I. ˈwȯk verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English walken (past welk, past participle walke ), from Old English wealcan to roll, toss (past weolc, past participle wealcen ) and Middle English walkien (past walkede, past participle walked ), from Old English wealcian to roll up, muffle up; akin to Middle Dutch walken to knead, beat, press, full, Old High German walchan, Old Norse vālka to roll, Latin valgus bowlegged, Sanskrit valgati he hops, jumps
intransitive verb
1.
a. obsolete : to move onward or about : journey , roam , wander
b.
(1) of a spirit : to move about in visible or otherwise perceptible form : appear
the time when … spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves — Shakespeare
(2) : to persist or recur hauntingly in the memory
a figure who will walk in our imagination long after the book has been put down — E.A.Weeks
c. obsolete : circulate , spread
d. archaic : to be in motion
e. obsolete , of the tongue : to move incessantly : wag
f. of a ship : to make headway
2.
a. : to move along on foot : advance by steps
we would walk on … to the next camp — E.E.Shipton
the millions of cattle that walked to Kansas — M.C.Boatright
b.
(1) : to come or go on foot without hesitation or without ceremony — usually used with a following adverb or preposition
don't knock; just walk in
she'd walked in on the family — Mary Deasy
the workmen walked off their jobs
the two committee members who felt offended got up and walked out of the meeting
(2) : to come or go as if proceeding on foot promptly or without deliberation — usually used with a following adverb or preposition
a government so weak as to tempt neighboring countries to walk in and take over
not seeing where the attorney's questions were leading, the witness walked right into his trap
a figure worthy of the Periclean Age had walked into our epoch — Lucien Price
c.
(1) : to go on foot for exercise or pleasure : go for a walk : take a walk
made it his habit to walk around the block ten times before breakfast
went walking in the park
(2) Britain : to engage in courtship especially by going for walks — used with out, together, out together, or a prepositional phrase introduced by with, or with out followed by a prepositional phrase introduced by with
she is walking out with a garage mechanic
he is walking out with our maid
they start walking out, they get engaged, and finally they get married — Richard Harrison
a woman … who consents to walk with you — Thomas Hardy
d.
(1) of a quadruped : to go on foot at a gait in which there are always at least two feet on the ground — compare walk II 9b
(2) : to ride an animal at such a gait
the horsemen galloped the first half mile and walked the rest of the way
e. of a biped : to go on foot without lifting one foot clear of the ground before the other touches the ground
part of the time we walked and part of the time we ran
3.
a. obsolete : to go away : leave
b. : to leave in consequence of being dismissed
4.
[translation of Late Latin ambulare, translation of Hebrew hōlēkh ]
a. : to pursue a course of action or way of life : conduct oneself : behave
walk warily
walk in darkness — Jn 8:12(Authorized Version)
everyone who has walked in sadness because his destiny has not fitted his aspirations — W.H.White
b. : to be or act in association : continue in union : associate
walk humbly with thy God — Mic 6:8(Authorized Version)
the British and American peoples will … walk together side by side in majesty, in justice, and in peace — Sir Winston Churchill
loved to walk with a minority — W.A.White
5. : to move about on foot while sleeping
almost every adult sleepwalker has a history of having walked as a child — This Week Magazine
— usually used with in one's sleep
people who walk in their sleep
6. : to move or progress slowly as if at a walk instead of a run
7. : to go to first base as the result of a base on balls
8. of an inanimate object
a. : to move in a manner that is suggestive of walking
so as not to wobble the ladder and make the poles walk — Training Manual for Auxiliary Firemen
b. : to stand with an appearance of moving in a particular direction in consequence of having or consisting of similar members repeated at regular intervals suggestive of strides
the long … dock that walked across the mud flats of the bay — F.G.Slaughter
the transmission towers walked down a slope — D.S.Boyer
transitive verb
1.
a. : to pass on foot or as if on foot through, along, over, or upon : traverse , perambulate
walk the avenue
walk a tightrope
had to walk the floor with the baby almost an hour before he got it to sleep
evil forces that walk the world — C.T.Lanham
the ghost … walks the corridors every night — J.P.Marquand
b. : to perform or accomplish by going on foot
walk guard
2.
a. : to cause (an animal) to go on foot by leading, riding, or driving especially at a walking pace
a rider walking his horse
walking a dog on a leash
steers that were walked to market
b. : to cause to move by walking
formerly when the airship had to be pulled to the ground and walked into its hangar — No. American Review
walked his bicycle up the hill
specifically : to haul (as an anchor) by walking round the capstan
c. : to carry while walking
who had once walked the mails down the beaches — Marjory S. Douglas
3. : to follow on foot as for the purpose of measuring or surveying
walk a boundary
4.
a. : to accompany on foot : walk with : take for a walk
we'll walk you to the bus stop
b. : to compel to walk (as by a command or by support and propulsion)
they walked you into jail — Karl Shapiro
it may be necessary to pick the patient up, walk him about, and stimulate him in other ways in order to keep him awake — Morris Fishbein
5. obsolete : to be present at : attend
walk the exchange
6. : to bring to a specified condition by walking
walk someone off his feet
walked the entire afternoon away — Sherwood Anderson
7. : to move (an object or objects) in a manner suggestive of walking
she walked a spinning wheel into the house, making it use first one and then the other of its own spindling legs to achieve progression rather than lifting it by main force — C.E.Craddock
warships were walking a barrage up and down the beach — Ira Wolfert
he walked his … fingers along the couch back — Wallace Stegner
8.
