chalk

[chawk] /tʃɔk/

noun

a soft, white, powdery limestone consisting chiefly of fossil shells of foraminifers.

a prepared piece of chalk or chalklike substance for marking, as a blackboard crayon.

a mark made with chalk.

a score or tally.

verb (used with object)

to mark or write with chalk.

to rub over or whiten with chalk.

to treat or mix with chalk:

to chalk a billiard cue.

to make pale; blanch:

Terror chalked her face.

verb (used without object)

(of paint) to powder from weathering.

adjective

10.

of, made of, or drawn with chalk.

Verb phrases

11.

chalk up,

to score or earn:
They chalked up two runs in the first inning.
to charge or ascribe to:
It was a poor performance, but may be chalked up to lack of practice.

Origin

before 900; Middle English chalke, Old English cealc < Latin calc- (stem of calx) lime

Related forms

chalklike, adjective

unchalked, adjective

Examples from the web for chalk

Then determine how much surface area you need for pushpins, magnets, and chalk.
For a longer-lasting star that can be walked on, use spray or marking chalk.
Since prehistoric times, locals have scratched away the topsoil from these hills to expose the chalk underneath.
On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side.
O happy day, and one to be marked for me with the whitest of chalk.
Then the wolf went away to a shopkeeper and brought himself a great lump of chalk, ate this and made his voice soft with it.
Bet one of your fans would pay big money for the chalk boards.
Some economists chalk up the jobless recovery to a demand shortfall and end the discussion there.
Or you can chalk it up to a personal responsibility.
Many people still chalk up the destructive behavior of a drug addict to a lack of willpower or weakness of character.

British Dictionary definitions for chalk

chalk

/tʃɔːk/

noun

a soft fine-grained white sedimentary rock consisting of nearly pure calcium carbonate, containing minute fossil fragments of marine organisms, usually without a cementing material

a piece of chalk or a substance like chalk, often coloured, used for writing and drawing on a blackboard

a line, mark, etc made with chalk

(billiards, snooker) a small cube of prepared chalk or similar substance for rubbing the tip of a cue

(Brit) a score, tally, or record

(informal) as alike as chalk and cheese, as different as chalk and cheese, totally different in essentials

(Brit, informal) by a long chalk, by far

can't tell chalk from cheese, doesn't know chalk from cheese, to be unable to judge or appreciate important differences

(Brit, informal) not by a long chalk, by no means; not possibly

10.

(modifier) made of chalk

verb

11.

to draw or mark (something) with chalk

12.

(transitive) to mark, rub, or whiten with or as if with chalk

13.

(intransitive) (of paint) to become chalky; powder

14.

(transitive) to spread chalk on (land) as a fertilizer

See also chalk out, chalk up

Derived Forms

chalklike, adjective
chalky, adjective
chalkiness, noun

Word Origin

Old English cealc, from Latin calx limestone, from Greek khalix pebble

Word Origin and History for chalk

Old English cealc "chalk, lime, plaster; pebble," a West Germanic borrowing from Latin calx (2) "limestone, lime (crushed limestone), small stone," from Greek khalix "small pebble," which many trace to a PIE root for "split, break up." In most Germanic languages still with the "limestone" sense, but in English transferred to the opaque, white, soft limestone found abundantly in the south of the island. Modern spelling is from early 14c. The Latin word for "chalk" was creta, which also is of unknown origin.

1570s, "to mix with chalk;" 1590s as "to mark with chalk," from chalk (n.). Related: Chalked; chalking. Old English had cealcian "to whiten." Certain chalk marks on shipped objects meant "admitted" or "shipped free," hence some figurative senses. Chalk boards also were commonly used in keeping credit, score, etc., hence figurative use of chalk it up (1903).

chalk in Science

chalk

(chôk)
A soft, white, gray, or yellow limestone consisting mainly of calcium carbonate and formed primarily from the accumulation of fossil microorganisms such as foraminifera and calcareous algae. Chalk is used in making lime, cement, and fertilizers, and as a whitening pigment in ceramics, paints, and cosmetics. The chalk used in classrooms is usually artificial.

Slang definitions & phrases for chalk

chalk

noun

A horse favored to win

[1950s+ Horse racing; References to winning by a long chalk, an allusion to scoring points by a chalk mark, date from the 1830s]