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Mean vs Stale - What's the difference?

mean | stale | Related terms |

Mean is a related term of stale.


As an adjective mean

is mid, central.

As a noun mean

is middle.

As an adverb stale is

always, all the time.

mean

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Verb

  • To intend.
  • # (label) To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.
  • # (label) To have intentions of a given kind.
  • #
  • To convey meaning.
  • # (label) To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= A better waterworks , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • # (label) Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.
  • #*
  • A term should be included if it's likely that someone would run across it and want to know what it means'. This in turn leads to the somewhat more formal guideline of including a term if it is '''attested''' and ' idiomatic .
  • (label) To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
  • (label) To result in; to bring about.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 19, author=Paul fletcher, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Blackpool 1-2 West Ham , passage=It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • (label) To be important (to).
  • Synonyms
    * (convey, signify, indicate ): convey, indicate, signify * (want or intend to convey ): imply, mean to say * (intend; plan on doing ): intend * (have conviction in what one says ): be serious * (have intentions of a some kind ): * (result in; bring about ): bring about, cause, lead to, result in

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) ((etyl) (m)).

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (obsolete) Common; general.
  • Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
  • Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
  • Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
  • a mean motive
  • * Dryden
  • Can you imagine I so mean could prove, / To save my life by changing of my love?
  • Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
  • * J. Philips
  • The Roman legions and great Caesar found / Our fathers no mean foes.
  • Niggardly; penurious; miserly; stingy.
  • Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating; small.
  • Selfish; acting without consideration of others; unkind.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.}}
  • Causing or intending to cause intentional harm; bearing ill will towards another; cruel; malicious.
  • Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging.
  • Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.
  • (informal, often, childish) Difficult, tricky.
  • Synonyms
    * (causing or intending to cause intentional harm ): cruel, malicious, nasty, spiteful * See also * (acting without consideration of others ): selfish, unkind, vile, ignoble * (powerful ): damaging, fierce, harsh, strong * (accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with''): deft, skilful (''UK''), skillful (''US ), top-notch * (inferior''): cheap, grotty (slang), inferior, low-quality, naff (''UK slang ), rough and ready, shoddy, tacky (informal)
    Derived terms
    * meandom * meanie * meanness * meany

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m) ((etyl) (m)), . Cognate with (m).

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Having the mean (see noun below ) as its value.
  • (obsolete) Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
  • *, II.ii.2:
  • I have declared in the causes what harm costiveness hath done in procuring this disease; if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is […].
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • being of middle age and a mean stature
  • * Milton
  • according to the fittest style of lofty, mean , or lowly
    Derived terms
    * mean distance * mean time * mean solar time * mean sun

