chalk
a soft, white, powdery limestone consisting chiefly of fossil shells of foraminifers.
a prepared piece of chalk or chalklike substance for marking, as for writing on a blackboard.
a mark made with chalk.
a score or tally.
Sports Slang. the competitor considered most likely to win by the oddsmakers; favorite: If you don’t know anything about either team, just bet the chalk.
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.
(of paint) to powder from weathering.
of, made of, or drawn with chalk.
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 of chalk
1Other words from chalk
- chalk·like, adjective
- un·chalked, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use chalk in a sentence
It was Chalker, the English groom, out of breath with running.
Mrs. Skaggs's Husbands and Other Stories | Bret HarteNow School-master Chalker was a shrewd observer, and loved a good joke as well as any one.
Harper's Young People, January 4, 1881 | VariousMr. David Chalker was a solicitor and, according to his friends, who were proud of him, a sharp practitioner.
In Luck at Last | Walter BesantMr. Chalker looked about him again thoughtfully, and opened his mouth as if about to ask a question, but said nothing.
In Luck at Last | Walter BesantIf Chalker wished to keep up his old acquaintance with Joe Gallop, there must be some good reason.
In Luck at Last | Walter Besant
British Dictionary definitions for chalk
/ (tʃɔːk) /
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
British a score, tally, or record
as alike as chalk and cheese or as different as chalk and cheese informal totally different in essentials
by a long chalk British informal by far
can't tell chalk from cheese or doesn't know chalk from cheese to be unable to judge or appreciate important differences
not by a long chalk British informal by no means; not possibly
(modifier) made of chalk
to draw or mark (something) with chalk
(tr) to mark, rub, or whiten with or as if with chalk
(intr) (of paint) to become chalky; powder
(tr) to spread chalk on (land) as a fertilizer
Origin of chalk
1Derived forms of chalk
- chalklike, adjective
- chalky, adjective
- chalkiness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for 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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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