from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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]