    Noun

    (wikipedia mean) (en noun)
  • * 1603 , John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , II.5:
  • To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.
  • * Coleridge
  • You may be able, by this mean , to review your own scientific acquirements.
  • * Sir W. Hamilton
  • Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean .
  • * 2011 , "Rival visions", The Economist , 14 Apr 2011:
  • Mr Obama produced an only slightly less ambitious goal for deficit reduction than the House Republicans, albeit working from a more forgiving baseline: $4 trillion over 12 years compared to $4.4 trillion over 10 years. But the means by which he would achieve it are very different.
  • (obsolete, in the singular) An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
  • * a.'' 1563 , Thomas Harding, "To the Reader", in ''The Works of John Jewel (1845 ed.)
  • Verily in this treatise this hath been mine only purpose; and the mean to bring the same to effect hath been such as whereby I studied to profit wholesomely, not to please delicately.
  • * 1606 , The Trials of Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Rob. Keyes, Thomas Bates, and Sir Everard Digby, at Westminster, for High Treason, being Conspirators in the Gunpowder-Plot
  • That it was lawful and meritorious to kill and destroy the king, and all the said hereticks. — The mean to effect it, they concluded to be, that, 1. The king, the queen, the prince, the lords spiritual and temporal, the knights and burgoses of the parliament, should be blown up with powder. 2. That the whole royal issue male should be destroyed. S. That they would lake into their custody Elizabeth and Mary the king's daughters, and proclaim the lady Elizabeth queen. 4. That they should feign a Proclamation in the name of Elizabeth, in which no mention should be made of alteration of religion, nor that they were parties to the treason, until they had raised power to perform the same; and then to proclaim, all grievances in the kingdom should be reformed.
  • * a.'' 1623 ,
  • Apply desperate physic: / We must not now use balsamum, but fire, / The smarting cupping-glass, for that's the mean / To purge infected blood, such blood as hers.
  • Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
  • *
  • *
  • * 1875 , William Smith and Samuel Cheetham, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities'', , volume 1, page 10, s.v. ''Accentus Ecclesiasticus ,
  • It presents a sort of mean between speech and song, continually inclining towards the latter, never altogether leaving its hold on the former; it is speech, though always attuned speech, in passages of average interest and importance; it is song, though always distinct and articulate song, in passages demanding more fervid utterance.
  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 147:
  • Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane , and Treble.
  • (statistics) The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms; the arithmetic mean.
  • (mathematics) Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
  • * 1997 , Angus Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy , ] World Bank Publications, ISBN 9780801852541, [http://books.google.com/books?id=5Lp_p6bLD2IC&pg=PA51&dq=mean page 51:
  • Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey.
  • * 2002 , Clifford A. Pickover, The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521016780, page 246:
  • Luckily, even though the arithmetic mean' is unusable, both the harmonic and geometric ' means settle to precise values as the amount of data increases.
  • * 2003 , P. S. Bullen, Handbook of Means and Their Inequalities , Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-1522-9, page 251:
  • The generalized power means' include power '''means''', certain Gini '''means''', in particular the counter-harmonic ' means .
  • (mathematics) Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2'' and ''3'' in ''1:2=3:6 .
  • * 1825 , John Farrar, translator, An Elementary Treatise on Arithmetic by Silvestre François Lacroix, third edition, page 102,
  • ...if four numbers be in proportion, the product of the first and last, or of the two extremes, is equal to the product of the second and third, or of the two means .
  • * 1999 , Dawn B. Sova, How to Solve Word Problems in Geometry , McGraw-Hill, ISBN 007134652X, page 85,
  • Using the means'-extremes property of proportions, you know that the product of the extremes equals the product of the '''means'''. The ratio ''t''/4 = 5/2 can be rewritten as ''t'':4 = 5:2, in which the extremes are ''t'' and 2, and the ' means are 4 and 5.
  • * 2007 , Carolyn C. Wheater, Homework Helpers: Geometry , Career Press, ISBN 1564147215, page 99,
  • In \frac{18}{27}=\frac23, the product of the means is 2\cdot27, and the product of the extremes is 18\cdot3. Both products are 54.
    Hypernyms
    * (statistics) measure of central tendency, measure of location, sample statistic
    Coordinate terms
    * (statistics) median, mode
    See also
    * (statistics) spread, range
    Derived terms
    * arithmetic mean * * Chisini mean * contraharmonic mean * generalised f -mean * generalized f -mean * geometric mean * harmonic mean * Heronian mean * * logarithmic mean * power mean * quadratic mean * quasi-arithmetic mean * root mean square

    Etymology 4

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) ; see (l).

    Verb

  • To complain, lament.
  • To pity; to comfort.
  • * 1485 , Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur , Book XII:
  • Anone he meaned hym, and wolde have had hym home unto his ermytage.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l), (l), (l), (l), (l), (l), (l), (l) English irregular verbs English terms with multiple etymologies 1000 English basic words ----

    stale

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) stalu, from (etyl) Oxford English Dictionary . "Stale, n. 1".

