chalk
Americannoun
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a soft, white, powdery limestone consisting chiefly of fossil shells of foraminifers.
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a prepared piece of chalk or chalklike substance for marking, as for writing on a blackboard.
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a mark made with chalk.
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a score or tally.
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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)
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to mark or write with chalk.
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to rub over or whiten with chalk.
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to treat or mix with chalk.
to chalk a billiard cue.
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to make pale; blanch.
Terror chalked her face.
verb (used without object)
adjective
verb phrase
noun
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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
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a piece of chalk or a substance like chalk, often coloured, used for writing and drawing on a blackboard
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a line, mark, etc made with chalk
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billiards snooker a small cube of prepared chalk or similar substance for rubbing the tip of a cue
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a score, tally, or record
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informal totally different in essentials
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informal by far
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to be unable to judge or appreciate important differences
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informal by no means; not possibly
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(modifier) made of chalk
verb
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to draw or mark (something) with chalk
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(tr) to mark, rub, or whiten with or as if with chalk
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(intr) (of paint) to become chalky; powder
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(tr) to spread chalk on (land) as a fertilizer
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The key difference between the actions of a company like Browne’s or university researchers and those of Minimax or DeepSeek can be chalked up to a few things.
From MarketWatch
Danny Chambers, who represents Winchester, said sewage had been "pouring" into the River Itchen, potentially affecting the endangered fish currently laying eggs in the chalk stream.
From BBC
However, the problem for the former Bournemouth and Newcastle defender was that instead of his second yellow card being chalked off, it was upgraded to a straight red card.
From BBC
The miller had filled the bag with chalk and sawdust.
From Literature
The ill will is chalked up to the idea that everybody hates a winner.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
