Stalk

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Stalk, n. [OE. stalke, fr. AS. stæl, stel, a stalk. See Stale a handle, Stall.].

•  The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp.  [1913 Webster]
•  That which resembles the stalk of a plant, as the stem of a quill.  Grew.  [1913 Webster]
•  An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.  [1913 Webster]

  "To climb by the rungs and the stalks."  [1913 Webster]
•  A stem or peduncle, as of certain barnacles and crinoids.  [1913 Webster]
•  An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.  [1913 Webster]

Stalk borer (Zoöl.), 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, v. i. [AS. stælcan, stealcian to go slowly; cf. stealc high, elevated, Dan. stalke to stalk; probably akin to 1st stalk.].

•  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."  [1913 Webster]

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

  "One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk."  [1913 Webster]
•  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."  [1913 Webster]

  "Then stalking through the deep,
  He fords the ocean."  [1913 Webster]

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

Stalk, v. t. 

•  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."  [1913 Webster]
•  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]

Stalk, n. 

•  A high, proud, stately step or walk.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thus twice before, . . .
  With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch."  [1913 Webster]

  "The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped."  [1913 Webster]
•  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."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Stalk, n.
1 the main stem of a herbaceous plant.
2 the slender attachment or support of a leaf, flower, fruit, etc.
3 a similar support for an organ etc. in an animal.
4 a slender support or linking shaft in a machine, object, etc., e.g. the stem of a wineglass.
5 the tall chimney of a factory etc.

Idiom

stalk-eyed (of crabs, snails, etc.) having the eyes mounted on stalks.

Derivative

stalked adj. (also in comb.). stalkless adj. stalklet n. stalklike adj. stalky adj.

Stalk, v. & n.
--v.
1 a tr. pursue or approach (game or an enemy) stealthily. b intr. steal up to game under cover.
2 intr. stride, walk in a stately or haughty manner.
--n.
1 the stalking of game.
2 an imposing gait.

Idiom

stalking-horse
1 a horse behind which a hunter is concealed.
2 a pretext concealing one's real intentions or actions.

Derivative

stalker n. (also in comb.).

Etymology

OE f. Gmc, rel. to STEAL

THESAURUS

Stalk

Maypole, amble, anthrophore, axis, baluster, balustrade, banister, bar, barge, base, beat, bole, bowl along, bundle, campaign, cane, carpophore, caryatid, caudex, caulicle, caulis, chase, circuit, clump, colonnade, column, couch, course, creep, culm, dado, die, dog, domiciliary visit, drag, dragnet, drive, droop, excursion, expedition, exploration, falcon, flagstaff, flounce, flush, follow, follow a clue, follow the hounds, follow up, foot, footslog, footstalk, forage, fowl, frisk, funicule, funiculus, gait, gallop, go hunting, grand tour, gumshoe, gun, halt, haulm, haunt, hawk, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hop, hound, house-search, hunt, hunt down, hunting, jack, jacklight, jaunt, jog, jolt, journey, jump, junket, lay wait, leafstalk, lie in wait, limp, lock step, lumber, lunge, lurch, lurk, mince, mincing steps, newel-post, nightwalk, nose, nose out, outing, pace, package tour, paddle, peacock, pedestal, pedicel, peduncle, peg, peregrination, perquisition, petiole, petiolule, petiolus, piaffe, piaffer, pier, pilaster, pile, pilgrimage, piling, pillar, pleasure trip, plinth, plod, pole, posse, post, prance, probe, progress, prowl, prowl after, pursue, pussyfoot, queen-post, quest, rack, ransacking, reed, ride to hounds, rod, roll, round trip, rubberneck tour, rummage, run, run down, run to earth, safari, sally, sashay, saunter, scape, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, search, search party, search warrant, search-and-destroy operation, searching, seedstalk, shadow, shaft, shamble, shikar, shoot, shuffle, sidle, single-foot, skip, skulk, slink, slither, slog, slouch, slowness, smell out, sneak, sniff out, socle, spear, spike, spire, sport, staff, stagger, stalking, stamp, stanchion, stand, standard, start, steal, stem, step, stick, still hunt, still-hunt, stipe, stock, stomp, straddle, straggle, straw, stride, stroll, strolling gait, strut, stump, subbase, surbase, swagger, swank, swash, swashbuckle, swing, tail, tigella, tiptoe, tittup, toddle, tongue, totem pole, totter, tour, trace, trace down, track, track down, trail, traipse, tread, trek, trip, trot, trudge, trunk, turn, turning over, upright, velocity, voyage, waddle, walk, wamble, wiggle, wobble

ROGET THESAURUS

Stalk

Journey

N journey, travel, traveling, wayfaring, campaigning, journey, excursion, expedition, tour, trip, grand tour, circuit, peregrination, discursion, ramble, pilgrimage, hajj, trek, course, ambulation, march, walk, promenade, constitutional, stroll, saunter, tramp, jog trot, turn, stalk, perambulation, noctambulation, noctambulism, somnambulism, outing, ride, drive, airing, jaunt, equitation, horsemanship, riding, manege, ride and tie, basophobia, roving, vagrancy, pererration, marching and countermarching, nomadism, vagabondism, vagabondage, hoboism, gadding, flit, flitting, migration, emigration, immigration, demigration, intermigration, wanderlust, plan, itinerary, guide, handbook, guidebook, road book, Baedeker, Bradshaw, Murray, map, road map, transportation guide, subway map, procession, cavalcade, caravan, file, cortege, column, vehicle, automobile, train, bus, airplane, plane, autobus, omnibus, subway, motorbike, dirt bike, off-road vehicle, van, minivan, motor scooter, trolley, locomotive, legs, feet, pegs, pins, trotters, traveler, depot, railway station, station, traveling, ambulatory, itinerant, peripatetic, roving, rambling, gadding, discursive, vagrant, migratory, monadic, circumforanean, circumforaneous, noctivagrant, mundivagrant, locomotive, wayfaring, wayworn, travel-stained, on foot, on horseback, on Shanks's mare, by the Marrowbone stage: in transitu, en route, Int, come along!.

VB travel, journey, course, take a journey, go a journey, take a walk, go out for walk, have a run, take the air, flit, take wing, migrate, emigrate, trek, rove, prowl, roam, range, patrol, pace up and down, traverse, scour the country, traverse the country, peragrate, circumambulate, perambulate, nomadize, wander, ramble, stroll, saunter, hover, go one's rounds, straggle, gad, gad about, expatiate, walk, march, step, tread, pace, plod, wend, go by shank's mare, promenade, trudge, tramp, stalk, stride, straddle, strut, foot it, hoof it, stump, bundle, bowl along, toddle, paddle, tread a path, take horse, ride, drive, trot, amble, canter, prance, fisk, frisk, caracoler, caracole, gallop, embark, board, set out, hit the road, get going, get underway, peg on, jog on, wag on, shuffle on, stir one's stumps, bend one's steps, bend one's course, make one's way, find one's way, wend one's way, pick one's way, pick one's way, thread one's way, plow one's way, slide, glide, coast, skim, skate, march in procession, file on, defile, go to, repair to, resort to, hie to, betake oneself to.