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.
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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. (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.
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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 (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.
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