stale
adjective
1. lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age
- stale bread
- the beer was stale
Similar word(s): addled, bad, spoiled, spoilt, cold, hard, flyblown, maggoty, moldy, mouldy, musty, rancid, rotten, corrupt, tainted, putrid, putrescent, old, unoriginal
2. lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new
- stale news
Similar word(s): unoriginal, cold, dusty
Sentences with stale as an adjective:
- a stale affidavit
- a stale demand
noun
1. (colloquial) Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh.
2. A long, thin handle, as of rakes, axes, etc.
3. (dialectical) The posts and rungs composing a ladder.
4. (botany, obsolete) The stem of a plant.
5. The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc.
6. (military, obsolete) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line.
7. (chess, uncommon) A stalemate; a stalemated game.
8. (military, obsolete) An ambush.
9. (obsolete) A band of armed men or hunters.
10. (Scotland, military, obsolete) The main force of an army.
11. (livestock, obsolete) Urine, especially used of horses and cattle.
12. (falconry, hunting, obsolete) A live bird to lure birds of prey or others of its kind into a trap.
13. (obsolete) Any lure, particularly in reference to people used as live bait.
14. (crime, obsolete) An accomplice of a thief or criminal acting as bait.
15. (obsolete) a partner whose beloved abandons or torments him in favor of another.
16. (obsolete) A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usu. sinister) designs; a stalking horse.
17. (hunting, obsolete) Any decoy, either stuffed or manufactured.