GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 4 definitions 

  1.       

    Stalk , n. [OE. stalke, fr. AS. stael, 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.
      1913 Webster
    2. That which resembles the stalk of a plant, as the stem of a quill.
      Grew.

      1913 Webster
    3. (Arch.) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
      1913 Webster
    4. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder. [Obs.]
      1913 Webster
      To climb by the rungs and the stalks.
      Chaucer.

      1913 Webster
    5. (Zool.) (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.
      1913 Webster
    6. (Founding) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
      1913 Webster
      Stalk borer (Zool.), 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.
      1913 Webster
    
      
    
  2.       

    Stalk, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stalked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Stalking.] [AS. staelcan, 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.

      1913 Webster
      Into the chamber he stalked him full still.
      Chaucer.

      1913 Webster
      [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend,
      Pressing to be employed.
      Dryden.

      1913 Webster
    2. To walk behind something as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
      1913 Webster
      The king . . . crept under the shoulder of his led horse; . . . “I must stalk,” said he.
      Bacon.

      1913 Webster
      One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
      Drayton.

      1913 Webster
    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.
      1913 Webster
      With manly mien he stalked along the ground.
      Dryden.

      1913 Webster
      Then stalking through the deep,
      He fords the ocean.
      Addison.

      1913 Webster
      I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged.
      Merivale.

      1913 Webster
    
      
    
  3.       

    Stalk , v. t.
    1. To approach under cover of a screen, or by stealth, for the purpose of killing, as game.
      1913 Webster
      As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.
      Sir W. Scott.

      1913 Webster
    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.
      PJC
    
      
    
  4.       

    Stalk, n.
    1. A high, proud, stately step or walk.
      1913 Webster
      Thus twice before, . . . 
      With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
      Shak.

      1913 Webster
      The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped.
      Spenser.

      1913 Webster
    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.

      Webster 1913 Suppl.

Last match results