Alexander Dyce, A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works

stale seems to be nearly equivalent to “laughing-stock” in the following passages: “I pray you, sir, is it your will To make a stale of me amongst these mates?” THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, i. 1. 58 ; (where stale is generally and wrongly explained“harlot;” and where I once thought that Katherine meant, “Is it your will to set me up as a decoy among these fellows, in order that, if you can get either of them to marry me, you may carry out your project with respect to my sister's marriage),” “Had he none else to make a stale but me? Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow,” 3 HENRY VI., iii. 3. 260 ; “I'll trust by leisure him that mocks me once . . . Was none in Rome to make a stale But Saturnine?” TITUS ANDRONICUS, i. 1. 304.