to advance or travel on foot at a moderate speed or pace; proceed by steps; move by advancing the feet alternately so that there is always one foot on the ground in bipedal locomotion and two or more feet on the ground in quadrupedal locomotion.
to move about or travel on foot for exercise or pleasure: We can walk in the park after lunch.
(of things) to move in a manner suggestive of walking, as through repeated vibrations or the effect of alternate expansion and contraction: He typed so hard that the lamp walked right off the desk.
Baseball. to receive a base on balls.
Slang.
to go on strike; stage a walkout: The miners will walk unless they get a pay raise.
to be acquitted or to be released or fined rather than sentenced to jail: If the prosecutor doesn't present his case well, the murderer may walk.
to go about on the earth, or appear to living persons, as a ghost: to believe that spirits walk at night.
(of a tool, pointer, or pen of a recording device, etc.) to glide, slip, or move from a straight course, fixed position, or the like: A regular drill bit may walk on a plastic surface when you first try to make a hole. When the earthquake started, the pen on the seismograph walked all over the paper.
to conduct oneself in a particular manner; pursue a particular course of life: to walk humbly with thy God.
Basketball. (of a player in possession of the ball) to take more than two steps without dribbling or passing the ball.
Obsolete. to be in motion or action.
verb (used with object)
to proceed through, over, or upon at a moderate pace on foot: walking London streets by night; walking the floor all night.
to cause to walk; lead, drive, or ride at a walk, as an animal: We walked our horses the last quarter of a mile.
to force or help to walk, as a person: They were walking him around the room soon after his operation.
to conduct or accompany on a walk: He walked them about the park.
to move (a box, trunk, or other object) in a manner suggestive of walking, as by a rocking motion.
Baseball. (of a pitcher) to give a base on balls to (a batter).
to spend or pass (time) in walking (often followed by away): We walked the morning away along the beach.
to cause or accomplish by walking: We saw them walking guard over the chain gang.
to examine, measure, etc., by traversing on foot: to walk a track; to walk the boundaries of the property.
Basketball. to advance (the ball) by taking more than two steps without dribbling or passing.
Informal. to send (a person who has a reservation at a hotel) to another hotel because of overbooking: It's exasperating to find yourself walked when you arrive at a hotel late in the evening.
noun
an act or instance of walking or going on foot.
a period of walking for exercise or pleasure: to go for a walk.
a distance walked or to be walked, often in terms of the time required: not more than ten minutes' walk from town.
the gait or pace of a person or an animal that walks.
a characteristic or individual manner of walking: It was impossible to mistake her walk.
a department or branch of activity, or a particular line of work: They found every walk of life closed against them.
(in the West Indies) a plantation of trees, especially coffee trees.
a group, company, or congregation, especially of snipes.
British.
the route of a street vendor, tradesman, or the like.
the district or area in which such a route is located.
a tract of forest land under the charge of one forester or keeper.
Archaic. manner of behavior; conduct; course of life.
Obsolete. a haunt or resort.
Verb Phrases
walk off, to get rid of by walking: to walk off a headache.
walk off with,
to remove illegally; steal.
to win or attain, as in a competition: to walk off with the first prize for flower arrangements.
to surpass one's competitors; win easily: to walk off with the fight.
walk out,
to go on strike.
to leave in protest: to walk out of a committee meeting.
walk out on, to leave unceremoniously; desert; forsake: to walk out on one's family.
walk out with, British. to court or be courted by: Cook is walking out with the chauffeur.
walk through, Theater, Television.
to release (a play) by combining a reading aloud of the lines with the designated physical movements.
Informal.to perform (a role, play, etc.) in a perfunctory manner.
to make little or no effort in performing one's role: He didn't like the script and walked through his part.
walk up, (of a hunter) to flush (game) by approaching noisily on foot and often with hunting dogs.
Idioms
take a walk, Informal. to leave, especially abruptly and without any intention or prospect of returning (often used imperatively to indicate dismissal): If he doesn't get his way, he takes a walk. I don't need your advice, so take a walk.
walk (someone) through, to guide or instruct carefully one step at a time: The teacher will walk the class through the entire testing procedure before the real test begins.
before 1000; (v.) Middle Englishwalken,Old Englishwealcan to roll, toss, gewealcan to go; cognate with Dutch,Germanwalken to full (cloth), Old Norsevālka to toss; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.
late 14c., "act of walking" (see walk (v.)). The noun meaning "broad path in a garden" is from 1530s; walk of life is from 1752. Sports sense of "base on balls" is recorded from 1905. To win in a walk (1854) is from horse racing.
walk
v.
Old English wealcan "to toss, roll," and wealcian "to roll up, curl, muffle up," from Proto-Germanic *welk- (cf. Old Norse valka "to drag about," Danish valke "to full," Middle Dutch walken "to knead, press, full," Old High German walchan "to knead," German walken "to full"), perhaps ultimately from PIE root *wel- "to turn, bend, twist, roll" (see volvox).
Meaning shifted in early Middle English, perhaps from colloquial use of the Old English word. "Rarely is there so specific a word as NE walk, clearly distinguished from both go and run" [Buck]. Meaning "to go away" is recorded from mid-15c. Transitive meaning "to exercise a dog (or horse)" is from late 15c. The surname Walker probably preserves the cloth-fulling sense. Related: Walked; walking.
Leave abruptly, walk out. For example, If she's rude again I'm just going to take a walk, or The director would not put up with tantrums and ordered the young actress to take a walk. [Colloquial; late 1800s] Also see take a hike.
