Part 727

I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged.

Mericale.

Stalk (?), v. t. To approach under cover of a screen, or by stealth, for the purpose of killing, as game.

As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.

Sir W. Scott.

Stalk, n. A high, proud, stately step or walk.

Thus twice before, . . . With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

Shak.

The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped.

Spenser.

Stalked (?), a. 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.

Stalk"er (?), n. 1. One who stalks.

2. A kind of fishing net.

Stalk"-eyed` (?), a. (Zoöl.) Having the eyes raised on a stalk, or peduncle; -- opposed to sessile-eyed. Said especially of podophthalmous crustaceans.

Stalk-eyed crustaceans. (Zoöl.) See Podophthalmia.

Stalk"ing-horse (?), n. 1. A horse, or a figure resembling a horse, behind which a hunter conceals himself from the game he is aiming to kill.

2. Fig.: 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.

Stalk"less, a. Having no stalk.

Stalk"y (?), a. Hard as a stalk; resembling a stalk.

At the top bears a great stalky head.

Mortimer.

Stall (stl), n. [OE. stal, AS. steall, stall, a place, seat, or station, a stable; akin to D. & OHG. stal, G. & Sw. stall, Icel. stallr, Dan. stald, originally, a standing place; akin to G. stelle a place, stellen to place, Gr. ste`llein to set, place, send, and E. stand. √163. See Stand, and cf. Apostle, Epistle, Forestall, Install, Stale, a. & v. i., 1st Stalk, Stallion, Still.] 1. A stand; a station; a fixed spot; hence, the stand or place where a horse or an ox is kept and fed; the division of a stable, or the compartment, for one horse, ox, or other animal. "In an oxes stall." Chaucer.

2. A stable; a place for cattle.