chalk

American  

[chawk] / tʃɔk /

noun

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

2. a prepared piece of chalk or chalklike substance for marking, as for writing on a blackboard.

3. a mark made with chalk.

4. a score or tally.

5. 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.

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verb (used with object)

1. to mark or write with chalk.

2. to rub over or whiten with chalk.

3. to treat or mix with chalk.

   to chalk a billiard cue.

4. to make pale; blanch.

   Terror chalked her face.

verb (used without object)

1. (of paint) to powder from weathering.

adjective

1. of, made of, or drawn with chalk.

verb phrase

1. chalk up

   1. to score or earn.

      They chalked up two runs in the first inning.

   2. to charge or ascribe to.

      It was a poor performance, but may be chalked up to lack of practice.

chalk British  

/ tʃɔːk /

noun

1. 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

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

3. a line, mark, etc made with chalk

4. billiards snooker a small cube of prepared chalk or similar substance for rubbing the tip of a cue

5. a score, tally, or record

6. informal totally different in essentials

7. informal by far

8. to be unable to judge or appreciate important differences

9. informal by no means; not possibly

10. (modifier) made of chalk

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verb

1. to draw or mark (something) with chalk

2. (tr) to mark, rub, or whiten with or as if with chalk

3. (intr) (of paint) to become chalky; powder

4. (tr) to spread chalk on (land) as a fertilizer

chalk Scientific  

/ chôk /

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

• chalkiness noun
• chalklike adjective
• chalky adjective
• unchalked adjective

Etymology

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”

Example Sentences

This is a native landscape of dark and gnarly forms of oak trees, which are numbered in chalk to keep track of their stripping.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

While I may have been quick to chalk “Tow” up to a “Whats going on with mycareer” moment for Byrne, I had faith that whatever came after wouldn’t disappoint.

From Salon • Mar. 22, 2026

Among the highlights is the iconic chalk downland of the Seven Sisters in East Sussex, which also forms part of a newly designated National Nature Reserve being announced by Natural England.

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026

Residents of Southern California who see a mysterious streak in the nocturnal sky can chalk it up to another SpaceX launch.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2026

Diggory's Dyke was a deep cut between two chalk Downs—high, green hills, where a thin layer of green grass and reddish earth covered the chalk, and there was scarcely soil enough for trees.

From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• address
• compose
• create
• draft
• note
• pen
• print
• record
• rewrite
• scrawl
• scribble
• sign
• tell