stale¹ /stāl/

1. No longer fresh
2. Past the best
3. Out of condition by over-training or overstudy
4. Impaired by lapse of time
5. Tainted
6. Vapid or tasteless from age
7. (of liquor) old, clear, and strong (obsolete)

To make or become stale, over-familiar, or insipid

staleˈly adverb

staleˈness noun

stale² /stāl/

Urine, now esp of horses

To urinate

stale³ /stāl/

1. A decoy bird (dialect)
2. A thief's accomplice, acting as a decoy (obsolete)
3. A lure
4. A prostitute employed as a decoy by thieves, or generally (Shakespeare)
5. A stalking-horse, cover to a real purpose (Shakespeare)
6. A pretext
7. A lover made a butt of by or for one preferred

stale⁴ /stāl/ (dialect)

1. A handle, shaft
2. A stalk

stale⁵ /stāl/

Stalemate

staleˈmate noun

1. In chess, a situation where a player not actually in check has no possible legal move, resulting in a draw
2. An inglorious deadlock

transitive verb

To subject to a stalemate

• deadstock
• deadstocks
• deadstroke
• dead thraw
• dead to the world
• dead tree edition
• dead tree editions
• dead-wall
• dead-walls
• dead-water
• dead-weight
• dead white European male
• dead white European males
• dead-wind
• dead wood
• dead-wood
• dead-work
• deaf
• deaf aid
• deaf aids
• deaf alphabet
• deaf-and-dumb alphabet
• deaf-and-dumb language
• deaf as a post
• deafen