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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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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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

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

How to use chalk in a sentence

At first, some employees chalked up the challenges to the pandemic.
Will This Virtual Outdoor Gear Trade Show Ever Happen?|Amelia Arvesen|October 14, 2020|Outside Online
You can chalk that up to whatever theory you wish, but with the race narrowing in late October, there was no reason for a politically motivated investigation not to be used for political purposes.
Trumpworld’s latest effort to undermine the Russia probe may be even less substantive than prior attempts|Philip Bump|October 7, 2020|Washington Post
The two companies chalk up the job cuts as a necessary cost of their larger 2050 net zero ambitions, but investors aren’t fully buying this line of reasoning as they layoffs come amid a deeply punishing year for the oil and gas industry.
Shell announces big layoffs as the price of its net-zero restructuring plan becomes clearer|kdunn6|September 30, 2020|Fortune
These include drawing a line of chalk beyond the door to a home to encourage families to stay home, an idea borrowed from the Hindu Lakshmana Rekha myth.
Econ 3.0? What economists can contribute to (and learn from) the pandemic|Claire Beatty|September 28, 2020|MIT Technology Review

IBEW Local 569 also chalked it up as a huge win, issuing a statement that thanked the mayor, Gómez and other Council members.
Barrios Worked With Laborers as a Council Staffer Before Taking a Job There|Andrew Keatts and Jesse Marx|September 24, 2020|Voice of San Diego
That includes Palin's crosshairs map, which Mitchell says he "didn't think much about," chalking it up to "politics."
Palin's Other Arizona 'Targets'|Shushannah Walshe|January 10, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Cynics have long derided the supposed lottery curse as a fraud, chalking it up to inflated media coverage of such deaths.
Lotto Death Curse|Anneli Rufus|February 19, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Dunn was there, with several others, measuring out distances and chalking lanes.
Tramping on Life|Harry Kemp
Meanwhile—or later, between church and luncheon—Waltheof, in the billiard-room, was chalking a cue.
The Tigress|Anne Warner
I will not go back to revive a name wiped out; it is at least more entertaining to stay here and try chalking out a new one.
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 57, No. 1, January 1861|Various
A little, wiry fellow, with cheerful Cockney speech, he stood chalking his cue at a window.
Dragon's blood|Henry Milner Rideout
It is the custom of the Germans to spare certain houses in every village by chalking up some laudatory notice.
Adventures of a Despatch Rider|W. H. L. Watson

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 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