stales (stal)

t.; pret. and pp. staled, ppr. stal ing. [ME. stalen; Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Shak . , A. and C., ii. 2. 240. I'll go tell all the argument of his play afore-hand, and so stale his invention. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, Ind. Not content To stale himself in all societies, He makes my house here common as a mart. = = B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 1. An imperial abdication was an event which had not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom. Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 96. stale (stal), v . i .; pret. and pp. staled , ppr. stal ing. [Appar. stallen Sw. stall a Dan. stalle , urinate (said of horses and cattle); appar. a neuter use, lit. 'stand in stall, parallel with the trans. use, D. G. stallen = Sw. stall a = Dan. stalle , put into a stall; from the noun, D. stal = G. stall = Sw. stall = Dan. stald , stall: see stall1 , n. The form is appar. irreg. (for * stall ), and is perhaps due to confusion with stales, a., as applied to urine.] To make water; urinate: said of horses and cattle. In that Moschee or Temple at Theke Thioi is a fountaine of water, which they say sprang vp of the staling of Cheder les horse. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 311.