Stalk (st&asuml_;k), n. [OE. stalke, fr. AS. stæl, 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.
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2. That which resembles the stalk of a plant, as the stem of a quill. Grew.
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3. (Arch.) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
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4. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder. [Obs.]
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To climb by the rungs and the stalks. Chaucer.
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5. (Zoöl.) (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.
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6. (Founding) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
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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.
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Stalk (st&asuml_;k), v. t. 1. To approach under cover of a screen, or by stealth, for the purpose of killing, as game.
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As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer. Sir W. Scott.
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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.
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