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Stalk

//stɔːk// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun

1
The stem or main axis of a plant.
"a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp"
2
A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
3
A haughty style of walking.
4
a stiff or threatening gait wordnet
5
The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
"grape stalks"

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6
The hunting of a wild animal by stealthy approach.
"When the stalk was over (the antelope took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle shot) I came back."
7
the act of following prey stealthily wordnet
8
Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
"they appear to be made up of little Bladders , like those in the Plume or Stalk of a Quill"
9
a hunt for game carried on by following it stealthily or waiting in ambush wordnet
10
An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
11
a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ wordnet
12
One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.
13
material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds wordnet
14
A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.
15
The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
16
The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
17
An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
18
Informally, a construction which generalizes that of the notion of the ring of germs of functions near a point to the context of arbitrary sheaves. Formally, given a sheaf ℱ on a space X, and a point x in X, the direct limit of the sections of F on the open neighborhoods of x ordered by reverse inclusion. See Stalk (sheaf) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
19
The penis. slang

Verb

1
To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer. transitive
"As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer."
2
To walk haughtily. intransitive
"With manly mien he stalked along the ground."
3
walk stiffly wordnet
4
To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment.ᵂᵖ transitive
"My ex-girlfriend is stalking me."
5
go through (an area) in search of prey wordnet

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6
To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner. intransitive
"[Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, / Pressing to be employed."
7
follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to wordnet
8
To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover. intransitive
"The king[…]crept under the shoulder of his led horse;[…]"I must stalk," said he."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English stalke, stelke, stalk, perhaps from Old English *stealc, *stielc, *stealuc, from Proto-West Germanic *staluk, *stalik, from Proto-Germanic *stalukaz, *stalikaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *stalô, *staluz (“support, stem, stalk”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stand; be stiff; stud, post, trunk, stake, stem, stalk”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch staal (“sample”), steel (“stem”), German Stiel (“stalk”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål stilk (“stalk, stem”), Faroese stjølur (“bottom part of a sheaf”), Icelandic stilkur (“stalk, stem”), Norwegian Nynorsk stilk, stylk (“stalk, stem”), styl (“lower part of a straw”), Swedish stjälk (“stalk, stem”), Albanian shtalkë (“crossbeam, board used as a door hinge”), Welsh telm (“frond”), Ancient Greek στειλειή (steileiḗ, “beam”), Old Armenian ստեղն (stełn, “trunk, stalk”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English stalken, from Old English *stealcian (as in bestealcian (“to move stealthily”), stealcung (“stalking”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stalukōn, from Proto-Germanic *stalukōną (“to stalk, 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”)). Alternate etymology connects Proto-Germanic *stalkōną to a frequentative form of *stelaną (“to steal”).

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

Attested 1530 in the sense "to walk haughtily", perhaps from Old English stealc (“steep”), from Proto-Germanic *stelkaz, *stalkaz (“high, lofty, steep, stiff”); see above.

Etymology 5

Attested 1530 in the sense "to walk haughtily", perhaps from Old English stealc (“steep”), from Proto-Germanic *stelkaz, *stalkaz (“high, lofty, steep, stiff”); see above.

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