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (crime, obsolete) Theft; the act of stealing.
  • * 1340 , Ayenbite 9:
  • Ine þise heste is vorbode roberie]], [[theft, þiefþe, stale , and gavel.
  • (crime, obsolete) Stealth, used in the phrase by stale .
  • * Sawles Warde'' in ''Cott. Hom. , 249:
  • Hire wune is to cumen bi stale ...hwen me least cweneð.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), from (etyl) stalu, from (etyl) , which became English stele and stela.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A long, thin handle, as of rakes, axes, etc.
  • * 12th century , Sidonius Glosses'' in ''Anecd. Oxon. , I v 59 22:
  • Ansae et ansulae alicuius rei sunt illa eminentia in illa re per quam capi possit .i. ‘stale ’.
  • * Langland, Piers Plowman (Vesp. MS), C xxii 279:
  • And lerede men a ladel bygge with a long stale .
  • * 1742 , W. Ellis, London & Country Brewer 4th ed., I 61:
  • In Case your Cask is a Butt,...have ready boiling...Water, which put in, and, with a long Stale and a little Birch fastened to its End, scrub the Bottom.
  • * 1890 February 4, Manchester Guardian , 12 3:
  • You came to me with the axe head in one hand and the stale in the other.
  • (dialectical) The posts and rungs composing a ladder.
  • * 13th century , Ancrene Riwle , 160:
  • Scheome. and pine...beoð þe two leddre]] stalen'. þet beoð upriht to þe heouene. and bitweonen þeos ' stalen beoð þe tindes i-vestned of alle gode þeauwes. bi hwuche me of [[heaven, heouene.
  • * Shoreham Poems , I 49:
  • Þis]] ilke laddre is charite, [[the, Þe stales gode þeawis.
  • * 1887 , W. D. Parish & al., Kentish Dial.
  • Stales , the staves, or risings of a ladder, or the staves of a rack in a stable.
  • (botany, obsolete) The stem of a plant.
  • The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc.
  • * 1553 , J. Brende translating Q. Curtius Rufus, Hist. , IX
  • The Surgians]] cut of the stale of that shaft in suche wise, that they moued not the heade that was [[within, wythin the fleshe.
  • * G. Chapman translating Homer, Iliad , IV 173:
  • ...seeing th'arrowes stale without.
    Alternative forms
    * stele (botanical, prefered ) * steal, stele (dialectical ) * steel, stail (arhaic )
    Synonyms
    * handle (grip of tools, generally ) * haft (handle of axes ) * shaft (body of arrows, spears, etc. ) * stem (plants )

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To make a ladder by joining rungs ("stales") between the posts.
  • * 1492 in Archæol. Cant. , XVI 304:
  • For stalyng of the ladders of the Churche xx]] [[old penny, d.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) stail, from (etyl) . Related to (stall) and (stand).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (military, obsolete) A fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line.
  • * in C. L. Kingsford, Chrons. London (1905), 123:
  • And at pavelen...þe]] Erle of Dorzet helde is stale , and he [[took, toke prisoners.
  • * 1485 , , Le Morte d'Arthur , V xi 179
  • And syr]] Florence with his C knyghtes [[always, alwey kepte the stale and foughte manly.
  • (chess, uncommon) A stalemate; a stalemated game.
  • * 1423 , Kingis Quair , CLXIX:
  • ‘Off mate?’ quod sche...‘thou has fundin stale This mony day’.
  • * 1625 , , Essays , 65
  • They stand at a stay; Like a Stale at Chesse, where it is no Mate, but yet the Game cannot stirre.
  • (military, obsolete) An ambush.
  • * Wyntoun Cron. , IX viii 811:
  • And he in stale howyd al stil.
  • * 1513 , G. Douglas translating Virgil, Æneid , XI x 96:
  • It is a stelling place and sovir harbry, Quhar ost in staill or embuschment may ly.
  • * 1577 , R. Holinshed, Chron. , II 1479 2:
  • The erle]] of Essex...with C. speares was layde in a stale , if the Frenchmen had come [[nearer, neerer.
  • (obsolete) A band of armed men or hunters.
  • * in N. H. Nicolas, Hist. Royal Navy (1847), II 491:
  • [Every time that it shall be ordered..that armed men..shall land on the enemy's coast to seek victuals... then there shall be ordained a sufficient ‘stale ’ of armed men and archers who shall wait together on the land until the ‘forreiours’ return to them].
  • * 14th century , Morte Arthur , 1355:
  • [Gawayne] sterttes owtte to hys stede, and with his stale wendes.
  • * J. Bellenden translating H. Boece, Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. , XII xvi 184:
  • The staill past]] throw the wod with sic noyis...yat all the bestis wer rasit fra thair [[dens, dennys.
  • * 1577 , R. Holinshed, Hist. Scotl.'', 471 2 in ''Chron. , I:
  • The Lard of Drunlanrig lying al]] thys while in ambush...forbare to breake out to gyue anye charge vppon his enimies, doubting least the Earle of Lennox hadde kept a stale [[behind, behynde.
  • (Scottish, military, obsolete) The main force of an army.
  • * 1532 in 1836, State Papers Henry VIII , IV 626:
  • Neveryeles I knaw asweill by Englisemen as Scottishmen that their stale was no les then thre thowsand men.
    Derived terms
    (der top) * hold one's stale * in stale * flying stale (der bottom)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (chess, obsolete) At a standstill; stalemated.
  • * Ashmolean MS 344, 21:
  • Then drawith he & is stale .

