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\ (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.
      [1913 Webster]

   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\, 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            [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.
      [1913 Webster]

            One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
                                                  --Drayton.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Then stalking through the deep,
            He fords the ocean.                   --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [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]

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped.
                                                  --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.]