(of food, especially bread and cake 食物，尤指面包和糕点 no longer fresh and therefore unpleasant to eat 不新鲜的 This bread's going stale. 面包不新鲜了。 There was one piece of stale chocolate cake left in the tin. 烤盘里还剩一块不新鲜的巧克力蛋糕。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
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(of air, smoke, etc. 空气、烟等 no longer fresh; smelling unpleasant 不新鲜的；（空气）污浊的；（烟味）难闻的 The atmosphere was stale with cigarette smoke. 烟味令空气污浊。 The room smelt of stale sweat. 房间里闻着有股汗臭味。 The room smelled musty and stale. 这个房间闻起来有股发霉的陈味儿。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
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something that is stale has been said or done too many times before and is no longer interesting or exciting 陈腐的；没有新意的；老掉牙的 Extra ExamplesOf course I've heard. That's stale news. 我当然听说过。那是陈旧的消息。 The routine of married life had gone stale on them. 他们的日常婚姻生活已经过时了。 What had seemed fresh and exciting at first was now stale and predictable. 起初看起来新鲜和令人兴奋的东西现在已经老套乏味了。 What made the work so stale and uninteresting? 是什么让作品如此陈腐无趣？
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
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a person who is stale has done the same thing for too long and so is unable to do it well or produce any new ideas （因持续做某事时间太长）厌倦的，腻烦的
Word OriginMiddle English (describing beer in the sense ‘clear from long standing, strong’): probably from Anglo-Norman French and Old French, from estaler ‘to halt’; compare with the verb stall.