Stalk

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}, {stalk}, {straw},
         {stubble}]
    2: a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or
       fungus or a plant part or plant organ [syn: {stalk}, {stem}]
    3: a hunt for game carried on by following it stealthily or
       waiting in ambush [syn: {stalk}, {stalking}, {still hunt}]
    4: the act of following prey stealthily [syn: {stalk},
       {stalking}]
    5: a stiff or threatening gait [syn: {stalk}, {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}, {stalk}]
    3: go through (an area) in search of prey; "stalk the woods for
       deer"
    

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.
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            [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.
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            One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
                                                  --Drayton.
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   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.
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            Then stalking through the deep,
            He fords the ocean.                   --Addison.
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            I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he
            has long stalked alone and unchallenged. --Merivale.
      [1913 Webster]
    

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.
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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. (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.
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   {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]
    

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.
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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.
      [PJC]
    

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.
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            The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped.
                                                  --Spenser.
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   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.]
    

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