stale

¹ American  

[steyl] / steɪl /

adjective

staler, stalest

1. not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.

   Synonyms:

   insipid, sour, tasteless, hard

   Antonyms:

   fresh

2. musty; stagnant.

   stale air.

3. having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite.

   a stale joke.

   Synonyms:

   common, old, stereotyped, uninteresting

4. having lost freshness, vigor, quick intelligence, initiative, or the like, as from overstrain, boredom, or surfeit.

   He had grown stale on the job and needed a long vacation.

5. Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.

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verb (used with or without object)

staled, staling

1. to make or become stale.

stale ² American  

[steyl] / steɪl /

verb (used without object)

staled, staling

1. (of livestock, especially horses) to urinate.

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stale ¹ British  

/ steɪl /

adjective

1. (esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long

2. (of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long

3. (of air) stagnant; foul

4. uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed

   stale clichés

5. no longer new

   stale news

6. lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety

7. banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written

8. law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time

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verb

1. to make or become stale

stale ² British  

/ steɪl /

verb

1. (intr) (of livestock) to urinate

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noun

1. the urine of horses or cattle

Other Word Forms

• stalely adverb
• staleness noun

Etymology

Origin of stale¹

1250–1300; Middle English; akin to Middle Dutch stel in same sense; perhaps akin to stand or to stale ²

Origin of stale²

1400–50; late Middle English stalen to urinate; cognate with German stallen, Danish stalle, Norwegian, Swedish stalla

Example Sentences

Goodwin is also troubled by what he labels “stale pricing,” as marks on some positions have a wide variance and can be conservative or unreliable.

From MarketWatch

By the time Coppola readied her pivotal first film, “The Virgin Suicides,” Jacobs was crowned the powerhouse creative director of Louis Vuitton, tasked with infusing a stale heritage luxury brand with youthful energy.

From Salon

It was even higher in markets where unsold listings are growing stale.

From The Wall Street Journal

She’d take anything: stale bread crusts, cabbage leaves, even an apple or a bun sometimes, but I think she was always hoping for potatoes—as Mutti said, they were her real passion.

From Literature

He raised his muzzle to catch the scents wafting from the valley: some jays and a few stale elk droppings; several storm-broken spruce; lots of willow herb and withered blueberries.

From Literature

Related Words

• corny
• dull
• hackneyed
• shopworn
• threadbare
• tired