Pronunciation Noun
stalk (plural stalks)
- The stem or main axis of a plant, which supports the seed-carrying parts.
- a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384 ↗:
- 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.
- The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
- Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
- (architecture) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
- One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.
- (zoology)
- A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.
- The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
- The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
- (metalworking) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
- French: tige
- German: Strunk, Stiel, Stängel
- Italian: gambo, stelo, fusto, caule, venatura centrale
- Portuguese: talo, haste
- Russian: сте́бель
- Spanish: tallo
- Italian: stelo
- German: Holm
stalk (stalks, present participle stalking; past and past participle stalked)
- (transitive) To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer.
- 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. [...] In Four Volumes, volume (
please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 2392685 ↗: - 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:
- 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.
- (transitive) To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment.Stalking
- My ex-girlfriend is stalking me.
- (intransitive) To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner.
- [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, / Pressing to be employed.
- (intransitive) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
- 1625, Francis Bacon, Apophthegms
- The king […] crept under the shoulder of his led horse; […] "I must stalk," said he.
- One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
- 1625, Francis Bacon, Apophthegms
Conjugation of stalk
infinitive | (to) stalk | ||
---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | ||
1st-person singular | stalk | stalked | |
2nd-person singular | * stalk, stalkest* | stalked, stalkedst* | |
3rd-person singular | stalks, stalketh* | stalked#English|stalked | |
plural | stalk | ||
subjunctive | stalk | ||
imperative | stalk | — | |
participle> participles | stalking | stalked | |
* Archaic or obsolete. |
- French: traquer
- German: sich anpirschen, sich anschleichen, sich heranschleichen
- Italian: accostarsi furtivamente, inseguire
- Portuguese: tocaiar
- Russian: кра́сться
- Spanish: acechar
- French: harceler
- German: stalken, nachstellen, nachschleichen, heimsuchen, belästigen
- Italian: molestare, infastidire, importunare, assillare, vessare
- Portuguese: perseguir
- Russian: пресле́довать
- Spanish: acechar, acosar
stalk (plural stalks)
- A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
- The hunting of a wild animal by stealthy approach.
- When the stalk was over (the antelope took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle shot) I came back.
stalk (stalks, present participle stalking; past and past participle stalked)
- (intransitive) To walk haughtily.
- With manly mien he stalked along the ground.
- 1704, Joseph Addison, Milton's Stile Imitated, in a Translation of a Story out of the Third Aeneid
- Then stalking through the deep, / He fords the ocean.
- I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged.
- German: stolzieren, einherstolzieren, staksen, stelzen, staken, steifbeinig gehen
- Russian: вышагивать
stalk (plural stalks)
- A haughty style of walking.
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