What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Stalk vs Stark - What's the difference?

stalk | stark |

As verbs the difference between stalk and stark

is that stalk is to approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer while stark is to stiffen.

As a noun stalk

is the stem or main axis of a plant, which supports the seed-carrying parts.

As an adjective stark is

hard, firm; obdurate.

As an adverb stark is

starkly; entirely, absolutely.

As a proper noun Stark is

{{surname}.

stalk

English

(wikipedia stalk)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) stalke, diminutive of stale'' 'ladder upright, stalk', from (etyl) stalu 'wooden upright', from (etyl) ).

Noun

(en noun)
  • The stem or main axis of a plant, which supports the seed-carrying parts.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, withon one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
  • The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
  • Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
  • :(Grew)
  • (lb) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
  • One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.
  • :(Chaucer)
  • (label)
  • #A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.
  • #The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
  • #The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
  • (lb) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) stalken, from (etyl) -).Robert K. Barnhart and Sol Steinmetz, eds., ''Chambers Dictionary of Etymology , s.v. "stalk2" (New York: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., 2006), 1057. Alternate etymology connects (etyl) 'to steal'.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To approach slowly and quietly in order not to be discovered when getting closer.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer.
  • *
  • *:But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking .
  • (lb) To (try to) follow or contact someone constantly, often resulting in harassment.(w)
  • :
  • (lb) To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:[Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, / Pressing to be employed.
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • (lb) To walk behind something, such as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover.
  • *(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • *:The king"I must stalk ," said he.
  • *(Michael Drayton) (1563-1631)
  • *:One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk .
  • Conjugation
    (en-conj-simple)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A particular episode of trying to follow or contact someone.
  • A hunt (of a wild animal).
  • References

    Etymology 3

    1530, 'to walk haughtily', perhaps from (etyl) 'high, lofty, steep, stiff'; see above

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To walk haughtily.
  • * Dryden
  • With manly mien he stalked along the ground.
  • * Addison
  • Then stalking through the deep, / He fords the ocean.
  • * Mericale
  • I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged.

    stark

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) stark, starc, from (etyl) stearc, . Related to (l). Modifying naked , an alternation of original .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (obsolete) Hard, firm; obdurate.
  • Severe; violent; fierce (now usually in describing the weather).
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=The climate of Tibet: Pole-land
  • , date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=80 , magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest . It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.}}
  • (rare) Strong; vigorous; powerful.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • a stark , moss-trooping Scot
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer.
  • Stiff, rigid.
  • * Spenser
  • Whose senses all were straight benumbed and stark .
  • * Shakespeare
  • Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff / Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • The north is not so stark and cold.
  • Hard in appearance; barren, desolate.
  • I picked my way forlornly through the stark , sharp rocks.
  • Complete, absolute, full.
  • I screamed in stark terror.
    A flower was growing, in stark contrast, out of the sidewalk.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • Consider the stark security / The common wealth is in now.
  • * Collier
  • He pronounces the citation stark nonsense.
  • * Selden
  • Rhetoric is very good or stark naught; there's no medium in rhetoric.
    Derived terms
    * (l)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • starkly; entirely, absolutely
  • He's gone stark , staring mad.
    She was just standing there, stark naked.
  • * Fuller
  • held him strangled in his arms till he was stark dead.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=“… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. …”}}
    Usage notes
    In standard modern English, the adverb is essentially restricted to stark naked'' and phrases meaning "crazy" on the pattern of ''stark raving mad .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) starken, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete, or, dialect) To stiffen.
  • Anagrams

    * * ----