stale /steɪl/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Origin: Probably from Old French estale 'standing still, settled' , from estal 'standing place' ]
1 . bread or cake that is stale is no longer fresh or good to eat OPP fresh :
French bread goes stale (=becomes stale) very quickly.
stale cake
2 . air that is stale is not fresh or pleasant OPP fresh :
the smell of stale smoke
3 . not interesting or exciting any more:
stale jokes
Other marriages might go stale, but not theirs.
4 . if you get stale, you have no new ideas, interest, or energy, because you have been doing the same thing for too long:
If you stay in the job for more than ten years, you get stale.
He was becoming stale and running out of ideas.
—staleness noun [uncountable]