Stalk
Pronunciation
- RP enPR: stôk, IPA: /stÉ”Ëk/
- US enPR: stôk, IPA: /stɔk/
- cot-caught IPA: /stɑk/
- Homophones: stork (non-rhotic accents)
- Rhymes: -É”Ëk
Origin 1
From Middle English stalke, diminutive of stale 'ladder upright, stalk', from Old English stalu 'wooden upright', from Proto-Germanic *stalÇ (compare Middle Low German stal, stale 'chair leg'), variant of *steluz, stelÅn 'stalk' (compare Old English stela, Dutch steel, German Stiel, Danish stilk), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (compare Albanian shtalkë ("crossbeam, board used as a door hinge"), Welsh telm ("frond"), Ancient Greek stélos 'beam', Old Armenian Õ½Õ¿Õ¥Õ²Õ¶ (steÅ‚n, "trunk, stalk")).
Full definition of stalk
Noun
stalk
(plural stalks)- The stem or main axis of a plant, which supports the seed-carrying parts.a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody Chapter 1, Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with...on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
- The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
- Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
- (architecture) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
- One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.
- (zoology) A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.
- (zoology) The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
- (zoology) The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
- (metalworking) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
Origin 2
From Middle English stalken, from Old English -stealcian (as in Old English bestealcian ("to move stealthily"), stealcung ("stalking")), from Proto-Germanic *stalkÅnÄ… 'to move stealthily' (compare Dutch stelkeren, stolkeren 'to tip-toe, tread carefully', Danish stalke ("to high step, stalk"), Norwegian dialectal stalka 'to trudge'), from *stalkaz, *stelkaz (compare Old English stealc 'steep', Old Norse stelkr, stjalkr ("knot (bird), red sandpiper")), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telg, *(s)tolg- (compare Middle Irish tolg ("strength"), Lithuanian stalgùs ("stiff, defiant, proud")).
Robert K. Barnhart and Sol Steinmetz, eds., Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, s.v. "stalk
2
" (New York: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., 2006), 1057.
Alternate etymology connects Proto-Germanic *stalkÅnÄ… 'to stalk, move stealthily', to a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *stelanÄ… 'to steal'.
Verb
- (transitive) To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer.
- Sir Walter ScottAs for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.
- 1907, w, The Younger Set Chapter 1/2, … presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.
- (transitive) To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment (Stalking).My ex-boyfriend is stalking me.
- (intransitive) To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner.
- DrydenBertran stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend,
Pressing to be employed. - (intransitive) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
- Francis BaconThe king ... crept under the shoulder of his led horse; ... "I must stalk," said he.
- DraytonOne underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
Noun
stalk
(plural stalks)- A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
- (of wild animals) A hunt.
Related terms
Origin 3
1530, 'to walk haughtily', perhaps from Old English stealc 'steep', from Proto-Germanic *stelkaz, *stalkaz 'high, lofty, steep, stiff'; see above