Definition of "chalk"

chalk

/t͡ʃɔːk/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural chalks
1. (uncountable) A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO3).
2. (countable) A piece of chalk, or nowadays processed compressed gypsum (calcium sulfate, CaSO4), that is used for drawing and for writing on a blackboard (chalkboard).
3. Tailor's chalk.
4. (uncountable, climbing, gymnastics) A white powdery substance used to prevent hands slipping from holds when climbing, or losing grip in weight-lifting or gymnastics, sometimes but not always limestone-chalk, often magnesium carbonate (MgCO3).
5. (US, military, countable) A platoon-sized group of airborne soldiers.
6. (US, sports, chiefly basketball, horseracing) The favorite in a sporting event.
7. (US, sports, chiefly basketball) The prediction that there will be no upsets, and the favored competitor will win.
  Quotations
  OK, let's get rid of the chalk players right away. The chalk likes North Carolina. Dean Smith has taken Carolina to the Final Four six times.
  1982 March 22, Phil Musick, “And the pick here is - Georgetown over Houston”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‎, page 13
  Excuse us for sticking with the chalk, but the predicted winners are Afternoon Deelites in the Derby, Oliver McCall over Larry Holmes, Nick Faldo in the Masters, and Al Unser Jr. in the Grand Prix.
  1995 April 6, “Notes on a Scorecard”, in Los Angeles Times‎, page C3
  Instead, he played the chalk and selected the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.
  2008 March 24, Jason Bauman, “Non-news of the week: Obama picks North Carolina”, in Beacon-News‎, Aurora, Illinois
verb
third-person singular simple present chalks, present participle chalking, simple past and past participle chalked
1. To apply chalk to anything, such as the tip of a billiard cue.
  Quotations
  After a leg stretch, we set off again at 11:30 hours in charge of U.S.A. No. 1736 (Miss Ohio had been chalked on her), a 2-8-0 utility engine.
  1944 January and February, Major J. C. F. Lloyd Williamson, “Ambulance Trains in Algeria and Tunisia”, in Railway Magazine, page 6
2. To record something, as on a blackboard, using chalk.
3. To use powdered chalk to mark the lines on a playing field.
4. (figuratively) To record a score or event, as if on a chalkboard.
5. To manure (land) with chalk.
  Quotations
  Land that is chalked
  1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708
  I then chalked the land at an expense of 4l. per acre, and planted potatoes, about ten bushels to the acre […]
  1821, Royal Society of Arts (Great Britain), Transactions, volume 39, page 11
6. To make white, as if with chalk; to make pale; to bleach.
  Quotations
  Fear Stared in her eyes, and chalked her face
  1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […]
  Let a bleak paleness chalk the door.
  , George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […]; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885,

Definition of "chalk"

chalk

noun

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verb

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