Also 4–7 stalke, 7 staulk, 8 Sc. stawk. [ME. (14th c.) stalke, app. a dim. with k suffix f. stal- in STALE sb.2 (? OE. stalu). The exact formal equivalent does not occur in the other Teut. langs., but a parallel formation from the ablaut-variant stel- in OE. stela STEAL sb., stem, handle, etc.) is found in NFris. stelk, MSw. stiälke, stiälker (mod.Sw. stjelk, stjälk), Norw. stylk, stilk, stelk, stalk, Da. stilk, mod.Icel. stilk-ur. Cf. Eng. dial. stelch, post, stake.]
1. The main stem of a herbaceous plant, bearing the flowers and leaves; also, a scape or flower-stem rising directly from the root.
a. 1366. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1701. The stalke [Fr. la coe] was as rysshe right And theron stode the knoppe vpright.
1382. Wyclif, Hosea viii. 7. A stondynge stalk [Vulg. culmus stans] is not in hem.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxvi. (1495), 711. The mydyll stalke of an herbe or of a tree highte Tirsus.
1412–20. Lydg., Troy Bk., I. 3106. Floures … Vp-on her stalke gan splaie her levis wyde.
1483. Cath. Angl., 359/1. A Sstalke, calamus.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Frutex, that which hath a great stalke and yet it is no tree, as fenelle.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 33. Beanes … both the Coddes and the stalke, is a foode that cattel muche delightes in.
1591. Spenser, Bellay’s Ruines Rome, xxx. Like as the seeded field … from greene grasse into a stalke doth spring, And from a stalke into an eare forth-growes.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. li. 269. Dwale, or sleeping Nightshade hath round blackish stalks sixe foote high.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, II. 28. Every stalke of their corne commonly beareth two eares.
1640. T. Brugis, Marrow of Physicke, II. 147. To dry Lettice Stalkes, Artichocke Stalkes, or Cabbage Stalkes.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 480. So from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aerie.
c. 1680. Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 548. Having filled a sponge with vinegar … they put it upon a stalk of hyssop.
c. 1730. Ramsay, To D. Malloch, vii. Misty minds that plod And thresh for thought, but ne’er advance Their stawk aboon their clod.
1776. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., Expl. Terms 378. Scapus, a Stalk, elevating the Fructification and not the Leaves.
1779. Cowper, Olney H., I. lxxxv. We find a tall and sickly stalk But not the fruitful ear.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, iv. 92. The stalk of flax that waves in my field.
1839. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 87. It is a long green reed, like the stalk of the maize.
1910. H. B. Money-Coutts, in Blackw. Mag., Feb., 263/2. I … looked through the rough tangle of stalks and stems.
b. The woody core of hemp and flax.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 39 b. The Shales or Stalkes [of hemp] serue for the heating of Ouens.
1838. [see BOON sb.2].
† c. ? nonce-use. A bit of straw, a ‘mote.’
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s Prol., 65. He kan wel in myn eye seen a stalke But in his owene he kan nat seen a balke.
2. The comparatively slender connecting part by which a vegetable organ is attached to the plant; the petiole of a leaf, the peduncle or pedicel of a flower, fruit, or inflorescence, the stipe of an ovary, or the like.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 150. Outez l’estiche et la parure [gloss the stalke and the paring], E lour donez la morsure [gloss the body of the appel].
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. met. vi. (1868), 26. Þe stalkes of þe vine [L. palmites].
1530. Palsgr., 375/1. Stalke of any frute, queve.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Pediculus,… the stalke of an apple or peare, or other frute.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 82. They gather a darke or blackish kind of cherry, and casting away the stalkes, put them into a great cauldron.
1632. Marmion, Holland’s Leaguer, II. v. Have my love Shak’d off because ’tis ripe, but let me hang by The stalk of your mercy.
1808. Scott, Marm., III. xvii. I on its stalk had left the rose.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1090/2. Stalk, the stem or support to an organ; as the petiole of a leaf, the peduncle or pedicel of a flower, &c.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 105. The half-spindle-shaped ones [sc. cystoliths of Acanthaceæ] are attached by a very thin short stalk.
1909. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, iv. 89. The man of science says, ‘Cut this stalk and the apple will fall.’
b. A similar slender connecting part by which an animal organ or structure is attached or supported.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxxiii. 357. Stipes (the Stalk). The corneous base of the Maxilla, below the Palpus.
1866. Tate, Brit. Mollusks, iii. 47. The head bears two … tentacles … with the stalks bearing the eyes attached to them on the outside.
