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omething used to cover up a secret project; a mask; a pretense. Hypocrisy is the devil's stalking-horse under an affectation of simplicity and religion. L'Estrange. How much more abominable is it to make of him [Christ] and religion a stalking-horse, to get and enjoy the world! Bunyan.

Having no stalk.

Hard as a stalk; resembling a stalk. At the top [it] bears a great stalky head. Mortimer.

Not talked; not mentioned; -- often with of. Shak.

A whipstock.

300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc. Very few are found in temperate climates.

Having a terminal fructification; having the fruit at the end of the stalk.

romatic umbelliferous plant (Archangelica officinalis or Angelica archangelica) the leaf stalks of which are sometimes candied and used in confectionery, and the roots and seeds as an aromatic tonic.

Any tree genus Pyrus which has the stalk sunken into the base of the fruit; an apple tree.

nable to imagine that a friend, a kind and apprehensive . . . friend, is listening to our talk. Hawthorne.

Resembling a tree; becoming woody in stalk; dendritic; having crystallizations disposed like the branches and twigs of a tree. "Arborescent hollyhocks." Evelyn.

Bent or curved in the form of a bow. "Arcuate stalks." Gray.

To study or to talk astronomy. [R.] They astronomized in caves. Sir T. Browne.

To talk incoherently; to utter unmeaning words.

An idle talker; an irrational prater; a teller of secrets. Great babblers, or talkers, are not fit for trust. L'Estrange.

Trashy talk. [Obs.] Ascham.

imber, ships, etc., esp. (a) the sessile species (genus Balanus and allies), and (b) the stalked or goose barnacles (genus Lepas and allies). See Cirripedia, and Goose barnacle. Barnacle eater (Zoöl.), the orange filefish. -- Barnacle scale (Zoöl.), a bark louse (Ceroplastes cirripediformis) of the orange and quince t…

Much talking; prattle; chatter. Byron.

A compartment in a barn, for depositing hay, or grain in the stalks.

the object of belief. Superstitious prophecies are not only the belief of fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men. Bacon.