stalk
/stoːk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
noun
An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
noun
The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
noun
The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "grape stalks"
- "they appear to be made up of little Bladders , like those in the Plume or Stalk of a Quill"
- "As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer."
- "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."
Etymology
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *stel-, stalke, *stealc, *staluk, *stalukaz, *stalô
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /stoːk/
- British English: /stɔːk/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Botany, Medicine.