chalk

[ chawk ]

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.

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. 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

/ 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. as alike as chalk and cheese informal.
   as alike as chalk and cheeseas different as chalk and cheese totally different in essentials
7. by a long chalk informal.
   by a long chalk by far
8. can't tell chalk from cheese
   can't tell chalk from cheesedoesn't know chalk from cheese to be unable to judge or appreciate important differences
9. not by a long chalk informal.
   not by a long chalk by no means; not possibly
10. modifier made of chalk

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

/ 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.

Derived Forms

• ˈchalkiness, noun
• ˈchalky, adjective
• ˈchalkˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• chalk·like adjective
• un·chalked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of chalk¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of chalk¹

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

Example Sentences

He knows the food he prepares isn't great but chalks it up to a learning experience.

From 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.

From 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.

From Popular-Science

My laptop’s keyboard became choked with chalk after months of building grids between attempts at whatever problem I was projecting.

From 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.

From FiveThirtyEight

The Cadet turned suddenly with a surprised look, opened his hand and said ‘a piece of chalk,’ at the same time displaying it.

From The Daily Beast

Heroin used to come in the same way, either packed in bundles of wax baggies or as chunks resembling sticks of chalk.

From The Daily Beast

Notes were scrawled on a large white board, and “The Internet Association” was written in chalk on a blackboard.

From The Daily Beast

Many who pay a pretty penny for a trench chalk it up to nostalgia.

From The Daily Beast

Submit to his apologia for Murmelstein, or chalk this up to a case of a filmmaker courting controversy?

From The Daily Beast

Henry gave his younger sister a gentle pat, as she returned with her workbag and fished for the chalk.

From Project Gutenberg

He looked up at Kip, his face chalk white in the uncertain light.

From Project Gutenberg

Chalk is a very pure form of carbonate of lime, and where it abounds has been largely employed as an application on the soil.

From Project Gutenberg

The best tooth-powders are made from cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and orris-root commingled together in equal quantities.

From Project Gutenberg

He used a machine called a physionotrace which enabled him to make profile drawing in white chalk and in crayon.

From Project Gutenberg