| 释义 |
▪ I. walk, n.1|wɔːk|
Also 4–7 walke, 6 walck, whalke.
[f. walk v.1]
I. Action or manner of walking.
1. a. An act or spell of walking or going on foot from place to place; esp. a short journey on foot taken for exercise or pleasure. Phrase, to take a walk, (a) also † fetch, rarely make a walk, and (somewhat arch.) to take one's walk(s, to make such a journey; (b) to ‘receive one's marching orders’, to be dismissed; freq. imp. in formulas of impatient dismissal, sometimes in extended form; sometimes transf.; also, to ‘walk out’ in a labour dispute (walk v.1 13 b). U.S. slang.
c1386Chaucer Man of Law's T. 461 And in hir walk this blynde man they mette. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 410 You haue your fine walkes, in places of pleasure, and therewithall communication seasoned with the leuen of learning. 1581A. Hall Iliad ii. 23 When as y⊇ green eyed Goddesse thus had heard dame Iunoes talk, To finde the wilie Vlysses straight downe she tooke hir walke. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 48 See here the decree of a country Phylosopher, and Matter of Meditation for one of your walkes at Yssy. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 79 The unfortunate Lady Agarida took a walk by a little Rivers side. 1686tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 130 His most usual walks being upon Giulfa side. 1694Motteux Rabelais iv. xxi, Some kind Wave will throw it [my will] ashoar,..and some King's Daughter, going to fetch a Walk in the fresco on the Evening, will find it. a1700Evelyn Diary 19 Sept. 1683, In my walkes I stepp'd into a goldbeaters work-house. 1737Common Sense I. 205, I am not absurd enough, even to hint the usual rural Recreations, of fetching a Walk. 1753[see walk v. 5 d]. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. Pref. p. iii, If..a man should, in his walks, meet with an animal, the name..of which he desires to know. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. xiv. III. 338 She delighted in little dances, and walks home after them, and what are called walks out in the morning, to be met somewhere and joined by her beloved. 1834Sir H. Taylor Artevelde i. i. vii. 61 My mistress, Sir, so please you, takes her walk Along the garden terrace, and desires [etc.]. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxviii, At dinner they met again, after a five-and-twenty mile walk. 1865E. Burritt Walk Land's End i. 32, I shouldered my knapsack again and made an evening walk to Kingston. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate i, We have only ten minutes left for our walk back. 1910A. Lang in Encycl. Brit. X. 135/1 A man, in fun, called to a goat to escort his wife on a walk.
(b)1871‘Mark Twain’ Sketches New & Old (1875) 248 The first time he opened his mouth and was just going to spread himself, his breath took a walk. 1881― in Century Mag. Nov. 37 They ring out, ‘Oh, dry up!’ ‘Give us a rest!’.. ‘Oh, take a walk!’ 1888in Farmer Americanisms (1889) 550/2 The cash returns were so out of proportion to the sales, that Mr. Berry concluded to make a change and Tascott took a walk. 1937Amer. Speech XII. 4 The so-called Jeffersonian Democrats took a walk from their party allegiance. 1946Sun (Baltimore) 19 Nov. 2 (caption) Miners ‘take a walk’—Black Diamond mine workers at Monongahela, Pa., are shown waiting for a car after quitting their jobs. 1961Lebende Sprachen VI. 99/2 Go take a long walk off a short pier... Go jump in the lake.
†b. In wider sense: Travel, wandering. Obs.
c1470Gol. & Gaw. 494 The warliest wane..That euer I vist in my walk, in all this warld wyde. 1697Dryden æneis vii. 773 For not the Gods, nor angry Jove will bear Thy lawless wand'ring walks in upper Air.
†c. Line of march or movement (in quots., of an army, a chess-man). Obs.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 3799 Þai droȝe furth be dissert & drinkles þai spill, Was nouthire waldis in þar walke ne watir to fynde. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 258 And so returned home by land,..burnyng and destroiyng euery pile, fortresse and village that was in their walke. 1589Pappe w. Hatchet in Lyly's Wks. (1902) III. 395 He shall knowe what it is for a scaddle pawne, to crosse a Bishop in his owne walke.
d. fig. in various uses: † Expatiation, extended discourse (obs. rare); an act or a practice of walking, in any metaphorical sense of the verb.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 16 b, Now in speakyng of honestie, I may by deuision of the vertues make a large walke. 1592Breton Pilgr. Parad. (Grosart) 19/1 From care, and cost, fancy, and wisedomes folly, He tooke his walke vnto a waie more holly. 1771–2Cowper Olney Hymns i. iii. 1 Oh! for a closer walk with God. 1802Wordsw. Sonn. Liberty i. iv, And the talk Man holds with week-day man in the hourly walk Of the mind's business. 1825Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Barbara S―, Perhaps from the pure infelicity which accompanies some people in their walk through life. 1862Mrs. Browning Little Mattie 2 Short and narrow her life's walk.
e. Baseball. = base on balls s.v. base n.1 15 c. Cf. walk v.1 5 q.
