1The main stem of a herbaceous plant.

1. 1.1The slender attachment or support of a leaf, flower, or fruit.
   ‘the acorns grow on stalks’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Its heart-shaped leaves float on the water surface and five-petaled white flowers rise on little stalks above the leaves.’
   • ‘They attack young leaves, flower stalks and buds.’
   • ‘Exacerbated by warm, humid weather, red blotch infects leaves, flower stalks, blooms and bulb scales.’
   • ‘Fruit stalks grow on the canes, not on branches.’
   • ‘A couple of weeks before the dramatic colours of autumn begin to appear, a layer of cells starts to grow where the leaf stalk joins the branch.’
   • ‘These buds are themselves developing beside the leaf stalk on the shoots as they grow in spring.’
   • ‘In order to get a good grip on the shoot, the leaves were bent upwards and the leaf stalks gripped.’
   • ‘In early summer, foot-long flower stalks poke above the mounds of leaves.’
   • ‘After blooms fade, cut flower stalks close to the ground, leaving healthy green leaves in place to nourish next year's growth.’
   • ‘The number of florets on the flower stalk depends on the size of the bulb.’
   • ‘Dig and gather a few rhizomes; remove the leaf stalks and the fibrous roots.’
   • ‘It looks somewhat like a firework the way the slim branches shoot up and out, topped by the yellow flowers on umbrella-like stalks which carry the delicious name of umbels.’
   • ‘So if you've still got some of the sunny flowers nodding on their stalks in your garden, borrow some of their petals.’
   • ‘When the winter has been mild like this year, the flower stalk will elongate in early March.’
   • ‘Cut off dead stalks and leaves from perennials, then top-dress the beds with 2 to 3 inches of compost and a sprinkling of fertilizer.’
   • ‘Emphasis should be on good soil drainage because free water on the surface may cause decay at the crown or at the bases of the leaf stalks.’
   • ‘The spinach should have thick leaves with the biggest stalks removed - tedious, I know, but worth it.’
   • ‘After flowering, the stalks curl into a coil, drawing the seed capsule down on top of the tuber.’
   • ‘According to legend the shamrock, with its three leaves on the single stalk, was used by St. Patrick to explain the mystery of the Christian Trinity to the pagan Irish.’
   • ‘Long, leggy flower stalks indicate insufficient light.’
   Synonyms

   stem, shoot, trunk, stock, cane, bine, bent, haulm, straw, reed

   View synonyms
2. 1.2A stalklike support for a sessile animal, or for an organ in an animal.
   ‘Their eyes are situated on the top of the head, sometimes on stalks, and their nostrils are tubular.’
   More example sentences

   • ‘From these same lobsters, we had initially removed the eyestalks and then quickly dissected the sinus glands from both eye - stalks.’
   • ‘Some deep-sea crinoids have a third body portion, the stalk.’
   • ‘Disarticulation is highly variable among echinoderms; stalks are most commonly observed as disarticulated columnals or segments.’
   • ‘Without warning the stalks supporting the crab's beady black eyes shoot straight up at me.’
   • ‘Sclerites are mounted on short stalks of the integument, connected to the undersurface of the central disc, and are external to the body surface.’
   • ‘However, C. sanwuia, with both a calyx and a stalk, differs from phoronids in mode of life and body architecture.’
   • ‘The hypoblast gives rise to extra-embryonic structures such as the stalk of the yolk sac, whereas the embryo proper is formed from the remaining blastoderm cells, known as the epiblast.’
   • ‘Finally, the retina and retinal pigment epithelium differentiate from the optic cup, and the optic nerve develops from the optic stalk.’
   • ‘Later eocrinoids evolved a long stalk with columnals, like crinoids and blastoids.’
   • ‘Closer examination revealed a pair of compound eyes mounted on movable stalks, protruding from a burrow and rotating independently, like the periscopes of a submarine.’
   • ‘To avoid being knocked off and carried out to open water, the anemone secrets a very strong adhesive substance at the foot of its stalk that allows it to stay put in the most turbulent situations.’
   • ‘This fossil has been reconstructed with a hypothetical stalk anchored in the substrate, as if supporting a frondose body in a reclined position.’
   • ‘Pedunculate barnacles, with fleshy stalks, suffer from reduced preservational potential.’
   • ‘Because R. kirbyi also possesses the longest stalk in the fauna, it is likely that the crown of adult specimens was elevated above those of all other crinoids.’
   • ‘A fiddler crab's eyes are mounted on stalks that point straight up, and they command a panoramic, 360-degree view.’
   • ‘Eyestalk length was divided into short to medium stalks or long stalks.’
   • ‘The dura also forms a diaphragm above the pituitary gland, through which passes the pituitary stalk, joining the gland to the hypothalamus.’
   • ‘This ambulatory session is done by a preliminary biopsy of the gland stalk and with minimum invasive laparoscopic instrumentation.’
   • ‘The tip of the optic stalk is a considerable distance from the surface ectoderm.’
3. 1.3A slender support or stem of an object.
   ‘drinking glasses with long stalks’
   More example sentences

