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stale

Pronunciation: /staːl/

“stale” is a Middle English word. Its 15 meanings in English:

noun

  1. urine
  2. theft; the act of stealing
  3. stealth (used in the phrase bi stale)
  4. An vertical post of a ladder.
  5. A rung in a ladder; tier.
  6. The posts and rungs composing a ladder.
  7. A long, thin handle (of rakes, axes, etc.)
  8. A shoot of a plant.
  9. a fixed position, particularly a soldier's in a battle-line
  10. A stalemate; a stalemated game.
  11. an ambush
  12. a band of armed men or hunters
  13. A live bird to lure birds of prey or others of its kind into a trap

adjective

  1. clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong
  2. Stalemated in chess.

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman estal (“urine”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.