Also 4–7 stalke, 6 stawk, 7 staulke, 7, 9 dial. stauk. [ME. stalke:—OE. *stealcian (implied in bistealcian = sense 1 and stealcung STALKING vbl. sb.):—prehistoric *stalkōjan, frequentative f. *stal- (: *stel-, see STEAL v.). Sense 4, which first appears in the 16th c., is perh. due to association with STALK sb.1; cf. Florio, 1611, ‘Fuscello, a stub, a sprig, a stalk … also spindle shankes or stalkeing legges’; also Norw. stelk, Icel. stelkur, a long-legged bird, the redshank.]
† 1. intr. To walk softly, cautiously or stealthily.
In quot. a. 1300 either refl. or with dative of the subject.
[c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxxii. 40. Hinguar færlice swa swa wulf on lande bestalcode and þa leode sloh.
c. 1000: see STALKING vbl. sb.]
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3601. Esau … Ga lok þi tacle be puruaid, And faand to stalk þe sa nere Þat þou mai drep me sum dere.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 1129 (Laud). He lokede in eche halke; Sey he nowere stalke Ayol hys trewe felawe.
a. 1320. Sir Tristrem, 2578. Tristrem and þe quen Stalked to her play.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2728. Þan hiȝed þei hem to þe hauen … And stalkeden ful stilly þer stoden fele schippes.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 519. Tho gan I stalke softly hym by-hynde.
a. 1375. How to hear Mass, 530, in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 507. Whon he [sc. the priest] haþ waschen … Priueliche and stille he stalkes To his Auter aȝeyn.
a. 1380. Eufrosyne, 390, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 178. I stunte, I stonde, vnstabli I stalke.
c. 1400. Beryn, 282. Madam! wol ye stalk pryuely into the garden to se the herbis grow.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 472/1. Stalkyn … serpo.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. xix. 243. He cam stylly stalkyng behynde the dwerf and plucked hym fast vnder his arme.
c. 1530. Crt. of Love, 1030. And stalking soft with easy pase, I saw About the king ther stonden environ, Attendance, Diligence,… and many oon.
1587. Turberv., Trag. Tales (1837), 30. There stalkte he on, as softe as foote could tread.
† b. said of an animal. Obs.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law of Arms (S.T.S.), 234. Quhen he herd ony wilde beste stalkand besyde him.
2. † To go stealthily to, towards (an animal) for the purpose of killing or capturing it (obs.). Hence, to pursue game by the method of stealthy approach, esp. by the use of a stalking-horse or of some device for concealing oneself from the view of the hunted animal.
a. 1400. King & Hermit, 321. Now, Crystes blyssing haue sych a frere, That þus canne ordeyn our soper, And stalke vnder þe wode bowe.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 21. His bowe he toke in hand toward þe deere to stalke.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 11. That no person from hensforth stauke or cause eny other person to stalke with eny boussh or bestys to eny Deere.
1570. Levins, Manip., 16/13. To stalke, venari.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 193. Lette him … carrye his hawke unhooded … stawking towardes them untill he have gotten reasonably neare them.
1621. Markham, Fowling, 55. To stalke with a Horse where no Horses liue or are bred … is absurde and losse of labor.
1622. Drayton, Poly-olb., xxv. 141. One vnderneath his Horse, to get a shoot doth stalke.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, II. 32. Thus shrowding his body in the skinne [of a deer] by stalking, he approacheth the Deere.
1815. Scott, Ld. of Isles, III. xiii. Awhile their route they silent made, As men who stalk for mountain-deer.
1819. Sporting Mag., V. 118. A gamekeeper, who may be stalking, which is going behind a horse, whose head is kept down that he may appear to be grazing.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, iii. 77. I came up with the troop, stalked in upon them, and shot a fine young bull.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, vi. 67. The roars completely ceased, and we knew that they [the lions] were stalking for their prey.
fig. 1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. iii. 96. O I, stalke on, stalke on, the foule sits. I did neuer thinke that Lady would haue loued any man.
1603. B. Jonson, Sejanus, III. ii. His franke tongue Being lent the raines, will take away all thought Of malice, in your course against the rest. We must keepe him to stalke with.
1647. J. C[leveland], Char. Lond.-Diurn., 5. He stalkes with Essex, and shoots under his belly.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. i. § 9. As well then may an Atheist say … that religion is nothing but a design, because men may make it stalke to their private ends.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Josephus, Antiq., XVII. vii. (1733), 462. To get the Reputation of a tender and dutiful Son … and so, to stalk under that Cloak, up to the King himself.
† b. trans. ? To involve by cunning devices, inveigle. Obs. rare–1.
1626. in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1659), I. 269. By the Artifices of the said Duke of Buckingham … the said Earl hath been insensibly involved and stauked into the troubles he is now in.
3. trans. a. To pursue (game) by stealthy approach. To stalk down: to follow or track (an animal) stealthily until one comes within range.
1823. Scott, Peveril, xxv. And for shooting him from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.
1845. C. A. Bury, in Zoologist, III. 971. He immediately proposed to a friend to get a horse and stalk them [wild swans].
1847. Marryat, Childr. New Forest, iv. I intend to buy you a gun, that you may learn to stalk deer yourself.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., vii. (1873), 178. No animal is more difficult to stalk than the giraffe.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, ii. 25. Lions always stalk their prey in complete silence. Ibid., xxvii. 309. We dismounted and stalked them [the eland] carefully through the long grass.
transf. and fig. 1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II. 68. As he was pursuing the deer, she stalked his lordship. Ibid. (1861), Philip, ix. Mrs. Matcham’s girl fished for Captain Woolcomb last year in Scotland,… and stalked him to Paris.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 13 Nov., 5/2. Their [sc. torpedo boats’] special function is to stalk ironclads at night time.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 188. One would hardly care to make a study of animal photography with a larger-sized apparatus than 1/1-plate. To stalk a flock of sheep with a 15 × 12 … would … be worse than futile.
