Of food or drink: ripe, mature, aged; (also) stale.

That has lost its freshness, stale-smelling, musty. Of bread, corn, meat, etc.: Smelling of mould or damp.

That has lost its freshness; altered by keeping. of food or drink.

Kept for too long.

Of meat, game, etc.: that has been hung for too long.

Of cheese, etc.: Full of maggots.

Of a taste or smell (esp. of food or drink): stale, sour, contaminated, rancid; cf. sense A. 1g(b). Recorded earliest in off-flavour, n.