[f. STALE v.1 + -ING1.] The action of urinating; † concr. urine, esp. of horses or cattle.
c. 1420. Prose Life Alexander (1913), 68. Sum ware at so grete meschefe þat þay dranke þaire awen stalynge.
1601. Holland, Pliny, VIII. xlii. I. 222. Their [mares’] staling is no hinderance to their pace in running their carriere, as it doth the horse who must needs then stand still.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 311. A fountaine of water, which they say, sprang vp of the staling of Chederles horse.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 185. That the staling of them [cattle] may not waste in its course.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 327. Mix a small quantity of salt with the food when feeding on furze, particularly for horses, as it … will sometimes affect their staling, which the salt will counteract.
attrib. 1759. Brit. Chron., 14 Sept., 261. The prisoner … has for many years been noted for begging at the staling-place for horses [Ann. Reg. (1759), 117/1 staling places].
