stalemate (stalmat)

[Prob. 5892 che , a position in which a player, having to move in his turn, and his king not being in check, has no move available with any piece: in such a case the game is drawn; figuratively, any position in which no action can be taken. It would be disgraceful indeed if a great country like Ru ia should have run herself into such a stale-mate position. stalklet He kan wel in myn eye seen a stalke , But in his owene he kan nat seen a balke. Chaucer, Prol. to Reeve's Tale, 1. 65. 4. In arch., an ornament in the Corinthian cap ital which resembles the stalk of a plant, and is sometimes fluted. From it the volutes or helices spring. Compare caulis and cauliculus. Contemporary Rev., L. 444. -5t. One of the upright side-pieces of a ladder, stalemate (stal'mat), v. t.; pret. and pp. stale- in which the rounds or steps are placed. mated, ppr. stalemating. [ still; nonplus. I had regularly stalemated him. .. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. xviii. "I beg your pardon, sir," said Fred, "I like neither Bulstrode nor speculation." He spoke rather sulkily, feeling himself stalemated . George Eliot , Middle march, xii. stalene (stal'nes), n. The state of being stale, in any sense. stalk i (stak), v. [ stalken , stælcan , stealcian , walk warily, = Dan. stalke , stalk: ( a ) lit. walk stealthily, steal along; with formative -k , from the root of stelan (pret. stæl ), steal: see steall , and cf. stale1 , n. (b) In another view the AS. stælcan , stealcian , is connected with stealc , high, and means 'walk high, i. e. on tiptoe, being referred ult. to the same source as stalk2 , and perhaps stilt . For the form stalk as related to stalel (and steall ), cf. talk as related to tale (and tell ).] I. in trans. 1. To walk cautiously or stealthily; steal along; creep. In the night ful theefly gan he stalke . Chaucer , Good Women, 1. 1781. The shadows of familiar things about him stalked like ghosts through the haunted chambers of his soul. Long fellow , Hyper i on, iv. 8. 2. To steal up to game under cover of something else; hunt game by approaching stealthily and warily behind a cover. The king [James] alighted out of his coach, and crept under the shoulder led horse. And when some asked his Majesty what he meant, I must stalk (said he), for yonder town is shy and flies me. Bacon, Apophthegms, published by Dr. Ten is on in the [Bacon i an a, xi. Dull stupid Lentulus, My stale, with whom I stalk . B. Jonson, Cat i line, iii. 3. 3. To walk with slow, dignified strides; pace in a lofty, imposing manner. Here stalks me by a proud and spangled sir, That looks three handfuls [palms] higher than his foretop. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iii. 4. II. trans. In sporting , to pursue stealthily, or behind a cover; follow warily for the purpose of killing, as game. When a lion is very hungry, and lying in wait, the sight of an animal may make him commence stalking it. Living stone. ( Imp. Dict.) There came three men outside the hedge,... not walking carele ly, but following down the hedge-trough, as if to stalk some enemy. R. D. Black more , Lorna Doone, xxxviii. stalk1 (stak), n. [ stalk1 , v.] 1. The pursuit of game by stealthy approach or under cover. I took up the trail of a large bull elk, and, though after a while I lost the track, in the end I ran acro the animal itself, and after a short stalk got a shot at the noble looking fellow. The Century, XXX. 224. 2. A high, proud, stately step or walk. His owene hande made laddres thre To clymben by the ronges and the stalkes Into the tubbes, hangynge in the balkes. Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 439. 6. The shaft or handle of anything, especially when slender, likened to the stalk of a plant; the stem: as, the stalk of a wine-gla ; the stalk of a tobacco-pipe.-7. In zoöl., some part or organ like a stalk; a stem; a stipe. (a) A pedicel or peduncle; a footstalk; a supporting part: as, the stalk of some barnacles. (b) An eyestalk, as of various crustaceans and mollusks; an ophthalmite or ommatophore. (c) The petiole of the abdomen of many insects, especially hymen opters, as wasps and ants. (d) The stem, shaft, or rachis of a feather. (e) The stem of a fixed crinoid and of various other animals of plant-like habit, as as rooted zoophytes. 8. A tall chimney, as of a furnace, factory, or laboratory. Twisted stalks of chimneys of heavy stonework. Scott , Kenilworth, iii. E. H. 9. In founding, an iron rod armed with spikes, used to form the nucleus of a core. Knight. - Optic stalk. See optic. stalk-borer (ståk'bōr"ėr), n. The larva of Gor tyna nitela, a noctuid moth of North America, which is noted as a pest to potato, corn, tomato, and a number of other plants. The larvæ bore into the stalks, killing them, and when full-grown leave the plant and pupate below ground.