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Definition stalk

Etymology 1

From Middle English stalke, diminutive of stale (“ladder upright, stalk”), from Old English stalu (“wooden upright”), from Proto-Germanic *stal? (compare Middle Low German stal, stale (“chair leg”)), variant of *steluz, *stel?n (“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 ????? (ste?n, “trunk, stalk”)).

Noun

stalk (plural stalks)

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. (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.

Etymology 2

From Middle English stalken, from Old English *stealcian (as in bestealcian (“to move stealthily”), stealcung (“stalking”)), from Proto-Germanic *stalk?n? (“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 *stalk?n? to a frequentative form of *stelan? (“to steal”).

Verb

stalk (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.
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.
4. (intransitive) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.

Noun

stalk (plural stalks)

1. A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
2. The hunting of a wild animal by stealthy approach.

Etymology 3

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.

Verb

stalk (third-person singular simple present stalks, present participle stalking, simple past and past participle stalked)

1. (intransitive) To walk haughtily.

Noun

stalk (plural stalks)

1. A haughty style of walking.

Results 332 Words with the letters STALK

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