1905Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 16 Sept. 2/1 Taking the totals, or hits and walks, and such a famine in tallies would seem impossible, but there are the figures. 1948Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.) 21 Mar. 4/6 Rice, on second from a walk and a sacrifice, crossed the home plate on a fly which Charley Gilbert misjudged. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 7 May (TV Mag.) 14/2 Even the worst of ballplayers can still reach first base on a walk and even get to second should the pitcher throw wild. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c 2/3 Dwight Evans, who had been behind 0–2 in the count, drew a two-out walk.
f. = sponsored walk s.v. sponsored ppl. a. 2.
1971M. Lee Dying for Fun xliv. 213 You ought to get one of the newspapers to sponsor it. Walks and demonstrations and things. 1971Guardian 24 May 11/6 From 1965–69, Oxfam depended on walks for up to {pstlg}175,000 of its year's {pstlg}2½ millions budget.
2. a. A procession, ceremonial perambulation.
1563Homilies II. Rogation-wk. iv. 248 b, Yet haue we occasion secondarylye geuen vs in our walkes on these dayes, to consider the old auncient boundes & limittes belongyng to our owne Towneship. a1610Bp. Hall Epist. vi. v. 45 You may as well challenge the Trumpets of Rammes⁓hornes, and seauen dayes walke vnto euery siedge. 1888Barrie Auld Licht Idylls (1892) 23 It is nearly twenty years since the gardeners had their last ‘walk’ in Thrums.
†b. An official perambulation. Cf. sense 10.
1626Breton Fantasticks (Grosart) 13/1 The Forresters now be about their walkes, and yet stealers sometimes cozen the Keepers.
†3. pl. Ability to walk. Obs. rare—1.
1593R. Harvey Philad. 103 That God which giueth eyes to the blind, and walkes to the lame.
4. An act of walking as distinguished from other more rapid modes of locomotion on foot (see walk v.1 7); the slowest gait of a land animal; a rate of progression which belongs to this gait, a walking pace.
a. of a horse or other quadruped (opposed to trot, amble, gallop, etc.).
1688Holme Armoury ii. 150/1 Walk, is the sloest pace a Horse doth go; it is used to cool a Horse after hard Riding. 1788A. Hughes Henry & Isabella I. 50 If the road was in the smallest degree rough..the horses were never suffered to go off a walk. 1804A. Hunter Georg. Ess. VI. 187 If the distance is above a mile, they will suffer, unless it is walk all the way. 1832Prop. Reg. Instr. Cavalry ii. 15 The rate of walk not to exceed four miles an hour. 1848Dickens Dombey xlvi, He rode near Mr. Dombey's house; and falling into a walk as he approached it, looked up at the windows. 1902‘Violet Jacob’ Sheep-Stealers xiv, He did not once let his horse go out of a sober walk.
b. of a human being (opposed to run).
1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. iii. 138 My verie walke should be a Iigge. 1838Dickens O. Twist xiii, Exchanging her faltering walk for a good, swift, steady run. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. lxxiii. (1901) II. 255 He..rounded the corner into Red Lion Street at something between a walk and a run.
c. Applied spec. to a firm and regular gait. nonce-use.
1784Cowper Task iv. 639 He stands erect; his slouch becomes a walk; He steps right onward, martial in his air.
d. A walking race; a pedestrian contest in which running is not allowed.
1887Sporting Life 2 July 3/5 Clarke should win the Walk, with Lange second, and Ockelford third.
e. to win in a walk: to win easily and without effort. U.S. colloq.
1896Ade Artie xii. 106 ‘Does he stand a good chance of being elected?’ ‘That's what keeps me guessin'. Two years ago he win in a walk [etc.].’ 1903A. H. Lewis Boss 138 He won in a walk. 1936E. S. Gardner Case of Sleepwalker's Niece xiv. 130 The whole thing..gets back to Duncan. If I can break down Duncan's identification I can win the case in a walk.
f. Any dance modelled on or resembling a walk; chiefly as second element of a Comb., as cake-walk n. 1, camel-walk s.v. camel n. 5, Lambeth walk s.v. Lambeth 3.
