Word Direct Answers

What does "stale" mean?

Stale: Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Not new; not freshly made; as, stele bread.
  2. 3.Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed. "A stale virgin." Spectator.
  3. 4.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.
  4. 5.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.
  5. 6.To make water; to discharge urine; -- said especially of horses and cattle. Hudibras.
  6. 7.That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use. [Obs.]
  7. 8.A prostitute. [Obs.] Shak.
  8. 9.Urine, esp. that of beasts. "Stale of horses." Shak.
  9. 10.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.
  10. 11.A stalking-horse. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
  11. 12.(Chess) A stalemate. [Obs.] Bacon.
  12. 13.A laughingstock; a dupe. [Obs.] Shak.

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