stale Hear it!

stale¹ Definition

stale (stāl)

adjective stal′er, stal′·est

  1. having lost freshness; made musty, dry, bad, etc. by having been kept too long; specif.,
    1. flat; vapid; tasteless stale beer
    2. hard and dry: said of bread, etc.
    3. low in oxygen content; stagnant stale air
  2. having lost originality or newness; lacking in interest through familiarity or overuse; hackneyed; trite a stale joke, stale gossip
  3. out of condition, ineffective, enervated, bored, etc. from either too much or too little activity
  4. Law having lost legal force or effect through lack of use or action, as a claim or lien

Etymology: ME, prob. via Anglo-Norm < OFr estale, quiet, stagnant < Gmc *stall: for IE base see still

transitive verb, intransitive verb staled, stal′·ing

to make or become stale

stale¹ Related Forms

stale′ly adverb stale′·ness noun

stale² Definition

stale (stāl)

intransitive verb staled, stal′·ing

to urinate: said as of horses and cattle

Etymology: ME, akin to MLowG stal, urine < IE base *(s)tel-, to let flow, urinate > Gr stalassein, to drip, telma, puddle

noun

urine, as of horses or cattle

stale Synonyms

stale

modif.

  1. Old or musty

    spoiled, dried, smelly; see musty 2, old 2.

  2. Dull and trite

    mawkish, hackneyed, fusty; see dull 4.

stale Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • go: House music has gone a bit stale of late - true or false?
  • get: If its not busy, the food gets a bit stale.

Modifying Another Word

  • slightly: I found many of them, however, to be slightly stale.
  • somewhat: His repertoire is getting, well, somewhat stale.
  • rather: Good news, tho Futurama became rather stale near the end.
  • little: Our internal affairs have been a little stale these past couple of centuries.
  • too: Gospel truths should not be too plain for our mouths, or too stale for your ears.
  • never: I prefer to tailor make songs and tracks to the artists because it keeps me young and fresh and never stale.

Infinitive complement

trim: In the year stales to trim of strokes cancer.

Modifies a noun

  • seedbed: In spring cereals, allowing time for a stale seedbed helps to reduce weed numbers in the growing crop.
  • bread: Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?
  • urine: Causes The cause of diaper rash is the skin being kept wet along with the chemical irritation of ammonia, produced by stale urine.
  • odor: They have an old and stale odor about them.
  • smell: Any buds which appear crushed or compressed, which contain seeds or which have a stale smell, are probably misrepresented imported bush.
  • sweat: The odor of car fumes mingled with cigarette smoke and stale sweat stuck in my throat.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: Plays or theater pieces can very quickly become stale.
  • go: By: Paul Winter Has your marriage gone stale?
  • grow: Artists who donât run the risk of growing stale, their meaning formulaic.
  • get: Indeed, the whole site is getting quite stale.
  • feel: Your trainee will have energy and ideas which will revive you if you feel stale!