What's the difference between old and stale?

Old


Definition:

  • (n.) Open country.
  • (superl.) Not young; advanced far in years or life; having lived till toward the end of the ordinary term of living; as, an old man; an old age; an old horse; an old tree.
  • (superl.) Not new or fresh; not recently made or produced; having existed for a long time; as, old wine; an old friendship.
  • (superl.) Formerly existing; ancient; not modern; preceding; original; as, an old law; an old custom; an old promise.
  • (superl.) Continued in life; advanced in the course of existence; having (a certain) length of existence; -- designating the age of a person or thing; as, an infant a few hours old; a cathedral centuries old.
  • (superl.) Long practiced; hence, skilled; experienced; cunning; as, an old offender; old in vice.
  • (superl.) Long cultivated; as, an old farm; old land, as opposed to new land, that is, to land lately cleared.
  • (superl.) Worn out; weakened or exhausted by use; past usefulness; as, old shoes; old clothes.
  • (superl.) More than enough; abundant.
  • (superl.) Aged; antiquated; hence, wanting in the mental vigor or other qualities belonging to youth; -- used disparagingly as a term of reproach.
  • (superl.) Old-fashioned; wonted; customary; as of old; as, the good old times; hence, colloquially, gay; jolly.
  • (superl.) Used colloquially as a term of cordiality and familiarity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A 2.5-month-old child with cyanotic heart disease who required long-term PGE1 infusions; developed widespread periosteal reactions during the course of therapy.
  • (2) Yet the Tory promise of fiscal rectitude prevailed in England Alexander had been in charge of Labour’s election strategy, but he could not strategise a victory over a 20-year-old Scottish nationalist who has not yet taken her finals.
  • (3) A 61-year-old man experienced four bouts of pancreatitis in 1 year.
  • (4) A total of 104 evaluable patients 20-90 years old treated by direct vision internal urethrotomy a.m. Sachse for urethral strictures reported retrospectively via a questionnaire their sexual potency before and after internal urethrotomy.
  • (5) A 66-year-old woman with acute idiopathic polyneuritis (Landry-Guillain-Barré [LGB] syndrome) had normal extraocular movements, but her pupils did not react to light or accommodation.
  • (6) Scatchard analyses of binding data obtained with synaptosomal preparations from 17-day-old embryos revealed two T3 binding sites.
  • (7) A remarkable deterioration of prognosis with increasing age rises the question whether treatment with cytotoxic drugs should be tried in patients more than 60 years old.
  • (8) A specimen of a very early ovum, 4 to 6 days old, shown in the luminal form of imbedding before any hemorrhage has taken place, confirms that the luminal form of imbedding does occur.
  • (9) Data collection at the old hospital for comparison, however, was not always reliable.
  • (10) A leg ulcer in a 52-year-old renal transplant patient yielded foamy histiocytes containing acid-fast bacilli subsequently identified as a Runyon group III Mycobacterium.
  • (11) The 36-year-old teacher at an inner-city London primary school earns £40,000 a year and contributes £216 a month to her pension.
  • (12) Eight-week-old virgin untreated female mice were induced to ovulate using equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and were then caged with males overnight.
  • (13) The authors report an ocular luxation of a four-year-old girl after a bicycle accident.
  • (14) Peak incidence is found among 40 to 49-year-old and 60 to 64-year-old women.
  • (15) The capillary-adipocyte distances were shorter and the vascularization density was higher in old rats.
  • (16) Brilliant, old-fashioned speech, from the days before teleprompters became all-dominant.
  • (17) Though the 54-year-old designer made brief returns to the limelight after his fall from grace, designing a one-off collection for Oscar de la Renta last year , his appointment at Margiela marks a more permanent comeback.
  • (18) He also deals with the incidence, conservative and surgical treatment of osteo-arthrosis in old age and with the possibilities of its prevention.
  • (19) Sterile, pruritic papules and papulopustules that formed annular rings developed on the back of a 58-year-old woman.
  • (20) The first patient, an 82-year-old woman, developed a WPW syndrome suggesting posterior right ventricular preexcitation, a pattern which persisted for four months until her death.

