chalk
See also: Chalk
English
Colorful chalk used for writing or drawing
Alternative forms
- chaulk (dated)
Etymology
From Middle English chalk, chalke, from Old English ċealc, from Proto-West Germanic *kalk, borrowed from Latin calx (“limestone”), again borrowed from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”). Doublet of calx and cauk.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /t͡ʃɔːk/
- (General American) enPR: chôk, IPA(key): /t͡ʃɔk/
Audio (file) - (cot–caught merger, Inland Northern American) IPA(key): /t͡ʃɑk/
- Homophone: chock
- Rhymes: -ɔːk
Noun
chalk (countable and uncountable, plural chalks)
- (uncountable) A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO3).
- chalk cliffs are not recommended for climbing
- (countable) A piece of chalk, or nowadays processed compressed gypsum (calcium sulfate, CaSO4), that is used for drawing and for writing on a blackboard (chalkboard).
- the chalk used to write on the blackboard makes a squeaky sound
- Tailor's chalk.
- (uncountable, climbing, gymnastics) A white powdery substance used to prevent hands slipping from holds when climbing, or losing grip in weight-lifting or gymnastics, sometimes but not always limestone-chalk, often magnesium carbonate (MgCO3).
- when working out your next move, it's a good idea to get some more chalk from the bag
- (US, military, countable) A platoon-sized group of airborne soldiers.
- (US, sports, chiefly basketball, horseracing) The favorite in a sporting event.
- (US, sports, chiefly basketball) The prediction that there will be no upsets, and the favored competitor will win.
- 1982, March 22, “Phil Musick”, in And the pick here is - Georgetown over Houston, page 13:
- OK, let's get rid of the chalk players right away. The chalk likes North Carolina. Dean Smith has taken Carolina to the Final Four six times.
- 1995, April 6, Notes on a Scorecard, page C3:
- Excuse us for sticking with the chalk, but the predicted winners are Afternoon Deelites in the Derby, Oliver McCall over Larry Holmes, Nick Faldo in the Masters, and Al Unser Jr. in the Grand Prix.
- 2008, March 24, “Jason Bauman”, in Non-news of the week: Obama picks North Carolina, Aurora, Illinois:
- Instead, he played the chalk and selected the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.
Derived terms
- ball of chalk
- black chalk
- Briançon chalk
- by a long chalk
- chalk and cheese
- chalk and talk
- chalk bag
- chalkboard
- chalk box
- chalk eater
- chalk-eating weasel
- Chalk Farm
- chalk fish
- chalk for cheese
- chalk line
- chalk mixture
- chalk player
- chalk stream
- chalk talk
- chalkware
- chalk-white
- chalky
- different as chalk and cheese
- French chalk
- hair chalk
- pavement chalk
- red chalk
- sidewalk chalk
- Spanish chalk
- walk the chalk
- walk the chalk line
- walk the chalk mark
Related terms
- calcium
- calx
Descendants
- → Hindi: चाक (cāk)
- → Japanese: チャコ (chako), チョーク (chōku)
- → Nepali: चक (cak)
- → Swahili: chaki
- → Swazi: íshóki
- → Thai: ชอล์ก (chɔ́k)
- → Tsonga: choko
- → Tulu: ಚಾಕ್ (cāk)
- → Yoruba: ṣọ́ọ̀kì
Translations
a soft, white, powdery limestone
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a piece of chalk used for drawing and on a blackboard
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tailor's chalk — see tailor's chalk
… prevent from falling when climbing
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
chalk (third-person singular simple present chalks, present participle chalking, simple past and past participle chalked)
- To apply chalk to anything, such as the tip of a billiard cue.
- chalk your hands before climbing
- 1944 January and February, Major J. C. F. Lloyd Williamson, “Ambulance Trains in Algeria and Tunisia”, in Railway Magazine, page 6:
- After a leg stretch, we set off again at 11:30 hours in charge of U.S.A. No. 1736 (Miss Ohio had been chalked on her), a 2-8-0 utility engine.
- To record something, as on a blackboard, using chalk.
- To use powdered chalk to mark the lines on a playing field.
- (figuratively) To record a score or event, as if on a chalkboard.
- To manure (land) with chalk.
- 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, OCLC 13320837:
- Land that is chalked
- 1821, Royal Society of Arts (Great Britain), Transactions, volume 39, page 11:
- I then chalked the land at an expense of 4l. per acre, and planted potatoes, about ten bushels to the acre […]
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- To make white, as if with chalk; to make pale; to bleach.
- 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 2024748:
- Fear Stared in her eyes, and chalked her face
- [1633], George Herbert, [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], OCLC 1048966979; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, OCLC 54151361:
- Let a bleak paleness chalk the door.
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Derived terms
- chalk off
- chalk out
- chalk up
- chalk up to
Further reading
chalk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - chalk (military) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- chalk (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Middle English
Alternative forms
- calke, chalke, schalk, schalke
Etymology
From Old English cealc, from Proto-West Germanic *kalk, borrowed from Latin calx, in turn borrowed from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t͡ʃalk/
- (Northern) IPA(key): /kalk/
- Rhymes: -alk
Noun
chalk (uncountable)
- chalk
Descendants
- English: chalk (see there for further descendants); cauk, cawk
- Scots: cauk, cawk
References
- “chalk, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-14.