1899. D. Sharp, Insects, II. 317. When a portion of a nervure beyond the basal or primary portion serves as a common piece to two forked parts external to it, it is called a stalk.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 824. The ‘stalk’ of the tumour.
† 3. The SHANK of a hawk. Obs.
c. 1575. Perf. Bk. Kepinge Sparhawkes (1886), 5. Tokens of a good Hawke:… stalke short and bygg: foot large, wyde, [etc.]. Ibid., 31. Good for any swellinge in fote or stalke.
4. Applied to various erect slender objects.
† a. The upright of a ladder: = STALE sb.2 1.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 439. His owene hand made laddres thre To clymben by the ronges and the stalkes In to the tubbes hangynge in the balkes.
b. The shaft of a chimney. Cf. STACK sb. 5 b.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., iii. Twisted stalks of chimneys of heavy stone-work.
1838. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 406/2. Vast improvements have been made … in building stalks for steam boilers and chemical furnaces.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 280. To … increase the solidity of an insulated stalk of this kind, it is built with three or more successive plinths, or recedures.
1885. R. L. & F. Stevenson, Dynamiter, 134. A great stalk of chimneys.
c. A columnar rock; = STACK sb. 7. local.
1806. Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2), 149. The Stalks of Dungisbay, as they are called, are two pyramidal pillars, of naked freestone rock.
5. The main part of anything long and slender, as distinguished from the extremities.
1530. Palsgr., 275/1. Stalke of a shafte, fust.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 221. The tops of the hair appeare blacke, the foot and stalke being white.
† b. The shaft of a quill; a quill. Obs.
c. 1440. Lydg., Hors, Shepe & G., 183. Men plukke stalkes out of my weengis tweyn, Some to portraye, somme to noote & write.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 172. I tried it by fixing the leggs of a Fly upon the top of the stalk of a feather.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. § 2. ii. 22. The Plume or Stalk of a Quill.
† c. The stem of a fork or spoon. Obs.
a. 1423. in Archæologia, LXI. 173. j fork of siluer wt a Dragouns hede holding up the stalk for grenynges.
1496. Will of Dynham (Somerset Ho.). A forke of siluer with a stalke of corall for grene ginger.
1522. Will of P. Baynard (ibid.). A doseyn sponys where p is in the stalk.
d. The tube or stem of a thermometer.
1833. N. Arnott, Physics (ed. 5), II. 111. It is easy to proportion the bulb and the stalk to each other, so that [etc.].
6. A slender upright support; the stem of a wine-glass.
a. 1864. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), II. 88. Old drinking-glasses, with tall stalks.
1882. J. G. Phillip, in L. Shaw’s Hist. Moray, I. 202. It is a chalice or cup [of the Bronze Period]…. Its great peculiarity was that it had neither handle nor stalk.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 72. The teeth rise on stalks from the body of the escape wheel.
† 7. Sc. Some appendage to a halter. Obs.
1497. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 328. Item, for ane doubil helter with tua stalkis. Ibid. (1501), II. 29. ij … heltir stalkis.
8. Ironfounding. (See quot.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stalk, an iron rod armed with spikes, forming the nucleus of a core.
9. Arch. (See quot.)
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Stalk, an ornament in the Corinthian capital, which is sometimes fluted, and resembles the stalk of a plant; from it spring the volutes and helices.
10. attrib. as stalk-like adj.; stalk-borer U.S., the larva of a moth, Gortyna nitela, destructive to plants; stalk-cutter U.S., an implement for cutting old maize stalks in the ground; stalk-eyed a., having the eye at the end of a stalk, podophthalmate; stalk-fruited a. = PEDUNCULATE a.; † stalk-legged a., long-legged, spindle-shanked; stalk-puller, an implement for pulling cotton and hemp stalks from the ground.
1885. Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), II. 451. The *stalk-borer.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stalk-cutter.
1853. T. Bell (title), A history of the British *stalk-eyed Crustacea.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, App. 68. The old English Oak, or *Stalk-fruited Oak (Quercus robur or Quercus pedunculata), in which the acorns grow on stalks.
1659. Torriano, Fuscello, a spindle-shank, or *stalk-legged fellow.
1839–47. Todd, Cycl. Anat., III. 678/1. The crura cerebri are seen … to enter *stalk-like, into the inferior surface of the cerebral hemispheres.
1888. Rutley, Rock-Forming Min., 184. Stalk-like or reedy forms are likewise of frequent occurrence.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stalk-puller.
