Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1743, 1806-1999
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STALK, n. Also staak (Sh.), stawk, stack, stauk. Sc. usages:
1. (1) A long thin support or pedestal for an hour-glass in a church; the stem of a wine-glass.Mry. 1743 W. Cramond Ch. Urquhart (1899) 66:
Mending the stalk for the sand-glass.Rnf. 1831 Trial N. Turner 11:
Part of a dram glass, being the stalk and part of the cup.
†(2) The rod or spike of a flag buoy on a fleet of fishing lines.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (23 April):
A gude ramskin bow shü wis, an' da staak weel buskit wi' berry hedder.
(3) by mistake or confusion for Stack, n., 3.Sc. 1806 Gazetteer Scot. 149:
The Stalks of Dungisbay, are two pyramidal pillars, of naked freestone rock.
2. A chimney-stack (ne., m. and s.Sc. 1971).Sc. 1821 Scott Kenilworth iii.:
Twisted stalks of chimneys of heavy stonework.Per. 1849 T. H. Marshall Hist. Perth 454:
The chimney stalk is said to be a copy of Trajan's pillar, at Rome.w.Lth. 1882 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) IV. 137:
Brick by brick they build the stalk.Sc. 1885 Stevenson Dynamiter 134:
A great stalk of chimneys.Gsw. 1933 F. Niven Mrs. Barry xv.:
Great gaunt buildings with smoke-stacks (stalks they call them in these parts).Sc. 1999 Herald 10 Jul 11:
In the original drawings the central chimney - itself an extraordinary work in yellow brick - is marked with the word "stalk". This is both an old Scots word for a chimney, and a clue (at least what David Page takes to be a clue) of how Mackintosh wanted us to read the building.
3. A small amount of anything, a quantity, a grain.Dmf. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 295:
It differs from spark in its application, as being applied to dry bodies, as in "stawk of meal," "of salt," etc.Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 354:
'She has got a stalk of temper' — i.e. is passionate.
4. Comb. and phrs.: (1) stalk-raip, stack-rope, a rope passed through a ring on a stable manger, having a weight at one end and tied to the horse's stall-halter at the other (Abd. 1921 T.S.D.C.; Fif., Lnk., Dmf. 1971); (2) to be ca'ed, to gan, loup, aff the or its stalk, of the heart: to be arrested or stopped by a sudden fright, surprise or the like (Fif. 1971); (3) to pu stalks, to pull stalks of corn for the purpose of divination (see Burns Halloween vi.).(2) Slk. 1811 Spy (2 Feb.) 183:
Tho' far awa' the very crack o't [a gun] 'Maist gars my heart loup aff the stalk o't.Sc. 1820 A. Sutherland St. Kathleen IV. v.:
Ye'll mak' this puer lassie's heart loup aff the stauk gin ye dinna tak' tent.Fif. 1912 D. Rorie Mining Folk 403:
Sudden death is explained as due to the heart having been "ca'ed aff its stalk."Fif. 1957:
I got sic a fricht it near made my hert gan aff the stalk.(3) Gall. 1912 Gallovidian XIV. 180:
An' when drawing near to Halloween, When they were pu'in' stalks at e'en.
