stale

Definition

Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.

Etymology

From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“fixed position, place”), but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’.

Example Sentences

• "The stronger Beere is divided into two parts (viz.) mild and stale; the first may ease a man of a drought, but the later is like water cast into a Smiths forge, and breeds more heartburning, and as rust eates into Iron, so overstale Beere gnawes auletholes in the entrales, or else my skill failes, and what I have written of it is to be held as a jest."
• "Particular care must be taken that the stale beer in which the isinglass is dissolved be perfectly clear and stale."
• "Is not that hard or stale beer mixed to give the porter the appearance of age at once, which formerly was allowed to be matured by time?"