    Verb

  • (chess, uncommon, transitive) To stalemate.
  • * Ashmole MS 344, 7:
  • He shall stale þe black kyng in the pointe þer the crosse standith.
  • * 1903 , H. J. R. Murray, Brit. Chess. Mag. , 283:
  • In China, however, a player who stales his opponent's King, wins the game.
  • (chess, obsolete, intransitive) To be stalemated.
  • * 1597 , A. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae , 202:
  • For vnder]] cuire I got sik check, that I micht neither muife nor neck, bot ather stale or [[mate, mait.

    Etymology 4

    Uncertain. Perhaps (etyl) .Oxford English Dictionary . "Stale, n. 5" and "v. 1".

    Noun

    (-)
  • (livestock, obsolete) Urine, especially used of horses and cattle.
  • * 14th c. , Stockh. Medical MS. in Anglia XVIII.299:
  • In werd ben men & womenþat þer stale mown not holde.
  • * 1535 , (Miles Coverdale) translating the (Bible), "Isaiah", XXXVI.100:
  • That they be not compelled to eate their owne donge, and drinke their owne stale with you?
  • * 1548 , Robert Record, Vrinal of Physick , XI.89:
  • The stale of Camel]]s and Goatsis good for them that have the [[dropsy, dropsie.
  • * 1583 , B. Melbancke, Philotimus :
  • Or annoint thy selfe with the stale of a mule.
  • * , I.48:
  • Those of Crotta'' being hardly besieged by ''Metellus , were reduced to so hard a pinch, and strait necessitie of all manner of other beverage, that they were forced to drinke the stale or urine of their horses.
  • * (William Shakespeare), Antony & Cleopatra , I.iv.62:
  • Thou did'st drinke The stale of Horses.
  • * 1698 , J. Fryer, New Acct. E.-India & Persia , p.242:
  • Mice and Weasels by their poysonous Stale infect the Trees so, that they produce Worms.
  • * 1733 , W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farming , p.122:
  • Sheep, whose Dung and Stale is of most Virtue in the Nourishment of all Trees.
    Derived terms
    (der top) * to have a rod in stale * blood-stale * stale-foul (der bottom)

    Verb

    (stal)
  • (livestock, obsolete, intransitive) To urinate, especially used of horses and cattle.
  • * 15th century , Lawis Gild'', X in ''Ancient Laws and Customs of the Burghs of Scotland , 68:
  • Gif ony stal in the yet of the gilde...he sall]] gif iiij[[old penny, d. to the mendis.
  • * 1530 , , L'éclaircissement de la langue française , 732 1:
  • Tary a whyle, your hors wyll staale .
  • * 1631 , , Bartholmew Fayre I iv 64:
  • Why a pox o' your boxe, once againe: let your little wife stale in it, and she will.
  • * 1663 , T. Killigrew, Parson's Wedding , I iii:
  • I wonder [the knight's son] doth not go on all four too, and hold up his Leg when he stales .
  • * 1903 , , Five Nations , 150:
  • Cattle-dung where fuel failed; Water where the mules had staled ; And sackcloth for their raiment.
  • * Sublime":
  • You stale' like a mare
    And fart as you '
    stale
  • * 1928 , (Siegfried Sassoon), Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man , Penguin 2013, page 35:
  • A mile or two before we got to the meet he stopped at an inn, where he put our horses into the stable for twenty minutes, ‘to give them a chance to stale ’.
    Usage notes
    Occasionally transitive, when in reference to horses or men pissing blood.

    Etymology 5

    From (etyl) of uncertain etymology, but probably originally from (etyl) '' ("to stand"): compare Flemish ''stel'' in the same sense for beer and urine.''Oxford English Dictionary . "Stale, adj. 1" & "n. 7".

