Definition of "stalk"

stalk¹

/stɔːk/

noun
plural stalks
1. The stem or main axis of a plant, which supports the seed-carrying parts.
  Quotations
  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.
  1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915
2. The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
3. Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
  Quotations
  they appear to be made up of little Bladders , like those in the Plume or Stalk of a Quill
  1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […], London: […] W. Rawlins, for the author
4. (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. (zoology)
  1. A stem or peduncle, as in 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.
7. (metalworking) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.

stalk²

/stɔːk/

verb
third-person singular simple present stalks, present participle stalking, simple past and past participle stalked
1. (transitive) To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer.
  Quotations
  As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.
  1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co.
  But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.
  1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company
2. (transitive) To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment.
3. (intransitive) To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner.
  Quotations
  [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, / Pressing to be employed.
  1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], Act IV, page 53
  O ay, stalk on, stalk on, the fowl sits
  1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii]
4. (intransitive) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
  Quotations
  The king […] crept under the shoulder of his led horse; […] "I must stalk," said he.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […]
  One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
  1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion
noun
plural stalks
1. A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
2. The hunting of a wild animal by stealthy approach.
  Quotations
  When the stalk was over (the antelope took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle shot) I came back.
  1885, Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

stalk³

/stɔːk/

verb
third-person singular simple present stalks, present participle stalking, simple past and past participle stalked
1. (intransitive) To walk haughtily.
  Quotations
  With manly mien he stalked along the ground.
  1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
  Then stalking through the deep, / He fords the ocean.
  1704, Joseph Addison, Milton's Stile Imitated, in a Translation of a Story out of the Third Aeneid
  I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged.
  1850, Charles Merivale, History of the Romans Under the Empire
noun
plural stalks
1. A haughty style of walking.

Definition of "stalk"

stalk1

noun

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stalk2

verb

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noun

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stalk3

verb

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noun

stalk¹

stalk²

stalk³