stalk

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(one's) eyes are out on stalks

1. One is looking at someone in a way that indicates sexual interest. Of course he likes you—his eyes are out on stalks every time he sees you! That girl's eyes are out on stalks, so why don't you go over and say hi? Hey, I think this guy is gonna buy you a drink—his eyes are totally out on stalks.
2. One is looking at something with wonder or awe. My brother loves superhero movies, so his eyes will definitely be out on stalks when he sees the trailer for this one. When Matt brought out one of the original action figures, in mint condition, I swear, my eyes were out on stalks! Callie's eyes were out on stalks the first time she met Santa Claus.
See also: eye, on, out, stalk

Facebook stalk

To attempt to learn more about a person (typically someone whom one does not know very well) by looking at their Facebook profile, posts, photos, etc. I Facebook stalked Josh yesterday and saw no signs of a girlfriend, so, you're welcome. Ugh, Facebook stalking people I went to high school with is just depressing anymore. They all have kids and houses and intense careers, and here I am, living at home. I don't want to Facebook stalk my date, I want to get to know him organically—and in person!
See also: Facebook, stalk

Facebook stalking

The act of attempting to learn more about a person (typically someone whom one does not know very well) by looking at their Facebook profile, posts, photos, etc. I did some Facebook stalking yesterday and saw no signs that Josh has a girlfriend, so, you're welcome. Ugh, Facebook stalking of people I went to high school with is just depressing anymore. They all have kids and houses and intense careers, and here I am, living at home. No Facebook stalking my date, I want to get to know him organically—and in person!
See also: Facebook, stalk

FB stalk (someone)

To attempt to learn more about a person (typically someone whom one does not know very well) by looking at their Facebook profile, posts, photos, etc. I FB stalked Josh yesterday and saw no signs of a girlfriend, so, you're welcome. Ugh, FB stalking people I went to high school with is just depressing anymore. They all have kids and houses and intense careers, and here I am, living at home. I don't want to FB stalk my date, I want to get to know him organically—and in person!
See also: FB, stalk

FB stalking

The act of attempting to learn more about a person (typically someone whom one does not know very well) by looking at their Facebook profile, posts, photos, etc. I did some FB stalking yesterday and saw no signs that Josh has a girlfriend, so, you're welcome. Ugh, FB stalking of people I went to high school with is just depressing anymore. They all have kids and houses and intense careers, and here I am, living at home. No FB stalking my date, I want to get to know him organically—and in person!
See also: FB, stalk

stalk in

To enter (some place) in a haughty, stiff, or threatening manner. The entire room fell quiet as the count stalked in without a word. The boss stalked in the office with a horrible scowl on his face, so we knew there was bad news on the way.
See also: stalk

stalk into (some place)

To enter some place in a haughty, stiff, or angry manner. Everyone fell quiet as the count stalked into the room without a word. The boss stalked into the office with a horrible scowl on his face, so we knew there was bad news on the way.
See also: stalk

stalk out

To leave (some place) in a haughty, stiff, or threatening manner. The entire room fell quiet as the count stood up and stalked out without a word. The boss stalked out of the office with a horrible scowl on his face after the financial reports were released.
See also: out, stalk

stalk out of (some place)

To leave some place in a haughty, stiff, or angry manner. Everyone fell quiet as the count stood up and stalked out of the room without a word. The boss stalked out of the office with a horrible scowl on his face after the financial reports were released.
See also: of, out, stalk

stalking horse

1. A political candidate who attempts to supplant the current party leader, solely to gauge how much support the incumbent has. He doesn't actually want to be elected—he's just a stalking horse who's trying to see how fractured our party really is.
2. Something that conceals a person's true intentions. I'm afraid that this deal is just a stalking horse for a more nefarious long-term plan.
See also: horse, stalk
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

stalk in(to some place)

to stride into a place, perhaps indignantly. Carl stalked into the manager's office and began his tirade. He stalked in and began to complain.
See also: stalk

stalk out of

some place to stride out of a place indignantly. Jeff stalked out of the store and went straight to the police. Mary got angry and stalked out of the meeting.
See also: of, out, stalk
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

a stalking horse

1. If you describe an event or an action as a stalking horse, you mean that it is being used to help someone get what they really want at a later date. The development will act as a stalking horse for further exploitation of the surrounding countryside. Limits on union contributions will be a stalking horse to break the relationship between the party and the unions. Note: This expression is usually used to show disapproval.
2. In politics, a stalking horse is someone who stands against the leader of a party to test the strength of any opposition to the leader. They then withdraw in favour of a stronger challenger, if it looks likely that the leader can be defeated. There was even talk of one of them standing for the leadership as a stalking horse for the real contender. Note: You can also use stalking horse before a noun. The notion of a stalking horse challenge at the autumn party conference seemed highly unlikely. Note: Stalking horses were horses that were used by hunters. They were trained to allow their rider to hide behind them, and so get closer to the birds they were hunting.
See also: horse, stalk
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

eyes out on stalks

full of eager curiosity or amazement. informal
1999 Escape This breathtaking graphics accelerator takes 3D game play on PCI systems to a whole new dimension of excitement with imagery so realistic your eyes will be out on stalks.
See also: eye, on, out, stalk
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

stalking horse

A pretext. This term comes from the practice of hunters sometimes dismounting and, hiding behind their horses, stalking game on foot, slowly advancing until they come within shooting distance. The transfer of this practice to a means of concealing a secret plan, or, in politics, to a candidate being used to conceal the candidacy of some other person, took place in the sixteenth century. Shakespeare used it in As You Like It (4.3): “He uses his folly like a stalking-horse and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.” Time had it on November 21, 1977: “She’s willingly making herself a stalking horse for the ultra right.” British lexicographer Nigel Rees reported that in British politics of the early 1990s, the term was applied to a member of Parliament who stands for election as party leader with no hope of winning, in order to test whether the incumbent leader is challengeable.
See also: horse, stalk
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in periodicals archive ?
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After telling me that the magazines I write for, including The Nation, are "egg-sucking, left-wing liberal extremists with an agenda of their own," the energetic, stalky, blue-eyed, 70-year-old former police lieutenant arranged to meet me at his favorite grill around the corner from the San Francisco police station where EAIF, which he says has 300 members, holds its meetings.
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The solitary house I lived in on Kucuk Camlica in 1975, once visible as a notch on the southern profile of the hill as it descended from its cap of forest through a thickening scrimmage of stucco walls and terra-cotta rooftops to the Sea of Marmara, had been rubbed away, and the hill as I'd known it was gone, its top now a sci-fi clutter of broadcast relay towers, stalky, tall, and tin.
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The 6000 word story, written in 1897, is a new Stalky & Co adventure and was discovered in the archives of the Haileybury and Imperial Service College by an amateur Kipling enthusiast and Cambridge don, Jeffrey Lewins.
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No, I am reflecting back to the time when I joined my first squadron in 1965, when my knowledge of Afghanistan was limited to what I had read in Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co.
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It is Kipling's convincing delineation of this phenomenon--cumulative grief--that is largely responsible for making "On Greenhow Hill," in Charles Carrington's words, "a work of great emotional power" (204) and "a very impressive and fundamentally true story," as Arnold Bennett (who did not at all like Stalky and Kim) called it (qtd.
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This last quotation typifies the move used throughout Stalky & Co.
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She was grateful and, being theatrical, had brought him a bouquet of stalky orange and blue flowers.
With her
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