Stalk borer

Stalk Stalk (st[add]k), n. [OE. stalke, fr. AS. st[ae]l, stel, a stalk. See {Stale} a handle, {Stall}.] 1. (Bot.) (a) The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp. (b) The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle, of a plant. [1913 Webster]

2. That which resembles the stalk of a plant, as the stem of a quill. --Grew. [1913 Webster]

3. (Arch.) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring. [1913 Webster]

4. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

To climb by the rungs and the stalks. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

5. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A stem or peduncle, as of certain barnacles and crinoids. (b) The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect. (c) The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans. [1913 Webster]

6. (Founding) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor. [1913 Webster]

{Stalk borer} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of a noctuid moth ({Gortyna nitela}), which bores in the stalks of the raspberry, strawberry, tomato, asters, and many other garden plants, often doing much injury. [1913 Webster]