walk
English
editPronunciation
edit- UK
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: wôk, IPA(key): /wɔːk/
- (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /woːk/
Audio (UK): (file)
- (US) enPR: wôk, IPA(key): /wɔk/
- (cot–caught merger) enPR: wäk, IPA(key): /wɑk/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Homophone: wok (cot–caught merger)
- Rhymes: -ɔːk
Etymology 1
editFrom Middle English walken (“to move, walk, roll, turn, revolve, toss”), a conflation of Old English wealcan (“to move round, revolve, roll, turn, toss”) (ġewealcan (“to go, traverse”)) and Old English wealcian (“to curl, roll up”); both from Proto-West Germanic *walkan, from Proto-Germanic *walkaną, *walkōną (“to twist, turn, roll about, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *walg- (“to twist, turn, move”).
Cognate with Scots walk (“to walk”), Saterland Frisian walkje (“to full; drum; flex; mill”), West Frisian swalkje (“to wander, roam”), Dutch walken (“to full, work hair or felt”), Dutch zwalken (“to wander about”), German walken (“to flex, full, mill, drum”), Danish valke (“to waulk, full”), Latin valgus (“bandy-legged, bow-legged”), Sanskrit वल्गति (valgati, “amble, bound, leap, dance”). More at vagrant and whelk. Doublet of waulk.
Verb
editwalk (third-person singular simple present walks, present participle walking, simple past and past participle walked)
- (intransitive) To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.
- To walk briskly for an hour every day is to keep fit.
- 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
- Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn. He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 257:
- Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
- (intransitive, colloquial, law) To "walk free", i.e. to win, or avoid, a criminal court case, particularly when actually guilty.
- If you can’t present a better case, that robber is going to walk.
- (intransitive, colloquial, euphemistic) Of an object, to go missing or be stolen.
- If you leave your wallet lying around, it’s going to walk.
- (intransitive, cricket, of a batsman) To walk off the field, as if given out, after the fielding side appeals and before the umpire has ruled; done as a matter of sportsmanship when the batsman believes he is out.
- (transitive) To travel (a distance) by walking.
- I walk two miles to school every day.
- The museum’s not far from here – you can walk it.
- 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
- Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn. He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
- (transitive) To take for a walk or accompany on a walk.
- I walk the dog every morning.
- Will you walk me home?
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 47:
- I will rather trust […] a thief to walk my ambling gelding.
- (transitive, baseball) To allow a batter to reach base by pitching four balls.
- (intransitive) Of an object or machine, to move by shifting between two positions, as if it were walking.
- If we don't bolt the washing machine down, it's going to walk across the room.
- (transitive) To cause something to move in such a way.
- I carefully walked the ladder along the wall.
- (transitive) To full; to beat (cloth) to give it the consistency of felt.
- (transitive) To traverse by walking (or analogous gradual movement).
- I walked the streets aimlessly.
- Debugging this computer program involved walking the heap.
- (transitive, aviation) To operate the left and right throttles of (an aircraft) in alternation.
- 1950, Flying Magazine, volume 46, number 3, page 18:
- Still keeping his tail in the air, Red coaxed the “Airknocker” ahead and as we grasped his struts he slowly retarded the throttle. We walked the plane between two tiedown blocks and not until we had tied the struts did Red cut the switch.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To leave, resign.
- If we don't offer him more money he'll walk.
- 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC, page 39:
- He will make their cowes and garrans to walk.
- (transitive) To push (a vehicle) alongside oneself as one walks.
- 1994, John Forester, Bicycle Transportation: A Handbook for Cycling Transportation Engineers, MIT Press, page 245:
- The county had a successful defense only because the judge kept telling the jury at every chance that the cyclist should have walked his bicycle like a pedestrian.
- (intransitive) To behave; to pursue a course of life; to conduct oneself.
- 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:, page 35
- We walk perversely with God, and he will walk crookedly toward us.
- (intransitive) To go restlessly about; said of things or persons expected to remain quiet, such as a sleeping person, or the spirit of a dead person.
- October 9, 1550, Hugh Latimer, sermon preached at Stamford, link
- I heard a pen walking in the chimney behind the cloth.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 32:
- There have been reports of cases where, in the event of a girl having died, a man was chosen to go through the marriage ceremony and even have intercourse with the body, before burial, so that she might not "walk".
- October 9, 1550, Hugh Latimer, sermon preached at Stamford, link
- (obsolete) To be in motion; to act; to move.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 233:
- her toung did walke / In fowle reproch.
