Word.ws English Dictionary

stalk

UK/stɔːk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/stoːk/

stalk noun: the stem or main axis of a plant.

Noun (1)

stalk (plural stalks)

  1. The stem or main axis of a plant.
    • a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp
    • Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy)...
  2. The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
    • grape stalks
    Synonyms:
    footstalk
  3. Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
    • they appear to be made up of little Bladders , like those in the Plume or Stalk of a Quill1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […], London: […]...
  4. An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
  5. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.
  6. A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.
  7. The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
  8. The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
  9. An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
  10. (sheaf theory) Informally, a construction which generalizes that of the notion of the ring of germs of functions near a point to the context of arbitrary sheaves. Formally, given a sheaf ℱ on a space X, and a point x in X, the direct limit of the sections of F on the open neighborhoods of x ordered by reverse inclusion. See Stalk (sheaf) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  11. (slang) The penis.

Verb (1)

stalk (third-person singular simple present stalks, present participle stalking, simple past and past participle stalked)

  1. (transitive) To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer.
    • As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC
    • But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  2. (transitive) To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment.ᵂᵖ
    • My ex-girlfriend is stalking me.
    • villages stalked by the threat of famine
  3. (intransitive) To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner.
    • [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, / Pressing to be employed.1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 53
    • O ay, stalk on, stalk on, the fowl sits1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  4. (intransitive) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
    • The king[…]crept under the shoulder of his led horse;[…]"I must stalk," said he.1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], →OCLC
    • One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion
  5. (Internet, transitive) Of a person's social media activity: to look through thoroughly or obsessively; to keep tabs on, generally avoiding contact.
    • Coordinate term: lurk
    • Hate when I'm stalking someone's Insta and I like one of their old pics. Makes me wanna burrow underground n' hibernate for a season or two.2016 April 8, @JVCKJ, Twitter

Noun (2)

stalk (plural stalks)

  1. A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
  2. The hunting of a wild animal by stealthy approach.
    • When the stalk was over (the antelope took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle shot) I came back.1885, Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

Verb (2)

stalk (third-person singular simple present stalks, present participle stalking, simple past and past participle stalked)

  1. (intransitive) To walk haughtily.
    • With manly mien he stalked along the ground.1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
    • Then stalking through the deep, / He fords the ocean.1704, Joseph Addison, Milton's Stile Imitated, in a Translation of a Story out of the Third Aeneid

Noun (3)

stalk (plural stalks)

  1. A haughty style of walking.

stalk meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

stalk in Hindi

stem or main axis of a plant
तना tanā

stalk in Tamil

தண்டு, காம்பு, வன்தொடர்தல்

stalk in Marathi

stalk, stem
देठ deṭh

stalk in Urdu

اکڑ چال, ڈنٹھل, کروی شاخ, مینار نما چمنی, تعاقب کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
stalk in Bengali
কাণ্ড, বোঁটা
stalk in Telugu
వృంతము vr̥ntamu, తొడిమ toḍima, కామ kāma
stalk in Malayalam
തണ്ട് taṇṭŭ
stalk in Kannada
ದಿಂಡು, ಕಣಿಕೆ, ಹಂಬೆ, ಕಾಮು
stalk in Odia
କାଣ୍ଡ kāṇḍa
stalk in Sanskrit
पलाल palāla, पलाली palālī́, वर्तिका vartikā, यष्टि yaṣṭí
stalk in Sinhala
කාණ්ඩය kāṇḍaya
stalk in Tagalog
tangkay, panunubaybay
stalk in Arabic
سَاق sāq
stalk in Malay
batang
stalk in Persian
ساقه sâqe, ستاک setâk, ستاخ setâx
stalk in Thai
ก้าน gâan, สะกดรอย sà-gòt-rɔɔi, แอบตาม ɛ̀ɛp-dtaam, สตอล์ก sà-tɔ́k
stalk in Vietnamese
thân, bám đuôi, rình rập

Examples of stalk in a sentence

  • Internal hairs occur in the flower stalk of the yellow frog lily (Nuphar).
  • The cat viewed the cheap supermarket catfood with disdain and stalked away.
  • Jack is so sketchy. I think he's stalking me.

All 40 example sentences with stalk

Synonyms of stalk

Forms of stalk

Noun
pluralstalks
Verb
third-person singular presentstalks
present participlestalking
past participlestalked
paststalked

Past tense of stalk: stalked

Plural of stalk: stalks

Origin of stalk

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”).

From Middle English stalken, from Old English *stealcian (as in bestealcian (“to move stealthily”), stealcung (“stalking”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stalukōn, from Proto-Germanic *stalukōną (“to stalk, move stealthily”) (compare Dutch stelkeren, stolkeren (“to tip-toe, tread carefully”), Danish stalke (“to high step, stalk”), Norwegian dialectal stalka (“to trudge”)), from *stalkaz, *stelkaz (compare Old English stealc (“steep”), Old Norse stelkr, stjalkr (“knot (bird), red sandpiper”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telg, *(s)tolg- (compare Middle Irish tolg (“strength”), Lithuanian stalgùs (“stiff, defiant, proud”)). Alternate etymology connects Proto-Germanic *stalkōną to a frequentative form of *stelaną (“to steal”).

Attested 1530 in the sense "to walk haughtily", perhaps from Old English stealc (“steep”), from Proto-Germanic *stelkaz, *stalkaz (“high, lofty, steep, stiff”); see above.

Words formed from stalk

Phrases with stalk

Words that rhyme with stalk

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stalk

What does stalk mean?
Stalk means the stem or main axis of a plant.
What is stalk in Hindi?
Stalk in Hindi is तना (tanā). See Stalk meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is stalk?
Stalk can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce stalk?
Stalk is pronounced /stɔːk/ (UK).
What is the plural of stalk?
The plural of stalk is stalks.

Words near stalk in the dictionary

  1. stalinizes
  2. stalinizing
  3. Stalinoid
  4. Stalins
  5. Stalinsk
  6. stalk
  7. stalk-cutter
  8. stalk-eyed
  9. stalk-eyed flies
  10. stalk-eyed fly
  11. stalkable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stalk (page history and authors); stalk (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); देठ (Marathi) (page history and authors); stalk (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stalk (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); కామ (Telugu) (page history and authors); stalk (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); କାଣ୍ଡ (Odia) (page history and authors); काण्ड (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); කාණ්ඩය (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ne-stalk.ogg.

Cite this entry: “stalk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stalk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.