walk

[wawk]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR walk ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object)

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.

Baseball. base on balls.

a path or way for pedestrians at the side of a street or road; sidewalk.

a place prepared or set apart for walking.

a path in a garden or the like.

a passage between rows of trees.

an enclosed yard, pen, or the like where domestic animals are fed and left to exercise.

the walk. race walking.

a sheepwalk.

a ropewalk.

(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.

walk Spanish,

to be forced by another to walk on tiptoe.
to walk cautiously.
to be discharged or dismissed.
to discharge or dismiss (someone).

walk the plank. plank(def 8).

Origin of walk

before 1000; (v.) Middle English walken, Old English wealcan to roll, toss, gewealcan to go; cognate with Dutch, German walken to full (cloth), Old Norse vālka to toss; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.

Related formsun·walked, adjective

Synonyms for walk

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR walk ON THESAURUS.COM

1. step, stride, stroll, saunter, ambulate, perambulate, promenade. 22. stroll, promenade, constitutional. 25. step, carriage. 27. sphere, area, field. 29, 30. passage, footpath, alley, avenue. 33. run.

race walking

noun

the sport of rapid, continuous-foot-contact walking, requiring that the trailing foot not be lifted until the other meets the ground and the knee locks momentarily, and executed in an upright, rhythmic stride with the arms usually held bent and high and pumped close to the body.

Compare power walking.

Also called walking, the walk, heel-and-toe racing.

Related formsrace walker, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for walk

Contemporary Examples of walk

Creating PGCs from skin tissue, on the other hand, seems like a walk in the park compared to egg freezing.
Men Will Someday Have Kids Without Women
Samantha Allen
January 3, 2015
“They know there are drug spots,” said Wanda Williams, who was out for a walk with her son.
Ground Zero of the NYPD Slowdown
Batya Ungar-Sargon
January 1, 2015
“They just walk around, they ride in their patrol cars, and they just pass by,” he said.
Ground Zero of the NYPD Slowdown
Batya Ungar-Sargon
January 1, 2015
It's nothing for someone to walk up to me in the store or at a restaurant and ask for an autograph or speak to me.
Porn Stars on the Year in Porn: Drone Erotica, Belle Knox, and Wild Sex
Aurora Snow
December 27, 2014
We want [fans] to walk away changed or better or at least entertained by it.
Four TV Shows We Can’t Wait to Return In 2015
DISH
December 22, 2014

Historical Examples of walk

To the disgust of the latter, Robert actually had the presumption to walk home with Hester.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
At Percival's suggestion of a walk, Miss Milbrey was delighted.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
"I'll walk a bit with you," said his sister, donning her jacket and a cap.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
"You'll be too proud to walk with your ould mother," said Mrs. Malone.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
We can only crawl along, having to walk and lead the horses, or at least drag them.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest

British Dictionary definitions for walk

walk

verb

(intr) to move along or travel on foot at a moderate rate; advance in such a manner that at least one foot is always on the ground

(tr) to pass through, on, or over on foot, esp habitually

(tr) to cause, assist, or force to move along at a moderate rateto walk a dog

(tr) to escort or conduct by walkingto walk someone home

(intr) (of ghosts, spirits, etc) to appear or move about in visible form

(of inanimate objects) to move or cause to move in a manner that resembles walking

(intr) to follow a certain course or way of lifeto walk in misery

(tr) to bring into a certain condition by walkingI walked my shoes to shreds

(tr) to measure, survey, or examine by walking

(tr) baseball to allow a batter to go to first base without batting by throwing four balls outside of the strike zone

Also: travel (intr) basketball to take more than two steps without passing or dribbling the ball

to disappear or be stolenwhere's my pencil? It seems to have walked

(intr) slang, mainly US (in a court of law) to be acquitted or given a noncustodial sentence

walk it to win easily

walk the plank See plank 1 (def. 4)

walk on air to be delighted or exhilarated

walk tall informal to have self-respect or pride

walk the streets

to be a prostitute
to wander round a town or city, esp when looking for work or having nowhere to stay

walk the walk or walk the talk informal to put theory into practiceyou can talk the talk but can you walk the walk? See also talk (def. 15)

noun

the act or an instance of walking

the distance or extent walked

a manner of walking; gait

a place set aside for walking; promenade

a chosen profession or sphere of activity (esp in the phrase walk of life)

a foot race in which competitors walk

an arrangement of trees or shrubs in widely separated rows
the space between such rows

an enclosed ground for the exercise or feeding of domestic animals, esp horses

mainly British the route covered in the course of work, as by a tradesman or postman

a procession; marchOrange walk

obsolete the section of a forest controlled by a keeper

Derived Formswalkable, adjective

Word Origin for walk

Old English wealcan; related to Old High German walchan, Sanskrit valgati he moves

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

Word Origin and History for walk

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.

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.

Medicine definitions for walk

walk

[wôk]

v.

To move over a surface by taking steps with the feet at a pace slower than a run.

n.

The gait of a human in which the feet are lifted alternately with one part of a foot always on the ground.

The characteristic way in which one walks.

race walking

n.

The sport of walking for speed, the rules of which require the racer to maintain continual foot contact with the ground and to keep the supporting leg straight at the knee when that leg is directly below the body.

Idioms and Phrases with walk

walk

In addition to the idioms beginning with walk

walk all over
walk a tightrope
walk away from
walk away with
walking encyclopedia
walking papers
walk off with
walk of life
walk on air
walk on eggs
walk out
walk over
walk tall
walk the floor
walk the plank
walk through

also see:

cock of the walk
hands down (in a walk)
worship the ground someone walks on

walk

verb (used without object)

verb (used with object)

noun

Verb Phrases

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Idioms

Origin of walk

Synonyms for walk

race walking

noun

Examples from the Web for walk

Contemporary Examples of walk

Historical Examples of walk

walk

verb

noun

Word Origin for walk

walk

v.

n.

race walking

n.

walk