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stalk - 16 dictionary results
stalk
1
[stawk] 
,–noun
| 1. | the stem or main axis of a plant. |
| 2. | any slender supporting or connecting part of a plant, as the petiole of a leaf, the peduncle of a flower, or the funicle of an ovule. |
| 3. | a similar structural part of an animal. |
| 4. | a stem, shaft, or slender supporting part of anything. |
| 5. | Automotive. a slender lever, usually mounted on or near the steering wheel, that is used by the driver to control a signal or function: The horn button is on the turn-signal stalk. |
Origin:
1275–1325; ME stalke, appar. equiv. to OE stal(u) stave + -k dim. suffix
1275–1325; ME stalke, appar. equiv. to OE stal(u) stave + -k dim. suffix
Related forms:
stalklike, adjective
stalk
2 [stawk] ,–verb (used without object)
| 1. | to pursue or approach prey, quarry, etc., stealthily. |
| 2. | to walk with measured, stiff, or haughty strides: He was so angry he stalked away without saying goodbye. |
| 3. | to proceed in a steady, deliberate, or sinister manner: Famine stalked through the nation. |
| 4. | Obsolete. to walk or go stealthily along. |
–verb (used with object)
| 5. | to pursue (game, a person, etc.) stealthily. |
| 6. | to proceed through (an area) in search of prey or quarry: to stalk the woods for game. |
| 7. | to proceed or spread through in a steady or sinister manner: Disease stalked the land. |
–noun
| 8. | an act or course of stalking quarry, prey, or the like: We shot the mountain goat after a five-hour stalk. |
| 9. | a slow, stiff stride or gait. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME stalken (v.), repr. the base of OE bestealcian to move stealthily, stealcung stalking (ger.); akin to steal
1250–1300; ME stalken (v.), repr. the base of OE bestealcian to move stealthily, stealcung stalking (ger.); akin to steal
Related forms:
stalk⋅a⋅ble, adjective
stalker, noun
stalk⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To stalk
| stalk 1 (stôk) n.
[Middle English, probably diminutive of stale, upright of a ladder, post, handle, from Old English stalu; see stel- in Indo-European roots.] stalk'y adj. |
| stalk 2 (stôk) v. stalked, stalk·ing, stalks v. intr.
[Middle English stalken, from Old English -stealcian, to move stealthily (in bestealcian).] stalk'er n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Stalk
Stalk\, n. The act or process of stalking. When the stalk was over (the antelope took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle shot) I came back. --T. Roosevelt.Stalk
Stalk\, n. [OE. stalke, fr. AS. st[ae]l, stel, a stalk. See Stale a handle, Stall.]1. (Bot.) (a) The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp. (b) The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle, of a plant. 2. That which resembes the stalk of a plant, as the stem of a quill. --Grew. 3. (Arch.) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring. 4. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder. [Obs.] To climd by the rungs and the stalks. --Chaucer. 5. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A stem or peduncle, as of certain barnacles and crinoids. (b) The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect. (c) The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans. 6. (Founding) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor. Stalk borer (Zo["o]l.), the larva of a noctuid moth (Gortyna nitela), which bores in the stalks of the raspberry, strawberry, tomato, asters, and many other garden plants, often doing much injury.Stalk
Stalk\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stalked; p. pr. & vb. n. Stalking.] [AS. st[ae]lcan, stealcian to go slowly; cf. stels high, elevated, Dan. stalke to stalk; probably akin to 1st stalk.]1. To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner; -- sometimes used with a reflexive pronoun. --Shak. Into the chamber he stalked him full still. --Chaucer. [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, Pressing to be employed. --Dryden. 2. To walk behind something as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under clover. The king . . . crept under the shoulder of his led horse; . . . "I must stalk," said he. --Bacon. One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk. --Drayton. 3. To walk with high and proud steps; usually implying the affectation of dignity, and indicating dislike. The word is used, however, especially by the poets, to express dignity of step. With manly mien he stalked along the ground. --Dryden. Then stalking through the deep, He fords the ocean. --Addison. I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged. --Mericale.Stalk
Stalk\, v. t. To approach under cover of a screen, or by stealth, for the purpose of killing, as game. As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer. --Sir W. Scott.Stalk
Stalk\, n. A high, proud, stately step or walk. Thus twice before, . . . With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. --Shak. The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped. --Spenser.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : stalk
Italian:
gambo, stelo,
German:
der Stengel,
Japanese:
茎
stalk (n.)
"stem of a plant," c.1325, probably a dim. (with -k suffix) of stale "one of the uprights of a ladder, handle, stalk," from O.E. stalu "wooden part" (as of a harp), from P.Gmc. *stalo; related to O.E. steala "stalk, support," and steall "place" (see stall (2)).
stalk (v1.)
"pursue stealthily," O.E. -stealcian, as in bestealcian "to steal along," from P.Gmc. *stalkojanan, probably from a frequentative of the root of steal (cf. hark from hear, talk from tell). Or it may be from a sense of stalk (v.1), influenced by stalk (n.). Meaning "harass obsessively" first recorded 1991. Stalker earlier meant "a poacher" (1424) and "one who prowls for purposes of theft" (1508). A stalking-horse was lit. a horse trained to allow a fowler to conceal himself behind it to get within range of the game; fig. sense of "person who participates in a proceeding to disguise its real purpose" is recorded from 1612.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: stalk
Pronunciation: 'stok
Function: transitive verb
: to subject to stalking intransitive verb : to engage in stalking —stalk·er noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Main Entry: stalk
Pronunciation: 'stok
Function: noun
: a slender supporting or connecting part :
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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stalk (stôk)
n.
A slender or elongated support or structure, as one that connects or supports an organ.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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stalk (stôk) Pronunciation Key
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
