[syn: stalk, stalking]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Stalk \Stalk\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stalked (st[add]kt); p. pr.
& vb. n. Stalking.] [AS. staelcan, stealcian to go slowly;
cf. stealc high, elevated, Dan. stalke to stalk; probably
akin to 1st stalk.]
1. To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy,
noiseless manner; -- sometimes used with a reflexive
pronoun. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Into the chamber he stalked him full still.
--Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
[Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's
fiend,
Pressing to be employed. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. To walk behind something as a screen, for the purpose of
approaching game; to proceed under cover.
[1913 Webster]
The king . . . crept under the shoulder of his led
horse; . . . "I must stalk," said he. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk.
--Drayton.
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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.
[1913 Webster]
With manly mien he stalked along the ground.
--Dryden.
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Then stalking through the deep,
He fords the ocean. --Addison.
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I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he
has long stalked alone and unchallenged. --Merivale.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
stalking
n 1: a hunt for game carried on by following it stealthily or
waiting in ambush [syn: stalk, stalking, still hunt]
2: the act of following prey stealthily [syn: stalk,
stalking]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
65 Moby Thesaurus words for "stalking":
chase, chevy, chivy, clandestine behavior, clandestinity, coursing,
covertness, cynegetics, dogging, domiciliary visit, dragnet,
exploration, falconry, follow, follow-up, following, forage,
fox hunting, frisk, furtiveness, gunning, hawking, house-search,
hue and cry, hunt, hunting, perquisition, posse, probe,
prosecution, prowl, prowling, pursuance, pursuing, pursuit, quest,
ransacking, rummage, search, search party, search warrant,
search-and-destroy operation, searching, seeking, shadowing,
shiftiness, shikar, shooting, slinkiness, slyness, sneakiness,
sport, sporting, stalk, stealth, stealthiness, still hunt,
surreptitiousness, tracking, tracking down, trailing, turning over,
underground activity, underhand dealing, venery