See Also: chalk(encyclopedia)
Chalk(medicine)
chalk(1)(dictionary)
chalk(2)(dictionary)
chalk 2, verb(dictionary)
French chalk(medicine)
Prepared chalk(medicine)
chalk 1, noun(dictionary)
Chalk's Ocean Airways(tourism)
Chalk - Horse Racing(gambling)

chalk(1) (iou)



chalk noun.

Lime. (rare after Old English.) OE-L16.
A white soft earthy limestone consisting almost wholly of calcite. OE.
This or a substance of like texture or properties in prepared form, as for use in crayons for drawing, for writing on a blackboard, for rubbing on the tip of a billiards-cue, etc. L15.
b. A piece or crayon of chalk. E19.
A mark, line, or score made with chalk; spec. (a) such a mark formerly used to record credit in a public house etc.; arch. a running account, credit; (b) (such a mark recording) a point scored in a game. E16.
Any of various earths resembling chalk (sense 2). Usu. with specifying word. E17.
Geology. A deposit or stratum composed mainly of chalk; spec. (Chalk) (the deposits of) the Upper Cretaceous system of western Europe. E19.
Phrases: as different as chalk and cheese, as different as chalk from cheese unlike in the essentials. by a long chalk, by long chalks by far, by a long way. chalk and talk teaching by traditional methods (employing blackboard, chalk, and dialogue). French chalk: see FRENCH adjective. red chalk: see RED adjective. Venetian chalk: see VENETIAN adjective. walk the chalk: see WALK verb1.
Attrib. & comb.: In the sense 'made up or consisting (largely) of chalk', as chalk cliff, chalk down, etc. In the sense 'drawn with chalk, executed in chalk', as chalk drawing, chalk head, etc. Special combs., as chalkboard N. Amer. a blackboard; chalkface colloq. the day-to-day work of teaching in a school; chalkhill blue a lycaenid butterfly of chalk grassland, Lysandra coridon; chalk-line a line drawn in chalk; walk a chalk-line (fig.), behave with propriety, keep to a course of action or set of rules; chalk-pit a quarry in which chalk is dug; chalk-stone a concretion of urates like chalk found in tissues and joints, esp. those of the hands and feet; chalk-stripe a pattern of thin white stripes on a dark background; chalk-striped adjective having a chalk-stripe; chalk talk US a talk, lecture, etc. in which the speaker uses blackboard and chalk.