staleness

stale ¹  (stl)

adj. stal·er, stal·est

1. Having lost freshness, effervescence, or palatability: stale bread; stale air.

2. Lacking originality or spontaneity: a stale joke.

3. Impaired in efficacy, vigor, or spirit, as from inactivity or boredom.

4. Law Having lost effectiveness or force through lack of exercise or action.

tr. & intr.v. staled, stal·ing, stales

To make or become stale.

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[Middle English, settled, clear (used of beer or wine), probably from Old French estale, slack, settled, clear, from estaler, to come to a standstill, halt, from estal, standing place, stand, of Germanic origin; see stel- in Indo-European roots.]

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stalely adv.

staleness n.

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stale ²  (stl)

intr.v. staled, stal·ing, stales

To urinate. Used especially of horses and camels.

n.

The urine of certain animals, especially horses and camels.

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[Middle English stalen, possibly of Low German origin; akin to Middle Low German stallen.]

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Staleness 

See Also: TIMELINESS/UNTIMELINESS

1. As trite as the lyrics to a fifties hit —Hilma Wolitzer

   In her novel, In the Palomar Arms, Wolitzer compares the triteness of old song lyrics to what happens to the words spoken by someone once loved passionately.

2. Felt about as fresh as an old piece of chewing gum —Mike Fredman
3. Flat and cold as the muffins of this morning’s breakfast —Henry James

   In James’ play, Pyramus and Thisbe, this describes personality traits grown stale with overuse and familiarity.

4. Flat as last night’s beer —Louis Untermeyer
5. Stale as an old cigar —Wilfrid Sheed
6. Stale as yesterday’s bread —Arthur A. Cohen
7. (But it was all unmeaningful to us, and all the proverbs seemed stiff and) stale, like dusty labels on neglected antiquities —G. K. Chesterton
8. Stale, like the butt of a dead cigar —Rudyard Kipling
9. Tired as a much-told joke —Anon

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	staleness - unoriginality as a result of being dull and hackneyed triteness unoriginality - uncreativeness due to a lack of originality camp - something that is considered amusing not because of its originality but because of its unoriginality; "the living room was pure camp"
	2.	staleness - having lost purity and freshness as a consequence of aging oldness - the opposite of youngness moldiness, mustiness, must - the quality of smelling or tasting old or stale or mouldy freshness - the property of being pure and fresh (as if newly made); not stale or deteriorated; "she loved the freshness of newly baked bread"; "the freshness of the air revived him"

Translations

staleness [ˈsteɪlnɪs] N

1. (= lack of freshness) [of cheese, butter, sweat, cigarette smoke] → lo rancio; [of air] → lo viciado; [biscuit, beer] → lo pasado; [of cake] → sequedad f, lo seco; [of bread] → lo correoso; (= hardness) → dureza f

2. (fig) [of news, joke] → lo viejo; [of person, relationship] → estancamiento m, anquilosamiento m

staleness

n

(lit, of beer, water etc) → Schalheit f, → Abgestandenheit f; (of bread, biscuit) → Altbackenheit f; (of taste, smell) → Muffigkeit f; the staleness of the air made them sleepy → die verbrauchte Luft machte sie schläfrig

(fig, of joke) → Abgedroschenheit f; the staleness of the news → die veraltete Nachricht; he practised to the point of staleness → er übte, bis er langsam alles nur noch routinemäßig machte

staleness [ˈsteɪlnɪs] n (of food) → mancanza di freschezza; (of air) → pesantezza