Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
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.

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.