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 288:
- I have heard, but not believed, the spirits of the dead / May walk again.
- 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act III:
- Come, doe you thinke, I'ld walke in any plot
- (transitive, historical) To put, keep, or train (a puppy) in a walk, or training area for dogfighting.
- (transitive, informal, hotel) To move (a guest) to another hotel if their confirmed reservation is not available on day of check-in.
Conjugation
editinfinitive | (to) walk | ||
---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | ||
1st-person singular | walk | walked | |
2nd-person singular | walk, walkest† | walked, walkedst† | |
3rd-person singular | walks, walketh† | walked | |
plural | walk | ||
subjunctive | walk | walked | |
imperative | walk | — | |
participles | walking | walked |
Synonyms
edit- (move upon two feet): See Thesaurus:walk
- (colloquial: go free): be acquitted, get off, go free
- (be stolen): be/get stolen; (British) be/get nicked, be/get pinched
- (beat cloth): full, waulk (obsolete)
Antonyms
editHyponyms
editDerived terms
edit- dogwalk
- frog-walk
- walk about
- walk all over
- walk-alone
- walk a mile in someone's shoes
- walk and chew gum at the same time
- walk around
- walk around money
- walk-around money
- walk a straight line
- walkathon
- walk a tightrope
- walk-away
- walk away
- walk back
- walk back the cat
- walk down the aisle
- walker
- Walker
- walk good
- walkies
- walkie-talkie
- walk-in
- walk in circles
- walk in on
- walk in someone's shoes
- walk in straight lines
- walk it
- walk it off
- walk like an Egyptian
- Walkman
- walkman
- walk-off
- walk off with
- walk-on
- walk on air
- walk on broken glass
- walk on eggshells
- walk one's chalks
- walk one's shots
- walk-on girl
- walk on sunshine
- walk on the wild side
- walk on water
- walk out on
- walk-over
- walkover
- walk softly and carry a big stick
- walk Spanish
- walk the beat
- walk the boards
- walk the cat back
- walk the chalk
- walk the chalk line
- walk the chalk mark
- walk the dog
- walk the floor
- walk the floor
- walk the gangplank
- walk the hospitals
- walk the line
- walk the plank
- walk the streets
- walk the talk
- walk the walk
- walk-through
- walk turkey
- walk-up
- walk with
Descendants
edit- Chinese Pidgin English: walkee
Translations
edit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
Etymology 2
editFrom Middle English walk, walke, walc, from Old English *wealc (as in Old English wealcspinl) and ġewealc (“a rolling motion, attack”), from Proto-Germanic *walką. Cognate with Icelandic válk (“a rolling around, a tossing to and fro, trouble, distress”).
Noun
editwalk (plural walks)
- A trip made by walking.
- I take a walk every morning.
- A distance walked.
- It’s a long walk from my house to the library.
- (sports) An Olympic Games track event requiring that the heel of the leading foot touch the ground before the toe of the trailing foot leaves the ground.
- A manner of walking; a person's style of walking.
- The Ministry of Silly Walks is underfunded this year.
- A path, sidewalk/pavement or other maintained place on which to walk.
- Coordinate term: trail
- 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
- And then it appeared to the young man that he was walking his love up the grass walk of Heriotside, with the house close by him.
- (figurative) A person's conduct or course in life.
- 1887, Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, Sir Hall Caine, John Parker Anderson, Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, page 136:
- Men like Stuart who had no desire to extol Coleridge's virtues, and other witnesses quite as hostile, to whom a moral dereliction could hardly be a mortal offence, were loud in praise of the purity of his walk in life.
- (poker) A situation where all players fold to the big blind, as their first action (instead of calling or raising), once they get their cards.
- (baseball) An award of first base to a batter following four balls being thrown by the pitcher; known in the rules as a "base on balls".
- The pitcher now has two walks in this inning alone.
- In coffee, coconut, and other plantations, the space between them.
- (Caribbean, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica) An area of an estate planted with fruit-bearing trees.[1]
- 1755, William Belgrove, A Treatise upon Husbandry or Planting[2], Boston, page 14:
- Twenty Acres of Land well kept in a Plantain Walk, will afford a very considerable Support, as Plantains are as hearty a Food as Eddoes, and the Plantain Walk may be a Nursery for declining Slaves, as well as to fatten old Cattle when they are past Labour.