a. : to perform (a dance) at a walking pace
walk a quadrille
b. : to go through (a play or acting part) perfunctorily as in an early stage of rehearsal
9.
a. chiefly Britain : to put or keep (a young foxhound or other puppy) at walk
b. : to put or keep (a gamecock stag) in a walk
10. : to pursue as a course of action or way of life
as you walk your mystic way — W.S.Gilbert
would have to walk a careful course — Thomas Sugrue
11.
a. : to give a base on balls to
b. : to cause (a run) to be scored by giving a batter a base on balls with the bases full — sometimes used with in
walked in the winning run
•
- walk around
- walk away from
- walk away with
- walk into
- walk off with
- walk one's chalks
- walk over
- walk over the course
- walk spanish
- walk the chalk line
- walk the floor
- walk the hospitals
- walk the plank
- walk the streets
- walk through
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from walken to walk
1.
a. : an act or instance of going on foot especially for exercise or pleasure
go for a walk
take a walk
fond of long walks
b. obsolete : peregrination , travel
2.
a. : accustomed place of walking : haunt
b. obsolete : place or area of movement of an object or objects : range , course
3. : a place designed for walking:
a.
(1) : a passage (as a portico or aisle) for walking in a church or other public building : ambulatory
(2) : a balustraded roof area or a railed platform above the roof of a dwelling house : widow's walk
b.
(1) : a path specially arranged or paved for walking
a graveled walk in a garden
(2) walks plural , obsolete : pleasure grounds
he hath left you all his walks, his private arbors and new-planted orchards — Shakespeare
(3) : sidewalk
c.
(1) : avenue 3b
(2) : a public avenue for promenading : promenade
d. : rope walk
4. : a place or area of land in which animals feed and exercise with minimal restraint:
a.
(1) : a pen to keep poultry in : fowl run
(2) : a place where a young gamecock is kept for exercise and experience away from other male birds
b. : land serving as pasture especially for sheep
c. chiefly Britain : a farm or cottage to which a kennel-bred foxhound or other puppy is sent to develop and to become accustomed to livestock
sending out foxhound puppies to walk — E.G.W.W.Harrison
hound puppies are out at walk — C.E.Hare
d. : the entire range of a territorial animal
5. : an area that constitutes a section of a park or especially forest and is under the charge of a ranger that patrols it
6. : distance to be walked
living within a short walk of one's place of employment
a quarter mile walk from here
especially : distance as measured in time required by a walker to cover
within ten minutes' walk
7. Britain : a ceremonial procession
8.
a. : manner of living : conduct , behavior
b. obsolete : a course of action in a particular set of circumstances
9.
a. : the gait of a biped in which the feet are lifted alternately with one foot not being lifted clear of the ground before the other touches the ground
he started at a walk but soon broke into a run
b. : the gait of a quadruped in which there are always at least two feet on the ground ; specifically : a slow flat-footed four-beat gait of a horse in which the feet strike the ground in the sequence near hind, near fore, off hind, off fore at such a rate that there are always at least two feet on the ground
c. : an extremely low rate of speed
shortage of raw materials slowed production down to a walk
10.
a. : a suitable course or route to walk for exercise or pleasure
there are delightful walks in almost every direction from here
b. : a route regularly traversed by a person in the performance of a particular activity (as patrolling, begging, or the delivery of mail or commodities)
the postmen's rounds are known as walks, though the postmen may use motor-vans or pedal cycles — W.D.Sharp
11. : characteristic manner of walking
his walk is just like his father's
12.
a. : social or economic status
persons from every walk , including members of various royal families — New York Times
— used especially in the phrase walk of life
from all walks of life including even the nobility — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
b.
(1) : range or sphere of action : field , province
distinguished figures in science, politics, and affairs, … and particularly in the walk of letters — Richard Gottheil
had a duty to go into the higher walk of the House of Commons — H.J.Laski
(2) : vocation — used especially in the phrase walk of life
whatever your walk of life — actor, journalist, musician, psychiatrist, politician — J.B.Boothroyd
13. : association 1
a closer walk with God — William Cowper
14. : a West Indian plantation of trees arranged in rows with wide spaces between them
the Spaniards left behind them well-established cacao walks … in Jamaica — A.E.Aspinall
15. : onward course or journey
a deliberate walk down the road to moral ruin — M.B.Ridgway
16. : departure , walkout — used especially in the phrase take a walk
17. : a trial of speed in walking over a course : walking race
18. : base on balls
19. : an intermittent creeping motion of equipment from a desired fixed position because of vibration or tilting
•
- in a walk
III. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English walken, from Middle Dutch, to knead, press, full — more at walk I
Britain : full V
IV. intransitive verb
: to avoid criminal prosecution or conviction
•
- walk one through