Also 6 Sc. stail, (7 staule). [f. STALE a.1]
1. trans. To render (beer or ale) ‘stale.’
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 472/1. Stalyn, or make stale drynke, defeco.
1616. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, I. i. You haue some plot, now, Vpon a tonning of Ale, to stale the yest.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 294. Like old October Beer staled through Time.
1826. Art of Brewing (ed. 2), 106. A stock of old porter should be kept, sufficient for staling the consumption of twelve months.
b. intr. Of beer: to become ‘stale’ or old.
1742. Lond. & Country Brewer, I. (ed. 4), 64. The Drink from that Time flattens and stales. Ibid. (1743), IV. (ed. 2), 303. Secure a Butt of Beer from staling too soon.
2. trans. To render stale, out of date or uninteresting; to diminish interest in.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., Induct. Ile goe tell all the argument of his play aforehand, and so stale his inuention to the auditorie before it come forth.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. i. 38. Which out of vse, and stal’de by other men, Begin his fashion. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., II. ii. 240. Age cannot wither her, nor custome stale Her infinite variety.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Q. Corinth, I. iii. Ile not stale them By giving up their characters, but leave you To make your own discoveries.
1768. Woman of Honor, I. 10. Shame, that great engine of education, she employed with attention not to stale its effect.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Detached Thoughts. It may be, that the latter [names, Milton and Shakespeare] are more staled and rung upon in common discourse.
1863. W. W. Story, Roba di Roma, I. i. 7. Pictures and statues have been staled by copy and description.
1914. Marett, in Edin. Rev. April, 397. Perhaps Dr. Frazer’s theories have become for himself a little staled by dint of repetition.
† b. To lower (oneself, one’s dignity) in estimation by excessive familiarity. Obs.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., II. i. 57. Not content To stale himselfe in all societies, He makes my house here common as a mart.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. iii. 201. This … right valiant Lord, Must not so staule his Palme.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., II. ii. Henry the Fourth staled not his majesty to consultations with the mayor of his city.
c. intr. To grow stale; get out of fashion, become uninteresting.
1897. Pall Mall Gaz., 10 Nov., 2/3. The malicious tit-bit which he was treasuring with such eager anticipation would only stale by further delay.
1893. Q. [Quiller-Couch], Delect. Duchy, 325. Philanthropy was beginning to stale.
† 3. Sc. To affect with loathing or satiety. [Perh. another word: cf. STALL v.]
1709. Wodrow, Corr. (1842), I. 49. The abjuration oath … will … stale a great many that we might otherwise have depended upon as friendly parties to us.
1717. E. Erskine, Serm., Wks. (1791), 50/1. They have got so much of Christ as to be staled of his company.