   • ‘You cannot assume airs and graces when you are stuck behind a stripped pine desk, with a wee stalk of a microphone in front of you and the media hanging over the banisters waiting to detect the first signs of pomposity and expose it to ridicule.’
   • ‘This mobile object seemed to have a fragile stalk.’
   • ‘First, we deal with the case of elastic legs that are connected to the stalk through a free joint.’
4. 1.4(in a vehicle) a lever on the steering column controlling the indicators, lights, etc.
   ‘the control stalk on the car's fascia’
   More example sentences

   • ‘The stalks controlling lights and windscreen wipers are to European standards, with lights to the left and wipers to the right.’
   • ‘The only annoyance is that the wiper and light control stalks remain on the Japanese sides of the steering wheel.’
   • ‘There are steering column stalks to control the audio and cruise control and expect to find plenty of cubby holes and storage bins.’
   • ‘In fact, the car feels solid from tip to toe, from the thick doors to the low-slung seats and including the nicely cushioned stalks on the steering column.’
   • ‘The other controls are familiar to all BMW users, but it was a little too easy to catch the stalk for cruise control when trying to operate the turn indicators.’
   • ‘The cruise controls mounted on the indicator stalk are hidden by the steering wheel.’
   • ‘Sadly the cars come with plastic indicator stalks as standard but once these had been replaced with the stainless steel variety the interior is perfect.’
   • ‘However, one problem encountered during the test drives was the closeness of the indicator stalk with that controlling the cruise control system.’
   • ‘Old British cars used to have an indicator stalk similarly disposed, and it feels entirely natural in such machines.’
   • ‘The only really hidden item was the stalk with the cruise control, but since I personally dislike cruise control, this was no great loss from my point of view.’
   • ‘Both indicator and wiper stalks return to the centre point after each prod, making it harder to divine instantly what they have just done or where they are set.’
   • ‘For the driver, the instruments are easy to read and use, although the door mirror control is hidden by a steering wheel stalk, and a bit of fumbling is needed to use it.’
   • ‘So from the driver's seat, and looking straight ahead, there are no instruments other than those attached to the steering wheel, such as indicator and lighting stalks.’
   • ‘As usual with Saab, the design of the instruments and controls is almost perfect although the cruise control stalk is partly hidden from view.’
   • ‘The stalk control used to operate the radio also seems less effective then Renault's version.’
   • ‘These are irritations, but the fact that the lights and wiper stalks have not been swapped to suit European drivers is a real nuisance.’
   • ‘Note that the indicator and wiper stalks have a new action that takes time to get used to.’
   • ‘The first time I indicated, I nearly put the car on cruise control, which is what the visible stalk to the left of the wheel actually does.’
   • ‘All the major controls are to hand, although the fiddly wiper stalk on the left and the indicators on the right caused me to make turns with the wipers going full blast on more than one occasion.’
   • ‘My only grumble was with the soft-touch indicator stalk.’

1Pursue or approach stealthily.

1. 1.1mainly literary Move silently or threateningly through (a place)
   ‘the tiger stalks the jungle’
   More example sentences

   • ‘fear stalked the camp’
   • ‘But then someone's got to care in a world where Dr Death makes housecalls and fear stalks the land.’
   • ‘But, as former judge Lord Scarman said a quarter of a century ago, it is when fear is stalking the land that bills of rights are needed most.’
   • ‘Over the next few days, the tiger stalked the area, leaving footprints in the surrounds.’
   • ‘My naivete was shaken some years ago, much before the fear and insecurity that stalks our streets today.’
   • ‘Before dropping off underneath a wispy mosquito net, my last thought is: who knows what creatures stalk this place?’
   • ‘While police attempt to calm fears that a serial attacker is stalking the borough, many residents remain concerned about their safety.’
   • ‘The house was higgledy piggledy - in fact they even had a pot-bellied pig - and an unsettlingly large turkey stalked the place.’
   • ‘Country life is seriously threatened… deprivation is now stalking the countryside…’
   • ‘We have just passed through the witching hour that is Hallowe'en, relic of a medieval past when ghosts and spirits were thought to stalk the land on All Hallow's Eve.’
   • ‘Outside, coots and herons stalk the downtown canals.’
   • ‘Perhaps Euclid's ghost is stalking the English countryside by night, leaving its distinctive mark wherever it happens to alight.’
   • ‘When talking to many poor peasant informers, she noticed that ‘hunger and want were stalking the land’.’
   • ‘A third of the population is illiterate, and 600,000 people are stalked by malnutrition.’
   • ‘I watched the slate-feathered bird stalking a shallow eddy for maybe fifteen minutes before she flew upstream.’
   • ‘October is an excellent month to stalk the shorelines of small lakes and ponds for aggressive bass.’
   • ‘A mysterious creature described as a cross between a kangaroo, a leopard, a monkey and a cat is stalking Salisbury.’
   • ‘The mystery of whether big cats are stalking Pembrokeshire is no closer to being solved, after laboratory analysis of faeces failed to prove their existence.’
   • ‘According to legend, Conan Doyle was intrigued by the tale of a mythical black hound that stalked the moors at night.’
   • ‘Despite the conditions, they're as alert as ever, for stalking these hills are Patagonia pumas, cats that can pull down guanacos twice their weight.’
   • ‘They stalk the darkness between the trees, hunting for the living.’

2Harass or persecute (someone) with unwanted and obsessive attention.

3no object, with adverbial of direction Stride somewhere in a proud, stiff, or angry manner.

1A stealthy pursuit of someone or something.

2A stiff, striding gait.