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chalk

nounverbcommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//t͡ʃɔːk//
  • United States//t͡ʃɔk//
  • Australia//t͡ʃoːk//
  • //t͡ʃɑk//
  • //t͡ʃɒk//

A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).

noun

  1. 1

    A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).

    chalk cliffs are not recommended for climbing

  2. 2

    A piece of chalk, or nowadays processed compressed gypsum (calcium sulfate, CaSO₄), that is used for drawing and for writing on a blackboard (chalkboard).

  3. 3

    Tailor's chalk.

  4. 4

    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

  5. 5

    A platoon-sized group of airborne soldiers.

  6. 6

    The favorite in a sporting event.

  7. 7

    The prediction that there will be no upsets, and the favored competitor will win.

    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.

    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.

    Instead, he played the chalk and selected the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin calxbor. Proto-West Germanic *kalk Old English ċealc Middle English chalk English chalk Inherited 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.

verb

  1. 1

    To apply chalk to anything, such as the tip of a billiard cue.

    chalk your hands before climbing

    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.

  2. 2

    To record something, as on a blackboard, using chalk.

  3. 3

    To use powdered chalk to mark the lines on a playing field.

  4. 4

    figurativeTo record a score or event, as if on a chalkboard.

    This Book it chaulketh out before thine eyes / The man that ſeeks the everlaſting Prize: / It ſhevvs you vvhence he comes, vvhither he goes, / VVhat he leaves undone; alſo vvhat he does: / It alſo ſhovvs you hovv he runs, and runs, / Till he unto the Gate of Glory comes.

  5. 5

    To manure (land) with chalk.

    Land that is chalked

  6. 6

    To make white, as if with chalk; to make pale; to bleach.

    Fear Stared in her eyes, and chalked her face

Forms

plural
chalks
past tense
chalked
past participle
chalked
present participle
chalking
third person singular
chalks
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).