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (alcohol, obsolete) Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
  • * K. Horn (Laud), 383:
  • Bi]] forn [[wine, win and ale.
  • * , Sir Thopas , 52:
  • Notemuge]] to putte in ale, Whether it be [[moist, moyste or stale
  • No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
  • * 1530 , , L'éclaircissement de la langue française , 325 2:
  • Stale' as breed or drinke is, ''rassis''. '''Stale as meate is that begynneth to savoure, ''viel .
  • * Wyll of Deuill , C 2 b:
  • New freshe blood to ouersprinkle their stale mete]] that it may [[seem, seme...newly kylled.
  • No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; cliche, hackneyed, dated.
  • * 1562 , in J. Heywood, Proverbs & Epigrams (1867), 95:
  • Better is...be it new or stale , A harmelesse lie, than a harmefull true tale.
  • * 1579 , in G. Harvey, letter book, 60:
  • Doist thou smyle to reade this stale and beggarlye stuffe.
  • * 1604 , , I ii 133:
  • How wary, stale , flat, and vnprofitable Seeme to me all the vses of this world?
  • * 1822 March, , London Magazine , 284 1:
  • A two-days-old newspaper. You resent the stale thing as an affront.
  • No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime.
  • * J. Jeffere, Bugbears , I ii 108:
  • Rosimunda...hathe an vncle a stale batcheler.
  • * 1742 , T. Short, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society , 42 226:
  • In barren Women, and stale Maids, Tapping should be very cautiously undertaken.
  • (agriculture, obsolete) Fallow, in reference to land.
  • * 1764 , Museum Rusticum , II 306:
  • Lime would do very little or no good on stale ploughed lands.
  • (legal) Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions.
  • a stale affidavit
    a stale demand
  • * 1769 , , Common Laws of England , IV xv 211:
  • The jury will rarely give credit to a stale complaint.
  • Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition.
  • * 1856 , "Stonehenge", Manual of British Rural Sports , II i vi §7 335:
  • By this means the [horse's] legs are not made more stale than necessary.
  • * 1885 May 28, Truth , 853 2:
  • Dame Agnes will probably be stale after her exertions in the Derby.
  • (finance) Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks.
  • * 1901 , Business Terms & Phrases second edition, 199:
  • Stale cheque,...a cheque which has remained unpaid for some considerable time.
    Usage notes
    In the third sense regarding food, usually (but not always) pejorative and synonymous with gone bad and turned. In reference to mead, wine, and bread, it can describe an acceptable or desired state (see : crouton). In modern English, however, "stale beer" has been light struck, flat, or oxidized and is to be avoided.
    Synonyms
    * see also
    Antonyms
    * fresh
    Derived terms
    (der top) * go stale * stale-dated * stale drunk * stale-grown * stale-mouthed * stale-smelling * stale-worn (der bottom)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (colloquial) Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh.
  • * 1874 , , Far from the Madding Crowd , II iii 39:
  • I went to Riggs's batty-cake shop, and asked 'em for a penneth of the cheapest and nicest stales , that were all but blue-mouldy, but not quite.
  • * 1937 , , Road to Wigan Pier , I i 15:
  • Frayed-looking sweet-cakes...bought as ‘stales ’ from the baker.

    Verb

  • (of alcohol, obsolete, transitive) To make stale; to age in order to clear and strengthen (a drink, especially beer).
  • * Promp. Parv. , 472 1:
  • Stalyn , or make stale drynke, defeco .
  • * 1826 , Art of Brewing , second edition, 106:
  • A stock of old porter should be kept, sufficient for staling the consumption of twelve months.
  • To make stale; to cause to go out of fashion or currency; to diminish the novelty or interest of, particularly by excessive exposure or consumption.
  • * 1601 , , Fountaine of Self-love , 36:
  • Ile goe tell all the Argument of his Play aforehand, and so stale his Inuention to the Auditory before it come foorth.
  • * 1601 , Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humor , I iv:
  • Not content To stale himselfe in all societies, He makes my house as common as a Mart.
  • * , Antony & Cleopatra , II ii 241:
  • Age cannot wither her, nor custome stale Her infinite variety.
  • * 1863 , W. W. Story, Roba di Roma , I i 7:
  • Pictures and statues have been staled by copy and description.
  • To become stale; to grow odious from excessive exposure or consumption.
  • * 1717 , E. Erskine, Serm. in Wks. , 50 1:
  • They have got so much of Christ as to be staled of his company.
  • * 1893 , "Q", Delectable Duchy , 325:
  • Philanthropy was beginning to stale .
  • (alcohol) To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age.
  • * 1742 , W. Ellis, London & Country Brewer , 4th ed., I 64:
  • The Drink from that Time flattens and stales .
    Derived terms
    * antistaling

    Etymology 6

    Probably from uncommon (etyl) . Compare Old English ("catching fish").Oxford English Dictionary . "Stale, n. 3" & "v. 5".

