sylla”, in Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, section 515
    • A wife thats more then faire is like a stale, Or chanting whistle which brings birds to thrall.1608, Ludovico Ariosto, translated by R. Tofte, Satyres, IV 56
  2. (obsolete) 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.c. 1529, "The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng", 324, in John Skelton, Certayne Bokes
    • 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.1577, Raphael Holinshed, “The Historie of England, from the Time that It Was First Inhabited, Vntill the Time that It Was Last Conquered”, in Chronicles, 79 2
  3. (obsolete, crime) An accomplice of a thief or criminal acting as bait.
    • Their mynisters, be false bretherne or false sustern, stales of the deuyll.1526, W. Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection, section III
    • This is Captain Whibble, the Towne stale, For all cheating imployments.1633, S. Marmion, Fine Compan., III iv
  4. (obsolete) 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.1578, J. Lyly, Euphues, section 33
    • Was I then chose and wedded for his stale?1588, T. Hughes, Misfortunes Arthur, I ii 3
  5. (obsolete) 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.1580, E. Grindal in 1710, J. Strype, Hist. E. Grindal, 252
    • Had he none else to make a stale but me?c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  6. (obsolete, crime) 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.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • But to be leaft for such a one as she, The stale of all, what will folke thinke of me?1606, S. Daniel, Queenes Arcadia, II i
  7. (obsolete) Any decoy, either stuffed or manufactured.
    • 'Tis the living bird that makes the best stale to draw others into the net.1681, J. Flavell, Method of Grace, XXXV 588
    • If my live birds aren't all drownded and my stales spoiled.1888, G. M. Fenn, Dick o' the Fens, section 53

Verb (5)

stale (third-person singular simple present stales, present participle staling, simple past and past participle staled)

  1. (obsolete, rare, transitive) To serve as a decoy, to lure.
    • The eye...Doth serue to stale her here and there where she doth come and go.1557, Tottel's Misc., section 198

stale meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

stale in Hindi

stale
बासी bāsī

stale in Tamil

சலித்துவிட்ட, நாள்பட்ட, மக்கிய, கைபிடி, தண்டு

stale in Marathi

stale
शिळे śiḷe, निबर nibar

stale in Urdu

stale
ماندہ mānda
More languagesFewer languages
stale in Bengali
বাসি, পচা, একঘেয়ে
stale in Telugu
పాచిన pācina, వాడిన vāḍina, వడలిన vaḍalina
stale in Malayalam
ജീർണ്ണിച്ച, പുതുമയില്ലാത്ത, വിരസമായ
stale in Kannada
ತಂಗಳು, ಹಳಸಲು, ಸಪ್ಪೆ, ಬೇಸರದ
stale in Punjabi
ਬੇਹਾ behā
stale in Sanskrit
पर्युषित paryuṣita, यातयाम yātáyāma
stale in Malay
basi
stale in Indonesian
basi
stale in Persian
بیات bayât
stale in Vietnamese
thiu, ôi

Examples of stale in a sentence

  • New freshe blood to ouersprinkle their stale mete that it may seme...newly kylled.c. 1550, Wyll of Deuill, C 2 b
  • Another stale roll and cup of water sat on the tray he carried.2012, Stephen Woodworth, In Golden Blood: Number 3 in series:
  • How wary, stale, flat, and vnprofitable Seeme to me all the vses of this world?c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...
  • You resent the stale thing as an affront.1822 March, Charles Lamb, London Magazine, 284 1:

All 40 example sentences with stale

Synonyms of stale

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of stale

Forms of stale

Adjective
comparativestaler
comparativemore stale
superlativestalest
superlativemost stale
Noun
pluralstales
alternative formstele
alternative formsteal
alternative formsteel
alternative formstail
Verb
third-person singular presentstales
present participlestaling
past participlestaled
paststaled

Origin of stale

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.

Words formed from stale

Phrases with stale

Words that rhyme with stale

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stale

What does stale mean?
Stale means no longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
What is stale in Hindi?
Stale in Hindi is बासी (bāsī). See Stale meaning in Hindi.
How do you use stale in a sentence?
New freshe blood to ouersprinkle their stale mete that it may seme...newly kylled.
What part of speech is stale?
Stale can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce stale?
Stale is pronounced /steɪl/.

Words near stale in the dictionary

  1. stalder
  2. stalderite
  3. stalders
  4. stalding
  5. staldings
  6. stale
  7. stale drunk
  8. stale read
  9. stale reads
  10. staled
  11. stalefish

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stale (page history and authors); बासी (Hindi) (page history and authors); stale (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); निबर (Marathi) (page history and authors); ماندہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); stale (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stale (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stale (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬੇਹਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); पर्युषित (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “stale.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.