stalk¹ / stôk/ • n. the main stem of a herbaceous plant: he chewed a stalk of grass. ∎  the slender attachment or support of a leaf, flower, or fruit: the acorns grow on stalks. ∎  a similar support for a sessile animal, or for an organ in an animal. ∎  a slender support or stem of something: drinking glasses with long stalks.DERIVATIVES: stalked adj. [in comb.] rough-stalked meadow grass.stalk·less adj.stalk·like / -ˌlīk/ adj.stalk·y adj.stalk² • v. 1. [tr.] pursue or approach stealthily: a cat stalking a bird. ∎  harass or persecute (someone) with unwanted and obsessive attention: for five years she was stalked by a man who would taunt and threaten her. ∎ chiefly poetic/lit. move silently or threateningly through (a place): the tiger stalks the jungle | fig. fear stalked the camp. 2. [intr.] stride somewhere in a proud, stiff, or angry manner: without another word she turned and stalked out.• n. 1. a stealthy pursuit of someone or something.2. a stiff, striding gait.

stalk. In the Corinthian capital, the representation of a stem, sometimes with flutes, from which the volutes rise.

stalk2 †walk stealthily OE.; pursue game by method of stealthy approach XIV (trans. XIX); walk with stiff measured steps XVI. Late OE. *stealcian (repr. in bistealcian and vbl. sb. stealcung) :- *stalkōjan, frequent. f. *stal-, *stel- STEAL.
Hence stalking-horse XVI

stalk1 slender stem of plant or flower. XIV. prob dim. of ME. stale, OE. stalu side of a ladder, stave, rel. to OE. stela stalk, support; cf. WFlem. stalke(n), Norw. dial. stalk
.

Stalk

of foresters: company of foresters—Bk. of St. Albans, 1486.