[Of obscure history, but prob. ultimately f. the Teut. root *sta- to STAND. Cf. Flem. stel in the same sense, said of beer and urine (Kilian; still used in WFlem., see De Bo).]
† 1. Of malt liquor, mead, wine: That has stood long enough to clear; freed from dregs or lees; hence, old and strong. Obs.
c. 1300. K. Horn, 383 (Laud). Bi forn þe king abenche Red win to schenche And after mete stale Boþe win and ale.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 52. Notemuge to putte in ale, Whether it be moyste or stale.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lvii. (1495), 896. Yf meth is well sod and stale it is lykynge to the taste.
a. 1400. Stockh. Medical MS., in Anglia, XVIII. 310. Good reed wyn þat be stale.
1421. Cov. Leet Bk. (1907), 25. When hit [ale] is good and stale.
1483. Cath. Angl., 358/1. Sstale As Ale, defecatus.
a. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 367. And ye will gyve me a syppet Of your stale ale.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iii. (Arb.), 19. Where good stale ale is will drinke no water I trust.
1586. Cogan, Haven Health, ccxviii. 221. Good ale … must be … made of good corne, well sodden, stale and well purged.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 162, ¶ 1. I daily live in a very comfortable Affluence of Wine, Stale Beer, Hungary Water, Beef, Books, and Marrow-Bones.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 294. To turn Ale into stale Beer presently.
fig. 1709. O. Dykes, Eng. Prov. & Refl. (ed. 2), Pref. 16. Proverbs scatter’d through all the Works of the Learned, like Salt, to give them a Relish, and to make them keep stale.
2. That has lost its freshness; altered by keeping.
a. of food or drink.
Usually in disparaging sense; but when said of bread it is the ordinary opposite of new, without necessarily implying inferiority.
1530. Palsgr., 325/2. Stale as breed or drinke is, rassis. Stale as meate is that begynneth to savoure, viel.
c. 1550. Wyll of Deuill (c. 1825), C 2 b. New freshe blood to ouersprinkle their stale mete that it may seme … newly kylled.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 386. Gestes and fish … are euer stale within three dayes.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. iv. ii. That stole [read stale] old Mouse-eaten dry cheese, Nestor.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. v. To let out the Water when it began to grow stale. Ibid. (1727), Past. Dial. Richm. Hill, 53. To cry the Bread was stale, and mutter Complaints against the Royal Butter.
1759. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, 78. [A chicken will be] tender and green in the vent if stale.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 251. The egg becomes stale or addled.
1845. G. P. R. James, Arrah Neil, ii. I would as soon … eat stale cabbage.
1878. M. L. Holbrook, Hygiene Brain, 61. The bread should be stale.
1888. F. Hume, Mme. Midas, I. Prol. His companion collected the stale biscuits which had fallen out of the bag.
b. of urine, manure, straw, etc.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 83. Stale vrine.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 255. Where dung is made use of, it must be very stale and rotten.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. xi. An early public-house, haunted by unsavoury smells of musty hay and stale straw.
† c. of wounds. Obs.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 495. A very excellent remedy for the curing of wounds which are old and stale, and ful of putrifaction.
d. Agric.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), Gloss., Fallows-stale, ground that has been ploughed some time, and lies in fallow.
1764. Museum Rust., II. 306. Lime would do very little or no good on stale ploughed lands.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 590. So that the crop may be put in upon a stale furrow.
3. fig. Of an immaterial thing: That has lost its freshness, novelty or interest; hackneyed, worn out, out of date; effete. (Frequent in Shaks.)
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 95. Better is … be it new or stale, A harmelesse lie, than a harmefull true tale.
1579. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 60. Doist thou smyle to reade this stale and beggarlye stuffe.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. v. 55. A prouerbe neuer stale in thriftie minde. Ibid. (1602), Ham., I. ii. 133. How weary, stale, flat, and vnprofitable Seemes to me all the vses of this world?
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 16. A novelty that will quickly grow stale.
1716. Addison, Freeholder, No. 9, ¶ 11. The Parliament of Great Britain, against whom you bring a stale accusation which has been used by every minority in the memory of man.
