Link Centre Dictionary

stalk

UK/stɔːk/ US/stoːk/ fairly common slang
verb (3) noun (5)

verb

1.
2.

follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to

  • “her ex-boyfriend stalked her”
  • “the ghost of her mother haunted her”
Synonyms
3.

go through (an area) in search of prey

  • “stalk the woods for deer”

noun

1.

material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds

Synonyms
2.

a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ

Synonyms
3.

a hunt for game carried on by stalking or waiting in ambush

Synonyms
4.
5.

Origin

From Middle English stalke, stelke, stalk, perhaps from Old English *stealc, *stielc, *stealuc, from Proto-West Germanic *staluk, *stalik, from Proto-Germanic *stalukaz, *stalikaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *stalô, *staluz (“support, stem, stalk”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stand; be stiff; stud, post, trunk, stake, stem, stalk”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch staal (“sample”), steel (“stem”), German Stiel (“stalk”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål stilk (“stalk, stem”), Faroese stjølur (“bottom part of a sheaf”), Icelandic stilkur (“stalk, stem”), Norwegian Nynorsk stilk, stylk (“stalk, stem”), styl (“lower part of a straw”), Swedish stjälk (“stalk, stem”), Albanian shtalkë (“crossbeam, board used as a door hinge”), Welsh telm (“frond”), Ancient Greek στειλειή (steileiḗ, “beam”), Old Armenian ստեղն (stełn, “trunk, stalk”).

Phrases

  • chimney stalk
  • Google stalk
  • gout stalk
  • jade stalk
  • laughing stalk
  • rose twisted-stalk
  • stalk-eyed fly
  • sugar cane stalk

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.