1937[see Big Apple s.v. big a. B. 2]. 1975G. Howell In Vogue 9/2 In return we get syncopated music, and what to do to it—the Baleta..the Twinkle..the Missouri Walk. 1975N.Y. Post 27 Dec. 23 The new Walk..is an anathema to all this talk of returning romanticism, because you do it alone, without touching.
5. a. A manner of walking; esp. the distinctive manner of walking of an individual, as recognizable by visible appearance.
a1656R. Cox Actæon & Diana 35 Who's this..? the clothes and walk of my dear husband. 1697Dryden æneis i. 561 In length of Train descends her sweeping Gown, And by her graceful Walk, the Queen of Love is known. 1705tr. Cowley's Plants Wks. 1711 III. 382 The Mandrake only imitates our Walk And on two legs erect is seen to stalk. 1774Pennsylv. Gaz. 28 Sept. Suppl. 1/1 Run away..an Irish servant man,..slender made, long visage, small legs, and hath a clumsy walk. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xiii, It was impossible to mistake her figure and her walk. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 438 Who has a walk that can be named with that of the Arab?
†b. to diminish one's walks: ? to walk mincingly. Obs.
1609Dekker Gull's Hornbk. iv. 17 That true humorous Gallant that desires to powre himselfe into all fashions..must as well practise to diminish his walkes, as to bee various in his sallets, curious in his Tobacco, [etc.].
6. fig.
a. In religious language (cf. walk v.1 6 a): Manner of behaviour, conduct of life.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxix. ii, Whom in walk Gods way directeth, Sure them no sinnfull blott infecteth Of deed or word. 1760T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. Bay iv. (1765) 421 The irregular walk or demeanor of any one church. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. x, In this proposal there was much that pleased old David,..the lassie would be under Mrs. Saddletree's eye, who had an upright walk. 1831Carlyle Ess., Early Ger. Lit. (1840) III. 186 Tauler..a man of antique Christian walk. 1845–6Trench Huls. Lect. Ser. ii. vii. 263 What do they require of us but a walk corresponding? 1871Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 237 The most important question that we can ask of any great teacher, as of the walk and conversation of any commonest person, remains this, how far has he [etc.].
†b. A course of conduct. Obs.
1772Burke Let. 17 Nov. Corr. (1844) I. 378 None of our friends are to blame for this rejection of that idea... It was impossible at that time to take a separate walk from them. 1786F. Burney Diary 10 Dec., I was ashamed to appear the leader in a walk so new as that of leaving the Lodge in an evening.
†7. Theatr. ? The course of action assigned to one person of a drama. Obs.
Davenant speaks of ‘the underwalks (or lesser intrigues) of persons’.
1651Davenant Gondibert, Pref., To these Meanders of the English Stage I have cut out the Walks of my Poems. 1673Bp. S. Parker Reproof Reh. Transp. 10 You summ up your Charge in Six Heads, which you sometimes entitle Playes, sometimes Hypotheses, sometimes Aphorisms; and why not Plots, and Scenes, and Walks, and under-walks, &c.?
II. Place or path for walking.
†8.
a. The usual place of walking, the haunt or resort (of a person or animal). Obs.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 211 The gardyn..Ther as this fresshe Emelye..Was in hire walk, and romed vp and doun. c1400Rom. Rose 2505 Thus shalt thou..gete enchesoun to goon ageyn Unto thy walk, or to thy place, Where thou biheld hir fleshly face [Fr. d'aler Derechief encore en la rue Ou etc.]. a1450Mirk's Festial 55 But þus he [sc. the hunter] wole spye wher hys [sc. the unicorn's] walk ys, and þer he settyþe a woman þat ys clene mayden. 1488–9Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 59 Sir, I wold advise your mastership cause William Scargell to take good regard to himselfe & not to use his old walkes; for & he doe, he wylbe taken. 1530Palsgr. 436/2 Beware, come nat in his walke lest he arrest the: gardes toy de te trouuer la ou il hante. 1593Marlowe Edw. II (Brooke) 1804 Edmund away..Proud Mortimer pries neare into thy walkes. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 300 If any male or other stone Horsse come within their walke, then presently they make force at him. 1634Peacham Compl. Gentl. x. (1906) 88 For with the weeds there are delicate flowers in those walkes of Venus [Ovid's Amores, etc.]. 1702Rowe Ambit. Step-Mother i. i, With heedless steps they unawares Tread on the Lyons walk.