1780. Mme. D’Arblay, Lett., June. I hardly know what to tell you that won’t be stale news.
1822. Lamb, Elia, I. Distant Corresp. A two-days-old newspaper. You resent the stale thing as an affront.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), I. iii. 100. The commonplaces in which Pope takes such infinite delight have become very stale for us.
1880. W. Bence Jones Macm. Mag., No. 246. 518/1. She thought her chances of marriage at home were grown rather stale.
1908. Outlook, 14 Nov., 651/1. When the memory of the last few weeks has grown stale.
b. Law. Of a claim or demand: That has been allowed to lie dormant for an unreasonable time.
1769. Blackstone, Comm., IV. xv. 211. The jury will rarely give credit to a stale complaint.
1884. Law Rep., 26 Chanc. Div. 119. The claims of the Plaintiffs had been barred … by the rules against stale claims. Ibid., 27 Chanc. Div. 530. Obligations … which he would never have incurred if he had had any reason to believe that this stale claim would be prosecuted.
† 4. Of persons: Past the prime of life; having lost the vigor or attractiveness of youth. Of a bachelor or spinster: Past the fitting season for marriage. Obs.
c. 1580. Jefferie, Bugbears, I. ii. 108, in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., XCVIII. 309. Rosimunda … hathe an vncle a stale batcheler.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 19/1. Virgo exoleta,… an old stale maide past mariage.
1589. Nashe, Martin Marprelate, Wks. (Grosart), I. 108. Therein they are like to a stale Curtizan.
1598. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 99. Somtimes their maids are very stale before they be maried: for their parents alwaies keep them till they can sel them.
1609. Rowlands, Dr. Merrie-man, 10. An old stale Widdower, quite past the best.
a. 1643. Cartwright, Siedge, I. iv. I’m for your tender Maidenheads: I would not Venture my self with a stale Virgin, or A season’d Widow for a Kingdom.
1711. Ramsay, On Maggy Johnstoun, xiv. She was … Right free of care, or toil, or strife, Till she was stale.
1742. Short, Dropsy, in Phil. Trans., XLII. 226. In barren Women, and stale Maids, Tapping should be very cautiously undertaken.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., l. (1760), II. 136. I talked in raptures to the stale governante.
1858. Hogg, Life Shelley, I. 176. I found only two stale women; a stale middle-aged woman who acted as waiter and chambermaid, and an older and still staler woman, the landlady.
† b. of attributes. Obs.
1612. Two Noble K., V. i. 91. That may’st … induce Stale gravitie to daunce.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 5 May (1815), 63. The rancour of stale maidenhood.
5. Sport. Of an athlete, a racing animal, etc.: Out of condition through over-severe training or exertion too long continued. Phr. to go stale.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, II. I. vi. § 7. 335. By this means the [horse’s] legs are not made more stale than necessary.
1868. Field, 4 July, 15/1. In the third heat [rowing], Mair of Magdalen, easily beat Willan of Exeter, who seemed stale and gone off.
1885. Truth, 28 May, 853/2. Dame Agnes will probably be stale after her exertions in the Derby.
1889. D. C. Murray, Dangerous Catspaw, 38. William, though a little stale, turned out to be a past master in the art.
transf. 1894. Emily James Smith Nation (N. Y.), 22 March, 209/1. It sometimes happens that, in the strain of this part of the race [for Cambridge honours], the boy outgrows the brilliant precocity which put him ahead of his rivals, and emerges merely an ordinary young man with no further possibilities of use. This disaster is technically known as ‘going stale.’
1903. W. T. Stead, in Rev. of Rev. May, 574/2 (Cent. Suppl.). In 1892, the Unionist administration having gone stale, it was turned out.
b. Of a bird: See quot.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 301/1. (Decoys) Stale birds, fowl that have frequently visited the decoy, but have lost interest in the actions of the dog.
6. Comb.
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T., s.v., A person is said to be *stale drunk when they feel languid after a night’s debauch.
1641. Milton, Animadv., Wks. 1851, III. 234. O *stale-growne piety! O Gospell rated as cheap as thy Master, at thirtypence.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 159. Lay all bare So that my unpolluted fame should be With vilest gossips a *stale mouthèd story.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., Wks. (Grosart), IV. 92. Often reiterating hys *stale-worne note.
