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The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp.

Having the eyes raised on a stalk, or peduncle; -- opposed to sessile-eyed. Said especially of podophthalmous crustaceans. Stalked- eyed crustaceans. (Zoöl.) See Podophthalmia.

Having a stalk or stem; borne upon a stem. Stalked barnacle (Zoöl.), a goose barnacle, or anatifer; -- called also stalk barnacle. -- Stalked crinoid (Zoöl.), any crinoid having a jointed stem.

One who stalks.

Something 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.

A stalk of Indian corn.

One who practices deerstalking.

The hunting of deer on foot, by stealing upon them unawares.

One of the movable peduncles which, in the decapod Crustacea, bear the eyes at the tip.

The stalk of a leaf or of flower; a petiole, pedicel, or reduncle.

A stalk of hay.

The stalk or petiole which supports a leaf.

A whipstock.

y 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.

aromatic 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.

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