stale

Etymology 1

From Middle English stale, of uncertain etymology, but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’.

adj

1. (alcoholic beverages, 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, and what I have written of it is to be held as a jest. 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
   Is not that hard or stale beer mixed to give the porter the appearance of age at once, which formerly was allowed to be matured by time? 1829, David Booth, The Art of Brewing, page 52
2. No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
   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
   New freshe blood to ouersprinkle their stale mete that it may seme...newly kylled. c. 1550, Wyll of Deuill, C 2 b
   To her surprise, Abe did not come to collect her for the usual morning inhabitation session with Azure. She did not see him until almost noon, when he personally delivered lunch to her tent. Another stale roll and cup of water sat on the tray he carried. Abe hung his head, as abashed as Honorato had been. “This is all I could sneak in for now. I'll try to get more later.” 2012, Stephen Woodworth, In Golden Blood: Number 3 in series
3. No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; cliche, 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
   A two-days-old newspaper. You resent the stale thing as an affront. 1822 March, Charles Lamb, London Magazine, 284 1
   Rick would comment on the fact that he'd never had such bad coffee, not even the mud at his precinct. Mark would tell him to quit with the stale joke, already 2002, Mark Lawson, And They Rose Up: Days of Retribution
4. (obsolete) No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime.
   Rosimunda...hathe an vncle a stale batcheler. c. 1580, J. Jeffere, Bugbears, I ii 108
   In barren Women, and stale Maids, Tapping should be very cautiously undertaken. 1742, T. Short, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 42 226
5. (in general) 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
6. (agriculture, obsolete) Fallow, in reference to land.
   Lime would do very little or no good on stale ploughed lands. 1764, Museum Rusticum, II 306
7. (law) Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions.
   a stale affidavit
   a stale demand
   The jury will rarely give credit to a stale complaint. 1769, William Blackstone, Common Laws of England, IV xv 211
8. 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. May 28 1885, Truth, 853 2
9. (finance) 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
10. (computing) Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy.
    The bug was found to be caused by stale data in the cache.

noun

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. (of alcohol, 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
2. (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
   Pictures and statues have been staled by copy and description. 1863, W. W. Story, Roba di Roma, I i 7
3. (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
   Vi's penchant for puns had struck him as cute when he first met her, but it had staled somewhat over the years. 1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger
4. (alcoholic beverages, 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

Etymology 2

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.

noun

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. February 4 1890, 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
   The zigzag determines the order of the currents from [1] which occur on the stales of the ladder and their relation with the currents from [0] which occur on the rungs and ringles between them. 1971, Research Paper - Issues 141-155, page 7
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, Knights and Baronets, and under them, a train of Esquires and Gentlemen, reaching to the bottom. 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 small ladder, which he affixed with the cord to the form, placing his leg between the stales, and resting his body, sometimes at full length, when the breakers had fallen on the form. 1834, Joseph Adshead, A Circumstantial Narrative of the Wreck of the Rothsay, page 236
   The rental of the lands remained at these figures for many years, and the following extracts are examples of the payments made:— A.D. 1686, Utt, pᵈ Thomas Rassel for a load of lime delivered to Smalhith Chappell 01₤ 11s. 0d. Itt . for a quire of paper 00₤ 00s. 06d. Itt . for a ladder for the use of the Chappel 33 stales long , at 2ᵈ yᵉ stale 00₤ 05s. 6d. 1914, Archaeologia Cantiana - Volume 30, page 173
   Ash was used for stales (ladder rungs). 1998, Barney Edward Daley, Tobacco Parish: A Collection of South Windsor's Memories
   As a young man Mike Austen, a retired farmer now working as a guide at Brogdale, used to climb up a ladder with sixty 'stales', or rungs – eight inches between each of them – to pick the cherries in his father's orchard with a basket tied to either his waist or the ladder. 2014, Matthew Engel, Engel's England: Thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man
4. (botany, 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
   ...seeing th'arrowes stale without. c. 1611, Homer, translated by G. Chapman, Iliad, IV 173

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) 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

Etymology 3

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.

noun

1. (military, 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 horsemen, and draue the frenchemen backe, & then made returne to their beastes 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 come: for the other that had spoiled the marishes were returned with a great bootie. 1808, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, page 580
   You cannot take the queen without giving a stale, therefore you lose the game. 1818, William Stopford Kenny, Practical Chess Exercises, page 205
2. (chess, 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. (military, 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, military, 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

adj

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

verb

1. (chess, uncommon, transitive) 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. (chess, obsolete, intransitive) 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

Etymology 4

Noun from Middle English stale, from Anglo-Norman estal (“urine”), from Middle Dutch stal (“urine”). Cognate with Middle Low German stal (“horse urine; bowel movement”). Verb from Middle English stalen, from Old French estaler (“urinate”), related to Middle High German stallen (“to piss”).

noun

1. (livestock, obsolete) 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
   Or annoint thy selfe with the stale of a mule. 1583, B. Melbancke, Philotimus
   Mice and Weasels by their poysonous Stale infect the Trees so, that they produce Worms. 1698, J. Fryer, New Acct. E.-India & Persia, page 242
   Sheep, whose Dung and Stale is of most Virtue in the Nourishment of all Trees. 1733, W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farming, page 122

verb

1. (livestock, obsolete, intransitive) 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
   I wonder [the knight's son] doth not go on all four too, and hold up his Leg when he stales. 1663, T. Killigrew, Parson's Wedding, I iii
   Cattle-dung where fuel failed; Water where the mules had staled; And sackcloth for their raiment. 1903, Rudyard Kipling, Five Nations, section 150
   You stale like a mare And fart as you stale c. 1920, Aleister Crowley, Leigh Sublime
   A mile or two before we got to the meet he stopped at an inn, where he put our horses into the stable for twenty minutes, ‘to give them a chance to stale’. 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 35

Etymology 5

From Middle English stale (“bird used as a decoy”), probably from uncommon Anglo-Norman estale (“pigeon used to lure hawks”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic, probably *standaną (“to stand”). Compare Old English stælhran (“decoy reindeer”) and Northumbrian stællo (“catching fish”).

noun

1. (falconry, hunting, 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
   Her daughter Margerit was the stale to lure...them that otherwise flewe hyghe...and could not be gotten. 1579, J. Stubbs, Discouerie Gaping Gulf
   ...many of the Coffamen keeping beaytifull boyes, who ſerue as ſtales to procure them cuſtomers. 1615, George Sandys, A Relation of a Iourney begun An: Dom: 1610, I 66
   Six-pence or a shilling to put into the Box, for a stale to decoy in the rest of the Parish. 1670, J. Eachard, Grounds Contempt of Clergy, section 88
3. (crime, obsolete) 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
   Did I for this loose all my friends...to be made A stale to a common whore? 1611, T. Middleton et al., Roaring Girle
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
   Eurydice...meaning nothing lesse than to let her husband serue as a Stale, keeping the throne warme till another were growne old enough to sit in it. 1614, W. Raleigh, Hist. World, I iv iii §19 239
   A pretence of kindness is the universal stale to all base projects. 1711, J. Puckle, Club, section 20
6. (crime, obsolete) A prostitute of the lowest sort; any wanton woman.
   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
   ...detesting as he said the insatiable impudency of a prostitute Stale. c. 1641, Ralph Montagu, Acts & Monuments, section 265
7. (hunting, 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

1. (rare, obsolete, 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