Stale


Definition:

  • (n.) The stock or handle of anything; as, the stale of a rake.
  • (v. i.) Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit, and flavor, from being long kept; as, stale beer.
  • (v. i.) Not new; not freshly made; as, stele bread.
  • (v. i.) Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed.
  • (v. i.) Worn out by use or familiarity; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; trite; common.
  • (v. t.) To make vapid or tasteless; to destroy the life, beauty, or use of; to wear out.
  • (a.) To make water; to discharge urine; -- said especially of horses and cattle.
  • (v. i.) That which is stale or worn out by long keeping, or by use.
  • (v. i.) A prostitute.
  • (v. i.) Urine, esp. that of beasts.
  • (v. t.) Something set, or offered to view, as an allurement to draw others to any place or purpose; a decoy; a stool pigeon.
  • (v. t.) A stalking-horse.
  • (v. t.) A stalemate.
  • (v. t.) A laughingstock; a dupe.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This was due to the fact that stale bread was fed ad lib, rather than concentrates.
  • (2) That rock-star treatment then gets paid off with stale one-liners from the previous decade that sound like they were organized by shuffling notecards.
  • (3) Inside the carriage the temperature was stifling, the stench of unwashed bodies and stale urine overwhelming.
  • (4) In the first comments from Epstein’s representatives since the Guardian revealed on Friday that the prince had been named in a Florida court motion, an attorney for the disgraced financier said: “These are stale, rehashed allegations that lawyers are now attempting to repackage and spice up by adding the names of prominent people.” Virginia Roberts, who says she was 17 when she first met the Duke of York in London, claims she was forced to have sexual contact with him by Epstein, in London, New York and on his private island in the Caribbean during an “orgy”.
  • (5) Though the Bond series was in anything but trouble before Mendes’ arrival – and Craig’s – there was the sense of a certain amount of staleness towards the end of Pierce Brosnan’s run.
  • (6) The PassivHaus pioneers have focused on improving insulation, providing far better air-tightness and warming incoming air in winter, with the hotter stale air extracted from the house.
  • (7) Male, pale and stale is the epithet often used to describe the makeup of a charity board.
  • (8) The abortifacient property seems to decrease as the fruit becomes stale or ripe.
  • (9) He knew all about unconscious bias, was attuned to issues of diversity and was passionate about changing middle management composition which he said was “too male, stale and pale”.
  • (10) He resolutely refused to sit on the fence, and staleness, caused by watching stream upon stream of bad movies as well as good ones, never set in.
  • (11) Stale, flat and, alas, rapidly becoming unprofitable...” “What was he like as a person?” asked Dalgliesh.
  • (12) If you’re not bothered about instructions in another language, misprinted labels or biscuits that may be several months past their peak quality – but not stale – you can stock up for a fraction of the price you might pay in a regular shop.
  • (13) The measure of humidity, of peroxides and of the staleness of crumb are favourable for a good conservation.
  • (14) Overhead lights attached to ripped-out electrical wires hang suspended in the stale air and fading wallpaper peels off the walls like dead skin.
  • (15) For every 10 party hacks there were one or two sublime dissidents or innovators – Polanski and Wajda in Poland, Jancsó in Hungary, Dušan Makavejev in Yugoslavia – and we shouldn't throw out all these beautiful babies with the stale red bath water.
  • (16) Teams such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile and Algeria blew fresh air through the stale halls of international football's establishment with their teamwork and counter attacking flair.
  • (17) Northern Irish businesses are now able to trade across Europe, more people from across Europe have settled here and have provided a fresh perspective from the stale old sectarian divisions that Northern Ireland has been cursed with.
  • (18) This is welcome, as we believe that we offer a real alternative to the politics of austerity and the stale dogma of the Westminster parties.
  • (19) Americans have been hurting, but when we demanded solutions, too often Washington responded with the same stale mindset that led to failed policies like Obamacare.
  • (20) He should leave behind stale orthodoxies and trust his instinct that change is essential.