Stalk

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Stalk \Stalk\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Stalked} (st[add]kt); 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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Stalk \Stalk\ (st[add]k), 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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Stalk \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.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  stalk
       n 1: 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}]
       v 1: walk stiffly
       2: follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to;
          "her ex-boyfriend stalked her"; "the ghost of her mother
          haunted her" [syn: {haunt}]
       3: go through (an area) in search of prey; "stalk the woods for
          deer"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  248 Moby Thesaurus words for "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