Adjacent Words

Chalk definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHALK, n. A well known calcarious earth, of an opake white color, soft and admitting no polish. It contains a large portion of carbonic acid, and is a subspecies of carbonate of lime. It is used as an absorbent and anti-acid.
Cleaveland. Nicholson. Kirwan. Aikin.
Black-chalk is a species of earth used by painters for drawing on blue paper.
Red-chalk is an indurated clayey ocher used by painters and artificers.
CHALK, v.t.
1. To rub with chalk; to mark with chalk.
2. To manure with chalk, as land.
3. From the use of chalk in marking lines, the phrase to chalk out is used to signify, to lay out, draw out or describe; as, to chalk out a plan of proceeding.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a soft whitish calcite
2: a pure flat white with little reflectance
3: an amphetamine derivative (trade name Methedrine) used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant [syn: methamphetamine, methamphetamine hydrochloride, Methedrine, meth, deoxyephedrine, chalk, chicken feed, crank, glass, ice, shabu, trash]
4: a piece of calcite or a similar substance, usually in the shape of a crayon, that is used to write or draw on blackboards or other flat surfaces v
1: write, draw, or trace with chalk

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English cealc, from Latin calc-, calx lime; akin to Greek chalix pebble Date: before 12th century 1. a. a soft white, gray, or buff limestone composed chiefly of the shells of foraminifers b. a prepared form of chalk or a material resembling chalk especially when used (as for writing on blackboards) as a crayon 2. a. a mark made with chalk b. British a point scored in a game • chalky adjective II. verb Date: 1580 transitive verb 1. to write or draw with chalk 2. to rub or mark with chalk <chalk a pool cue> 3. a. to delineate roughly ; sketch <chalk out a plan of attack> b. to set down or add up with or as if with chalk ; record — usually used with up <chalk up the totals> intransitive verb to become chalky <the paint had begun to chalk>

Britannica Concise

Soft, fine-grained, easily pulverized, white-to-grayish variety of limestone, composed of the shells of minute marine organisms. The purest varieties contain up to 99% calcium carbonate in the form of the mineral calcite. Extensive deposits occur in W Europe south of Sweden and in England, notably in the chalk cliffs of Dover along the English Channel. Other extensive deposits occur in the U.S. from S. Dakota to Texas and eastward to Alabama. Chalk is used for making lime and portland cement and as a soil additive. Finely ground and purified chalk is known as whiting and is used as a filler, extender, or pigment in a wide variety of materials, incl. ceramics, putty, cosmetics, crayons, plastics, rubber, paper, paints, and linoleum. The chalk commonly used in classrooms is a manufactured substance rather than natural chalk.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a white soft earthy limestone (calcium carbonate) formed from the skeletal remains of sea creatures. 2 a a similar substance (calcium sulphate), sometimes coloured, used for writing or drawing. b a piece of this (a box of chalks). 3 a series of strata consisting mainly of chalk. 4 = French chalk. --v.tr. 1 rub, mark, draw, or write with chalk. 2 (foll. by up) a write or record with chalk. b register (a success etc.). c charge (to an account). Phrases and idioms: as different as chalk and (or from) cheese fundamentally different. by a long chalk Brit. by far (from the use of chalk to mark the score in games). chalk and talk traditional teaching (employing blackboard, chalk, and interlocution). chalk out sketch or plan a thing to be accomplished. chalk-pit a quarry in which chalk is dug. chalk-stone a concretion of urates like chalk in tissues and joints esp. of hands and feet. chalk-stripe a pattern of thin white stripes on a dark background. chalk-striped having chalk-stripes. Etymology: OE cealc ult. f. WG f. L CALX