1903. Morley, Gladstone (1905), I. III. viii. 435. Whigs and Peelites … were all ready at last to stalk down their crafty quarry.
b. To go through (a tract of country) stalking game.
1860. G. H. K., in Galton, Vac. Tour. (1861), 122. The hills I am going to stalk are under sheep.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 211. The troopers, deciding to stalk the bush on foot,… passed … silently through the trees.
4. intr. To walk with stiff, high, measured steps, like a long-legged bird. Usually with disparaging notion, implying haughtiness, sullenness, indifference to one’s surroundings, or the like. Also † to stalk it.
In dialect use, the predominant notion is often that of ungainliness.
1530. Palsgr., 732/1. I stalke, I go softly and make great strides, je vas a grans pas. He stalketh lyke a crane.
c. 1535. Redford, Play Wit & Sci. (1848), 8. Yt is he playne That thus bold doth make hym Wythowt my lycence To stalke by my doore.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl., Epil. 21. The elder sorte, go stately stalking on.
1591. H. Smith, Pride Nabuch., 4. Then was hee stalking in his galleries, and thinking what sinne should be next.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., IV. i. Others that will stalke i’ their gait like an Estrich.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 491. Who stalking high upon stilts, apply their minds to grasing, fishing and fowling.
1612. Benvenuto’s Passenger, I. iv. 317. He replied that it was they, which there stalke it,… with Ruffes, and blacke apparrell.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 402. About them round A Lion now he [Satan] stalkes with fierie glare.
1695. Blackmore, Pr. Arth., VIII. 656. Like one of Anak’s mighty Sons he stalk’d.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, June 1645. The noblemen stalking with their ladys on choppines.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. x. 540. A soldier of unusual size … stalkt about on the parapet.
1768. Beattie, Minstr., I. xxxix. The whistling ploughman stalks afield.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., L 3 b. Cambridgeshire camels…. Some have supposed this term to have originated from the Fen-men, stalking through the marshes on their stilts.
1815. Scott, Guy M., viii. The Dominie … might be seen stalking about with a mathematical problem in his head, and his eye upon a child of five years old.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 343. It was remembered but too well how the dragoons had stalked into the peasant’s cottage, cursing and damning him, themselves, and each other at every second word.
1862. C. C. Robinson, Dial. Leeds, 421. Stauk, to walk in an awkward manner, unmindful of appearances.
1906. Sir F. Treves, Highways Dorset, xi. 169. Its arched doorway, where pikemen stalked on guard.
fig. 1710. Addison, Whig-Exam., No. 4 ¶ 5. It stalks upon hard words and rattles through polysyllables.
1852. Hawthorne, Grandfather’s Chair, II. iii. (1879), 85. One urchin shall hereafter … stalk gravely through life.
1864. D. G. Mitchell, Sev. Stor., 264. Why should my fancy go stalking through that great Rubens Museum?
b. said of a bird or animal.
1600. Maydes Metam., I. in Bullen, O. Pl. (1882), I. 113. Marke the Deare how they begin to stalke; When each … Pricks vp his head and bears a Princely minde.
1601. Holland, Pliny, X. xxiii. I. 281. These Cranes … will … run the round with their long shankes staulking full untowardly.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 383. The Mother Lion … Scours o’er the Plain;… Demanding Rites of Love; she sternly stalks.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 195. A vagrant deer stalking like a shadow across the opening.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xxiii. No heron was seen stalking on the usual haunts of the bird.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, iv. 99. The stately stepping Marabout stalks slowly along the almost stagnant channels.
c. often said of ghosts, and fig. of quasi-personified maleficent agencies, as pestilence, famine, etc.
a. 1593. Marlowe, trans. 1st Bk. Lucan, 570 (1600). Fowle Erinnis stalkt about the wals, Shaking her snakie haire and crooked pine With flaming toppe.
1656. Cowley, Misc., On death W. Hervey, 22. As sullen Ghosts stalk speechless by Where their hid Treasures ly.
1719. Young, Busiris, I. i. Illustrious shades! who nightly stalk around The tyrant’s couch.
a. 1796. Burns, Tam Glen, vii. The last Halloween I was waukin My drouket sark-sleeve, as ye ken; His likeness cam up the house staukin—The very grey breeks o’ Tam Glen!
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, I. ix. That wild spirit of speculation which is now stalking abroad.
1846. Mill, Diss. & Disc. (1859), II. 306. Ate … is represented as a gigantic figure, who stalks forth furiously, diffusing ruin.
1850. Hawthorne, Scarlet L., xiii. None so self-devoted as Hester, when pestilence stalked through the town.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, v. 226. The plague was stalking grimly up and down the land.
d. trans. To march proudly through (a country, etc.). Also quasi-trans. with advb. accusative.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Tri., I. xlvii. Two bloudy sunnes stalking the duskie sphear.
1612. J. Taylor (Water P.), Sculler, D 4 b. With stately gate the peopled Burse he stalkes.
1742. Collins, Ode to Fear, 12. Danger … Who stalks his round, an hideous form!
1841. W. H. Ainsworth, Old St. Paul’s, I. i. Like a hideous phantom stalking the streets at noon-day, and scaring all in its path, Death took his course through London, and selected his prey at pleasure.
