stalest
adjective
1.
not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.
2.
musty; stagnant: stale air.
3.
having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite: a stale joke.
4.
having lost freshness, vigor, quick intelligence, initiative, or the like, as from overstrain, boredom, or surfeit: He had grown stale on the job and needed a long vacation.
5.
Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
6.
to make or become stale.
00:10
Stalest
is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To stalest
Collins
World English Dictionary
stale1 (steɪl) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | (esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long |
| 2. | (of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long |
| 3. | (of air) stagnant; foul |
| 4. | uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed: stale clichés |
| 5. | no longer new: stale news |
| 6. | lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety |
| 7. | banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written |
| 8. | law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time |
| —vb | |
| 9. | to make or become stale |
| [C13 (originally applied to liquor in the sense: well matured): probably via Norman French from Old French estale (unattested) motionless, of Frankish origin; related to | |
| 'stalely1 | |
| —adv | |
| 'staleness1 | |
| —n | |
| stale2 (steɪl) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | (intr) (of livestock) to urinate |
| —n | |
| 2. | the urine of horses or cattle |
| [C15: perhaps from Old French estaler to stand in one position; see | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
stale
c.1300, "freed from dregs or lees" (of ale, wine, etc.), i.e. "having stood long enough to clear," cognate with M.Du. stel "stale" (of beer), and probably ult. from P.Gmc. base *sta- "stand," the source of O.E. standan "to stand," Perhaps via O.Fr. estaler "halt," from Frankish *stal- "position" (see
stall (1)). The meaning "not fresh" is first recorded late 15c. Figurative sense (of immaterial things) is recorded from 1560s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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