chalk

[ chawk ]

/ tʃɔk /

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See synonyms for: chalk / chalked / chalking on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

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

of, made of, or drawn with chalk.

Verb Phrases

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.

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Origin of chalk

First recorded before 900; Middle English chalk, schalk, calk, Old English cealc “plaster, cement”; cognate with Old Saxon calc, Dutch kalk, German Kalch, Kalk, from Latin calc- (stem of calx ) “lime, limestone, quicklime,” from Greek chálix “small stone, rubble, gravel, mortar”

OTHER WORDS FROM chalk

chalk·like, adjectiveun·chalked, adjective

Words nearby chalk

Chaleur Bay, Chaliapin, chalice, chaliced, chalicothere, chalk, chalk and talk, chalkboard, chalkface, chalk line, chalk out

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chalk in a sentence

He knows the food he prepares isn't great but chalks it up to a learning experience.
Carolyn Hax: How to improve on ‘I cook, you clean’ without stirring the pot|Carolyn Hax|February 12, 2021|Washington Post
Some are clean and bright, others are weighty and round and fruity, while others are chalky and taste like minerals, as though someone melted down the chalk and limestone soils found throughout Champagne and turned them into a sparkling drink.
You Should Be Drinking Grower Champagne|Jordan Michelman|February 11, 2021|Eater
Populations of resident honkers have become so dense in some areas that they’ve created safety issues for humans and wildlife, from sidewalks chalk full of gander feces to dangerous plane strikes.
Four wild animals that are thriving in cities|By Ryan Chelius/Outdoor Life|February 9, 2021|Popular-Science
My laptop’s keyboard became choked with chalk after months of building grids between attempts at whatever problem I was projecting.
What Climbing and Crosswords Have in Common|Ross Trudeau|January 27, 2021|Outside Online

In what is best chalked up to the difference between the brashness of a Philly guy in Auriemma and the Midwesterner inside Lisa Bluder, Clark’s coach, the bragging on behalf of her player has a few more caveats.
Women’s Basketball Is Awash With Standout Freshmen|Howard Megdal|January 14, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
The Cadet turned suddenly with a surprised look, opened his hand and said ‘a piece of chalk,’ at the same time displaying it.
Stonewall Jackson, VMI’s Most Embattled Professor|S. C. Gwynne|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Heroin used to come in the same way, either packed in bundles of wax baggies or as chunks resembling sticks of chalk.
This Anti-Heroin Drug Is Now King of the Jailhouse Drug Trade|Daniel Genis|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Notes were scrawled on a large white board, and “The Internet Association” was written in chalk on a blackboard.
Inside Uber’s Political War Machine|Olivia Nuzzi|June 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Many who pay a pretty penny for a trench chalk it up to nostalgia.
An Ode to the Trench Coat: The Burberry vs. The Lloyd Dobler|Sara Lieberman|April 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Submit to his apologia for Murmelstein, or chalk this up to a case of a filmmaker courting controversy?
Confessions of a Death Camp Collaborator: Claude Lanzmann’s ‘The Last of the Unjust’|Jimmy So|February 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Henry gave his younger sister a gentle pat, as she returned with her workbag and fished for the chalk.
The Box-Car Children|Gertrude Chandler Warner
He looked up at Kip, his face chalk white in the uncertain light.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942|Various
Chalk is a very pure form of carbonate of lime, and where it abounds has been largely employed as an application on the soil.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson
The best tooth-powders are made from cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and orris-root commingled together in equal quantities.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness|Florence Hartley
He used a machine called a physionotrace which enabled him to make profile drawing in white chalk and in crayon.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia|Dorothy M. Torpey

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

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

verb

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

Derived forms of chalk

chalklike, adjectivechalky, adjectivechalkiness, noun

Word Origin for chalk

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

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

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.

chalk

Origin of chalk

OTHER WORDS FROM chalk

Words nearby chalk

Words related to chalk

How to use chalk in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chalk

Derived forms of chalk

Word Origin for chalk

Scientific definitions for chalk