old vs stale

old

adj
  • Obsolete; out-of-date. 

  • A grammatical intensifier, often used in describing something positive, and combined with another adjective. 

  • Having been used and thus no longer new or unused. 

  • Former, previous. 

  • Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years. 

  • Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time. 

  • That is no longer in existence. 

  • Having existed or lived for the specified time. 

  • Tiresome after prolonged repetition. 

  • Of a species or language, belonging to a lineage that is distantly related others 

  • Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time. 

  • Being a graduate or alumnus of a school, especially a public school. 

  • Indicating affection. 

  • Of a perishable item, having existed for most of, or more than, its shelf life. 

  • Familiar. 

noun
  • One's parents. 

  • People who are old; old beings; the older generation, taken as a group. 

  • A person older than oneself, especially an adult in relation to a teenager. 

  • A typically dark-coloured lager brewed by the traditional top-fermentation method. 

stale

adj
  • No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; cliche, hackneyed, dated. 

  • Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks. 

  • Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy. 

  • No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc. 

  • Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions. 

  • Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition. 

  • Not new or recent; having been in place or in effect for some time. 

noun
  • A stalemate; a stalemated game. 

  • One of the rungs on a ladder. 

  • The shaft of an arrow, spear, etc. 

  • Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh. 

  • A long, thin handle (of rakes, axes, etc.) 

  • One of the posts or uprights of a ladder. 

verb
  • To make stale; to cause to go out of fashion or currency; to diminish the novelty or interest of, particularly by excessive exposure or consumption. 

  • To become stale; to grow odious from excessive exposure or consumption. 

  • To stalemate. 

  • To become stale; to grow unpleasant from age. 

How often have the words old and stale occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )