chalk

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
Deep down, in passages scooped out of the chalk were the various offices of the division and the billets for the staff.

View all »
Definitions (40)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (11)

  1. noun A soft compact calcite, CaCO3, with varying amounts of silica, quartz, feldspar, or other mineral impurities, generally gray-white or yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.
  2. noun A piece of chalk or chalklike substance in crayon form, used for marking on a blackboard or other surface.
  3. noun Games A small cube of chalk used in rubbing the tip of a billiard or pool cue to increase its friction with the cue ball.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (22)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • "Johnny used some of that invisible chalk which is only brought out by ultra-violet light The metal caps of his shoe laces hold some of the stuff," Doc Savage agreed. —  042 - The Midas Man
  • Instead you invented 'climbing' chalk - chalk is like what, 10 cents a pound in bulk?
  • Would it be philosophical to throw over the results of the microscopical research, and, simply because for two hundred years chalk had been thought to be a mineral, to argue, and still retain the idea that chalk was a mineral Such a result would be entirely opposed to all the teaching and principles of philosophy. —  Aether and Gravitation
  • A slate with the number in chalk was also hung out--23 O.V., 112 N.V., as the case might be. —  Old Times at Otterbourne
  • It was similar in every trial to a fine powder of ordinary chalk, and was therefore saturated with air which must have been furnished by the alkali A dram of pure salt of tartar was dissolved in fourteen pounds of lime-water, and the powder thereby precipitated, being carefully collected and dried, weighed one and fifty grains. —  Experiments upon magnesia alba, Quicklime, and some other Alcaline Substances
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 111 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English cealk, from Latin calx, calc-, lime; see calx.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also chaulk, from Middle English chalk, from Anglo-Saxon cealc, chalk, lime, = Dutch kalk = Old High German chalch, Middle High German kalc (kalk-), German kalch, kalk = Icelandic Swedish Danish kalk = French chaux = Provencal calz, caus = Spanish Portuguese cal = Italian calce = Irish Gaelic cailc = Welsh calch, lime, from Latin calx (calc-), limestone, lime, chalk: see calx and calk, and cf. calcareous, causey, etc.
  2. from chalk, n. Cf. calk.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/tʃɔk/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a week.

Recently looked up

autism · abyssal · choco · tarn · pudding

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

ultimatum · pew · deadpool · sad panda · nom nom nom