What is "stalk"

Stalk \Stalk\ (st[add]k), v. t.

1. 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.

2. To follow (a person) persistently, with or without attempts to evade detection; as, the paparazzi stalk celebrities to get candid photographs; obsessed fans may stalk their favorite movie stars.

Stalk \Stalk\ (st[add]k), n. [OE. stalke, fr. AS. st[ae]l, stel, a stalk. See Stale a handle, Stall.]

1. (Bot.)

   1. The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp.

   2. The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle, of a plant.

2. That which resembles 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 climb by the rungs and the stalks.
   --Chaucer.

5. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. A stem or peduncle, as of certain barnacles and crinoids.

   2. The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.

   3. 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 (st[add]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Stalking.] [AS. st[ae]lcan, stealcian to go slowly; cf. stealc 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 cover.

   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.
   --Merivale.

Stalk \Stalk\, n.

1. 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.

2. 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.

"stem of a plant," early 14c., probably a diminutive (with -k suffix) of stale "one of the uprights of a ladder, handle, stalk," from Old English stalu "wooden part" (of a tool or instrument), from Proto-Germanic *stalla- (cognates: Old English steala "stalk, support," steall "place"), from PIE *stol-no-, suffixed form of *stol-, variant of root *stel- "to put, stand" (see stall (n.1)). Of similar structures in animals from 1826.

"walk haughtily" (nearly the opposite meaning of stalk (v.1)), 1520s, perhaps from stalk (n.) with a notion of "long, awkward strides," or from Old English stealcung "a stalking, act of going stealthily," related to stealc "steep, lofty."

"pursue stealthily," Old English -stealcian, as in bestealcian "to steal along, walk warily," from Proto-Germanic *stalkon, frequentative of PIE *stel-, possibly a variant of *ster- (3) "to rob, steal" (see steal (v.)). Compare hark/hear, talk/tell). In another view the Old English word might be from a sense of stalk (v.1), influenced by stalk (n.). Meaning "harass obsessively" first recorded 1991. Related: Stalked; stalking.\n

\nA stalking-horse in literal use was a horse draped in trappings and trained to allow a fowler to conceal himself behind it to get within range of the game; figurative sense of "person who participates in a proceeding to disguise its real purpose" is recorded from 1610s.

Etymology 1 n. 1 The stem or main axis of a plant, which supports the seed-carrying parts. 2 The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant. 3 Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill. 4 (lb en architecture) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring. 5 One of the two upright pieces of a ladder. 6 (label en zoology) 7 #A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids. 8 #The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect. 9 #The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans. 10 (lb en metalworking) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor. Etymology 2

n. 1 A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone. 2 A hunt (of a wild animal). vb. 1 (lb en transitive) To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer. 2 (lb en transitive) To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment.^{(w Stalking Wp)} 3 (lb en intransitive) To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner. 4 (lb en intransitive) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover. Etymology 3

vb. (context intransitive English) To walk haughtily.

1. n. material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds [syn: chaff, husk, shuck, straw, stubble]

2. a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ [syn: stem]

3. a hunt for game carried on by stalking or waiting in ambush [syn: stalking, still hunt]

4. the act of following prey stealthily [syn: stalking]

5. a stiff or threatening gait [syn: angry walk]

6. v. walk stiffly

7. follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to; "her ex-boyfriend stalked her"; "the ghost of her mother haunted her" [syn: haunt]

8. go through (an area) in search of prey; "stalk the woods for deer"

Stalk may refer to:

• Plant stem, one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant
• Leaf stalk, also known as Petiole
• Flower stalk, also known as Peduncle
• Stalking, an act of intrusive behavior or unwanted attention towards a person
• Deer stalking, the pursuit of deer for sport
• Stalk (sheaf), a mathematical construction
• Pituitary stalk, a part of the brain
• The Stalk, a 1994 science fiction novel by Chris Morris and Janet Morris

The stalk of a sheaf is a mathematical construction capturing the behaviour of a sheaf around a given point.