Stalk, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stalked p. pr. & vb. n. Stalking.]
1. To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner; -- sometimes used with a reflexive pronoun.
Into the chamber he stalked him full still. --Chaucer.
[Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend,
Pressing to be employed. --Dryden.
2. To walk behind something as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
The king . . . crept under the shoulder of his led horse; . . . =\“I must stalk,” said he.\= --Bacon.
One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk. --Drayton.
3. To walk with high and proud steps; -- usually implying the affectation of dignity, and indicating dislike. The word is used, however, especially by the poets, to express dignity of step.
With manly mien he stalked along the ground. --Dryden.
Then stalking through the deep,
He fords the ocean. --Addison.
I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged. --Merivale.
stalking
adj : moving silently and deliberately; especially pursuing
stealthily and persistently; "we watched the stalking
tiger approach his prey"; "a stalking specter on the
castle walls at midnight"
n 1: a hunt for game carried on by stalking or waiting in ambush
[syn: stalk, still hunt]
2: the act of following prey stealthily [syn: stalk]