†b. transf. The region within which something moves. Also fig. Obs.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 75 Meanynge therby, that no man..came in their [sc. the arrows] walke, that escaped without death. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxxi. §16 Those coulorable and suttle crimes that seldome are taken within the walke of humaine iustice. 1656Cowley Pindar. Odes, Praise Pindar iv, Lo, how th' obsequious Wind, and swelling Ayr The Theban Swan does upwards bear Into the walks of Clouds, where he does play. 1692Ray Disc. ii. ii. (1732) 101 The middle region of the Air where the Walk of the Clouds is. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 102 Far as the solar walk or milky way.
9. A place prepared or set apart for walking.
a. In a church or other public building: An ambulatory; a place where people can walk, a cloister, aisle, portico, or the like; esp. in the Royal Exchange, each of the portions of the ambulatory formerly allotted to different classes of merchants; designated by special names, as East India, Virginia, Jamaica, Spanish etc. walk (see Entick London ed. 1766, IV. 102).
1530Palsgr. 286/2 Walke to walke up and downe in, paruis. 1556Withals Dict. (1562) 42 A walke, galery, or porche to walke in, porticus. 1579Hake Newes out of Powles (1872) F iij, Here, in this Church a walck there is where Papistes doe frequent To talke of newes among themselues. 1593Norden Spec. Brit. i. Mdsx. 35 Royall exchange... The form of the building is quadrate, with walks round the mayne building supported with pillers of marble. 1595Stow Surv. (1603) 404 They resort all to the said Temple Church, in the round walke whereof [etc.]. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §42 (1810) 48 In one of the walks of the church there is a stone. 1661in M. Sellers Eastland Co. (Camden) Introd. 75 Our deputies..will meet theirs at London upon the Exchange Munday and Tusday come senett at noone in the Eastlande Walke. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4708/4 Inquire at the..Royal Exchange East Country-Walk in Exchange Time. 1715Ibid. No. 5341/4 The Spanish Walk in the Royal Exchange. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. (1871) II. 101 The great cloister..has a walk of intersecting arches round its four sides. 188419th Cent. Jan. 104 The cloister arcade was said to have four walks.
b. An avenue bordered by trees.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. x. 25 And all without were walkes and alleyes dight With diuers trees, enrang'd in euen rankes. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 93 Quinces here are of an incredible bignes. Their vines dispersing themselves vpon the boughes of trees doe make most pleasant bowers and walkes. 1623J. Taylor (Water P.) New Discov. by Sea C 2 b, There hath he made Walkes, hedges, and Arbours, of all manner of most delicate fruit Trees. 1626Toke (Kent) Estate Acc. (MS.) fol. 98 Quicksett for the further end of the wake in the new orchard. 1693Motteux St Olon's Morocco 8 A fiery Horse, that ran away with him..as he wheel'd about under a Walk of Orange Trees. 1711Addison Spect. No. 110 ⁋1 There is a long Walk of aged Elms. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xviii, The old lime-tree walk was like green cloisters.
c. A broad path in a garden or pleasure-ground. Also, a way set apart for foot-passengers at the side of a street or road; a footwalk, sidewalk.
1533MS. Rawl. 776 lf. 171 b, For that Chylderne shall not cast Rubbysh vnto the Kynges new Whalke. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 19 Get ye all three into the box tree: Maluolio's comming downe this walke. 1667Primatt City & C. Builder 153 It is decent to have fine gravel Walks in the Garden. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 118/2 Allies, or Walks well Gravelled. 1693Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 44 A Walk must be broad enough for two Persons to walk a-breast at least,..without which it would no longer be a real Walk, but a large Path. 1784Cowper Task i. 351 We tread the wilderness, whose well-roll'd walks..give ample space To narrow bounds. 1848Thackeray Van Fair xxxix, The library looked out on the front walk and park. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. xli. (1901) II. 38 That's one of the few pulls we magistrates have—I keep my avenue in repair and my walks weeded by the vagrants. 1913G. S. Porter Laddie xviii. (1917) 366 Mr. Pryor lay all twisted on the walk.
collect.1874Englishman's Guide Bk. U.S. 23 There are in it [the Central Park, New York] about 9 miles of carriage drive, 4 of bridle road, and about 25 miles of walk.
d. A public promenade in or near a town.
