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
Words Nearby chalk
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
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 PostSome 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.
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-ScienceMy laptop’s keyboard became choked with chalk after months of building grids between attempts at whatever problem I was projecting.
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 | THE DAILY BEASTHeroin 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 | THE DAILY BEASTNotes were scrawled on a large white board, and “The Internet Association” was written in chalk on a blackboard.
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 | THE DAILY BEASTSubmit 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 | THE DAILY BEASTHenry gave his younger sister a gentle pat, as she returned with her workbag and fished for the chalk.
The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler WarnerHe looked up at Kip, his face chalk white in the uncertain light.
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 AndersonThe 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 HartleyHe 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
/ (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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