- 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, page 80:
- For half a mile from Vaughansfield the road, now a mere track, leads through pastures and a coffee-walk to the foot of a very steep hill […]
- 1961, Wilson Harris, The Far Journey of Oudin, Book 2, Chapter 6, in The Guyana Quartet, London: Faber and Faber, 1985, p. 150,[3]
- One day he knew he would build this identical palace for himself. Not next to the road like now—where the present cottage was—but half a mile inside the coconut walk.
- 1995, Olive Senior, “Window”, in Discerner of Hearts[4], Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 66:
- He couldn’t sleep and took to walking outside at night, to look at the stars, to feel the cool air, and for a long time wasn’t even conscious that he always ended up standing in the darkness of the cocoa walk staring at the shutters of Bridget’s room.
- (historical) A place for keeping and training puppies for dogfighting.
- (historical) An enclosed area in which a gamecock is confined to prepare him for fighting.
- (graph theory) A sequence of alternating vertices and edges, where each edge's endpoints are the preceding and following vertices in the sequence. Compare path, trail.
- (colloquial) Something very easily accomplished; a walk in the park.
- 1980, Robert Barr, The Coming Out Present (episode of Detective, BBC radio drama; around 16 min 20 sec)
- And for the strongroom itself, he can tell us where to find the combination of the day. We had allowed four hours, Joe, but with this help, once you get us inside, it's a walk! I've been timing it.
- 1980, Robert Barr, The Coming Out Present (episode of Detective, BBC radio drama; around 16 min 20 sec)
- (UK, finance, slang, dated) A cheque drawn on a bank that was not a member of the London Clearing and whose sort code was allocated on a one-off basis; they had to be "walked" (hand-delivered by messengers).
Synonyms
edit- (trip made by walking): stroll (slow walk), hike (long walk), trek (long walk)
- (distance walked): hike (if long), trek (if long)
- (manner of walking): gait
- (path): footpath, path, (British) pavement, (US) sidewalk
Hyponyms
editCoordinate terms
editDerived terms
edit- airwalk
- awe walk
- birdwalk
- boardwalk
- bug-walk
- cake walk
- captain's walk
- cock of the walk
- coin walk
- cradle walk
- crawl before one can walk
- Crip walk
- directed walk
- do you think you can walk
- drunkard's walk
- duck walk
- elephant walk
- gravel-walk
- honor walk
- in a walk
- Jericho walk
- know how to walk before one can run
- learn to walk before one can run
- Lévy walk
- monkey walk
- power walk
- power walk
- public walk
- race-walk
- random walk
- riverwalk
- ropewalk
- RP walk
- run-walk
- sidewalk
- slow-walk
- spacewalk
- Spanish walk
- take a long walk off a short pier
- take a long walk on a short pier
- take a walk
- take a walk on the wild side
- walk cycle
- walk in the park
- walk in the snow
- walk of fame
- walk of life
- walk of shame
- walk on the wild side
- walk policy
- walk shorts
- walkthrough
- wall walk
- widow's walk
- zombie walk
Translations
edit
|
|
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
editAnagrams
editManx
editEtymology
editVerb
editwalk (verbal noun walkal or walkey, past participle walkit)
Synonyms
editDerived terms
editMiddle English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Old English ġewealc, from Proto-West Germanic *gawalk, *walk, from Proto-Germanic *walką.
Alternative forms
editPronunciation
editNoun
editwalk (uncountable)
Descendants
editReferences
edit- “walk(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2
editVerb
editwalk
- Alternative form of wakien
Related terms
edit- wake (“a watch, vigil”)
- waken (“to wake”)
- wakien (“to watch, awake”)
- waknen (“to be aroused from sleep”)
Etymology 3
editVerb
editwalk
- Alternative form of walken
Polish
editPronunciation
editNoun
editwalk f
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/ɔːk
- Rhymes:English/ɔːk/1 syllable
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *welH-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English colloquialisms
- en:Law
- English euphemisms
- en:Cricket
- English transitive verbs
- en:Baseball
- en:Aviation
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with historical senses
- English informal terms
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Sports
- en:Poker
- Caribbean English
- Belizean English
- Guyanese English
- Jamaican English
- en:Graph theory
- British English
- en:Finance
- English slang
- English dated terms
- en:Gaits
- en:Horse gaits
- Manx terms borrowed from English
- Manx terms derived from English
- Manx lemmas
- Manx verbs
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English uncountable nouns
- Middle English verbs
- enm:Travel
- Polish 1-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Polish/alk
- Rhymes:Polish/alk/1 syllable
- Polish non-lemma forms
- Polish noun forms