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (falconry, hunting, obsolete) A live bird to lure birds of prey or others of its kind into a trap.
  • * Promp. Parv. , 472 1:
  • Stale , of fowlynge or byrdys takynge, stacionaria .
  • * 1579 , , Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans , "Sylla", 515:
  • Like vnto the fowlers, that by their stales draw other birdes into their nets.
  • * 1608 , R. Tofte translating , Satyres , IV 56:
  • A wife thats more then faire is like a stale , Or chanting whistle which brings birds to thrall.
  • (obsolete) Any lure, particularly in reference to people used as live bait.
  • * ", Certayne Bokes :
  • She ran in all the hast]]
    Vnbrased and vnlast...
    It was a stale to take
    the [[devil, deuyll in a brake.
  • * 1577 , , Chronicles , "The Historie of England, from the Time that It Was First Inhabited, Vntill the Time that It Was Last Conquered", 79 2:
  • The Britaynes]] woulde oftentimes...lay their Cattell...in places conueniente, to bee as a stale to the [[Romans, Romaynes, and when the Romaynes shoulde make to them to fetche the same away,...they would fall vpon them.
  • * 1579 , J. Stubbs, Discouerie Gaping Gulf
  • Her daughter Margerit was the stale to lure...them that otherwise flewe hyghe...and could not be gotten.
  • * 1615 , , A Relation of a Iourney begun An: Dom: 1610 , I 66:
  • ...many of the Coffamen keeping beaytifull boyes, who ?erue as ?tales to procure them cu?tomers.
  • * 1670 , J. Eachard, Grounds Contempt of Clergy , 88:
  • Six-pence or a shilling to put into the Box, for a stale to decoy in the rest of the Parish.
  • (crime, obsolete) An accomplice of a thief or criminal acting as bait.
  • * 1526 , W. Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection , III:
  • Their mynisters, be false bretherne]] or false sustern, stales of the [[devil, deuyll.
  • * 1633 , S. Marmion, Fine Compan. , III iv:
  • This is Captain Whibble, the Towne stale , For all cheating imployments.
  • (obsolete) a partner whose beloved abandons or torments him in favor of another.
  • * 1578 , J. Lyly, Euphues , 33:
  • I perceiue Lucilla (sayd he) that I was made thy stale , and Philautus thy laughinge stocke.
  • * 1588 , T. Hughes, Misfortunes Arthur , I ii 3:
  • Was I then chose and wedded for his stale ?
  • * 1611 , T. Middleton & al., Roaring Girle :
  • Did I for this loose all my friends...to be made A stale to a common whore?
  • * , Comedy of Errors , II i 100:
  • But, too vnruly Deere, he breakes the pale And feedes from home; poore I am but his stale .
  • * J. Fletcher & al. Little French Lawyer , III iv:
  • This comes of rutting: Are we made stales to one another?
  • (obsolete) A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usu. sinister) designs; a stalking horse.
  • * 1580 , E. Grindal in 1710, J. Strype, Hist. E. Grindal , 252:
  • That of the two nominated, one should be an unfit Man, and as it were a Stale , to bring the Office to the other.
  • * 1595 , Part 3, III iii 260:
  • Had he none else to make a stale but me?
  • * 1614 , W. Raleigh, Hist. World , I iv iii §19 239:
  • Eurydice...meaning nothing lesse than to let her husband serue as a Stale , keeping the throne warme till another were growne old enough to sit in it.
  • * 1711 , J. Puckle, Club 20:
  • A pretence of kindness is the universal stale to all base projects.
  • (crime, obsolete) A prostitute of the lowest sort; any wanton woman.
  • * 1600 , , II ii 23:
  • Spare not to tell him, that he hath wronged his honor in marrying the renowned Claudio...to a contaminated stale .
  • * 1606 , S. Daniel, Queenes Arcadia , II i:
  • But to be leaft for such a one as she, The stale of all, what will folke thinke of me?
  • * , Acts & Monuments , 265:
  • ...detesting as he said the insatiable impudency of a prostitute Stale .
  • (hunting, obsolete) Any decoy, either stuffed or manufactured.
  • * 1681 , J. Flavell, Method of Grace , XXXV 588:
  • 'Tis the living bird that makes the best stale to draw others into the net.
  • * 1888 , G. M. Fenn, Dick o' the Fens , 53:
  • If my live birds aren't all drownded and my stales spoiled.

    Verb

  • (rare, obsolete, transitive) To serve as a decoy, to lure.
  • * 1557 , Tottel's Misc. , 198:
  • The eye...Doth serue to stale her here and there where she doth come and go.

    Anagrams

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    References

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