4. Worn out by use or familiarity; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; trite; common. Swift.
Wit itself, if stale is less pleasing.
Grew.
How weary, stale flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Shak. Stale affidavit (Law),
an affidavit held above a year. Craig. — Stale demand (Law), a claim or
demand which has not been pressed or demanded for a long time.
Stale
(Stale), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Staled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Staling.] To make vapid or tasteless; to
destroy the life, beauty, or use of; to wear out.
Age can not wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety.
Shak. Stale
(Stale), v. i. [Akin to D. & G. stallen, Dan. stalle, Sw. stalla, and E. stall a stable. 163. See
Stall, n., and cf. Stale, a.] To make water; to discharge urine; — said especially of horses and cattle.
Hudibras.
Stale
(Stale), n. [See Stale, a. & v. i.]
1. That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use. [Obs.]
2. A prostitute. [Obs.] Shak.
3. Urine, esp. that of beasts. "Stale of horses." Shak.
Stale
(Stale), n. [Cf. OF. estal place, position, abode, market, F. étal a butcher's stall, OHG. stal station,
place, stable, G. stall (see Stall, n.); or from OE. stale theft, AS. stalu (see Steal, v. t.)]
1. Something set, or offered to view, as an allurement to draw others to any place or purpose; a decoy; a
stool pigeon. [Obs.]
Still, as he went, he crafty stales did lay.
Spenser. 2. A stalking-horse. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
3. (Chess) A stalemate. [Obs.] Bacon.
4. A laughingstock; a dupe. [Obs.] Shak.