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chalk Chalk, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chalked; p. pr. & vb. n. Chalking.] 1. To rub or mark with chalk. 2. To manure with chalk, as land. --Morimer. 3. To make white, as with chalk; to make pale; to bleach. --Tennyson. Let a bleak paleness chalk the door. --Herbert. To chalk out, to sketch with, or as with, chalk; to outline; to indicate; to plan. [Colloq.] ``I shall pursue the plan I have chalked out.'' --Burke.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chalk Chalk, n. [AS. cealc lime, from L. calx limestone. See Calz, and Cawk.] 1. (Min.) A soft, earthy substance, of a white, grayish, or yellowish white color, consisting of calcium carbonate, and having the same composition as common limestone. 2. (Fine Arts) Finely prepared chalk, used as a drawing implement; also, by extension, a compound, as of clay and black lead, or the like, used in the same manner. See Crayon. Black chalk, a mineral of a bluish color, of a slaty texture, and soiling the fingers when handled; a variety of argillaceous slate. By a long chalk, by a long way; by many degrees. [Slang] --Lowell. Chalk drawing (Fine Arts), a drawing made with crayons. See Crayon. Chalk formation. See Cretaceous formation, under Cretaceous. Chalk line, a cord rubbed with chalk, used for making straight lines on boards or other material, as a guide in cutting or in arranging work. Chalk mixture, a preparation of chalk, cinnamon, and sugar in gum water, much used in diarrheal affection, esp. of infants. Chalk period. (Geol.) See Cretaceous period, under Cretaceous. Chalk pit, a pit in which chalk is dug. Drawing chalk. See Crayon, n., 1. French chalk, steatite or soapstone, a soft magnesian mineral. Red chalk, an indurated clayey ocher containing iron, and used by painters and artificers; reddle.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(chalks, chalking, chalked) 1. Chalk is a type of soft white rock. You can use small pieces of it for writing or drawing with. ...the highest chalk cliffs in Britain... Her skin was chalk white and dry-looking. N-UNCOUNT: oft N n 2. Chalk is small sticks of chalk, or a substance similar to chalk, used for writing or drawing with. ...somebody writing with a piece of chalk. ...drawing a small picture with coloured chalks. N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl 3. If you chalk something, you draw or write it using a piece of chalk. He chalked the message on the blackboard... There was a blackboard with seven names chalked on it. VERB: V n, V-ed 4. If you say that two people or things are like chalk and cheese, you are emphasizing that they are completely different from each other. (BRIT) The two places, he insists, are as different as chalk and cheese... We are very aware of our differences, we accept that we are chalk and cheese. PHRASE [emphasis]

Moby Thesaurus

air brush, alabaster, art paper, ballpoint pen, besnow, blackboard, blanch, blaze, blaze a trail, bleach, blemish, blotch, book, brand, brush, calcimine, calendar, camera lucida, camera obscura, canvas, cartoon, carve, catalog, chalk up, charcoal, check, check in, check off, chronicle, cicatrize, color, copy, crayon, crosshatch, cut, dapple, dash, dash off, daub, define, delimit, delineate, demarcate, depict, design, diagram, discolor, docket, doodle, dot, draft, draw, drawing paper, drawing pencil, drier, driven snow, easel, engrave, enroll, enscroll, enter, eraser, etiolate, file, fill out, fixative, fleck, fleece, flour, foam, freckle, frost, gash, grave, grizzle, ground, hatch, impanel, impress, imprint, incise, index, ink, inkhorn, inkstand, inkwell, inscribe, insert, invisible ink, ivory, jot down, lay figure, lead pencil, lily, limn, line, list, log, maggot, make a mark, make a memorandum, make a note, make an entry, make out, mark, mark down, mark off, mark out, matriculate, maulstick, medium, milk, minute, mottle, nib, nick, notch, note, note down, paint, paint a picture, paintbrush, palette, palette knife, paper, pastel, pearl, pen, pencil, pepper, picture, picturize, pigments, pipe-clay, place upon record, plume, point, poll, portray, post, post up, prick, print, punch, punctuate, puncture, put down, put in writing, put on paper, put on tape, quill, record, reduce to writing, reed, register, riddle, scar, scarify, score, scotch, scratch, scratchboard, scumble, seal, seam, set down, shade, sheet, siccative, silver, sketch, sketchbook, sketchpad, slate, snow, spatula, speck, speckle, splotch, spot, spray gun, stain, stamp, stencil, stigmatize, streak, striate, stripe, stump, style, stylograph, stylus, swan, sympathetic ink, table, tablet, tabulate, take down, tape, tape-record, tattoo, tick, tick off, tint, trace, underline, underscore, varnish, videotape, white, whiten, whitewash, write, write down, write in, write out, write up