1840Dickens Old C. Shop xliv, In the public walks and lounges of a town, people go to see and to be seen. 1842L. S. Costello Pilgr. Auvergne II. iii. 43 This public walk is prettily arranged on the site of a Roman amphitheatre.
e. The circular pavement on which the mill-horse walks in driving the mill.
1734Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 403 Their Muscles and Tendons..are unequally strain'd, as the Duty is hardest on one Side, even tho' their Walk is large. 1744Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. II. 536 Those plain and simple Instruments used at the Coal-pits, call'd Barrel-Gins, where an Horse going round in a sufficiently large Walk draws round an Axis in Peritrochio. 1834–6Barlow in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 91/1 The diameter of a walk for a horse mill ought to be at least 25 to 30 feet.
f. = rope-walk .
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 54 A Capstern..is fixed in the ground at the lower-end of the walk. Ibid. 56 Ropehouse-ground, or Walk, should be four-hundred yards long. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1070 (Rope-making.) As soon as he has reached the termination of the walk, a second spinner takes the yarn off the whirl, and gives it to another person to put upon a reel.
10. a. A tract of forest land comprised in the circuit regularly perambulated by a superintending officer (cf. 3); a division of a forest placed in the charge of a forester, ranger, or keeper.
1541N. Country Wills (Surtees 1908) 190 To poor hous⁓holders and other honest people within my walkes within the forest of Wyndesore. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. ii. 24 My Parkes, my Walkes, my Mannors that I had, Euen now for⁓sake me. 1642Docq. Lett. Pat. at Oxf. (1837) 330 The Office of Keeper of the lower walke of the great Parke of Windsor. Ibid. 338 The Offices of the foure Bayliwickes or eight walkes, and of Ranger and Launderer of the Forrest of Whichwood. 1679–88Moneys Secr. Serv. Chas. II & Jas. II (Camden) 125 To Sr Eliab Harvey, Lieut. of Waltham forest,..for the repayres of Low-Layton Lodge, wherein he lives, being under-keeper of that walk. a1700Evelyn Diary 23 Oct. 1686, Went with the Countesse of Sunderland to Cranbourn, a lodge and walke of my Lord Godolphin's in Windsor Parke. 1778Engl. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. New Forest, There are 9 walks in it; and to every one a keeper, under a lord-warden, besides 2 rangers, and a bow-bearer. 1810J. Evans & Britton Beauties Eng. & Wales XI. Northampt. 31 The Forest of Whittlewood... The whole is divided into five walks, viz. Hazleborough, Sholbrook, Wakefield, Hanger, and Shrobb. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxii, If the Normans drive ye from these walks, Rowena has forests of her own, where her gallant deliverers may range at full freedom.
†b. Agric. A tract of land used for corn-growing.
1797in A. Young Agric. Suffolk 39 A walk that is laid down with plenty of seeds for two years, never grows so much corn as when first broke up again.
c. West Indian. A plantation.
1793Ann. Reg., Nat. Hist. 310 The usual method of forming a new piemento plantation (in Jamaica it is called a walk) is nothing more than to appropriate a piece of wood⁓land, [etc.]. 1901Westm. Gaz. 13 June 2/3 Many sugar estates in the West Indies have of late years been converted into banana walks.
11. a. An enclosure in which poultry or other birds are allowed to run freely; a fowl-run. Also (cf. sense 13), a place to which fowls are sent in order that they may have more space to run about than can be allowed them where they are bred: in phrase at walk.
1538Elyot Dict., Viuarium, a place, where wylde beastes, byrdes, or fyshes be kepte. It may be callyd as welle a ponde, as a parke, a counnyngar, a walke for byrdes. 1600Surflet Country Farm i. xvi. 107 Likewise you must not let them [geese] lay out of their walke or fold. 1880Jessopp Arcady i. (1887) 10 He eats the eggs for breakfast and the chickens for dinner, goes in for fancy breeds [of fowl], and runs up an ornamental ‘walk’ for them.
¶b. a walk of snipes († snites). In the early lists of ‘proper terms’ the meaning is uncertain; later writers interpret it as a ‘company term’ (cf. ‘congregation of plovers’ in the same lists).
c1450MS. Egerton 1995 fol. 19 A Walke of Snytys. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. i. ii. 33. 1859 H. C. Folkard Wild Fowler i. 6 A walk of snipes.
c. The place in which a game-cock is kept. cock of the walk (fig.): a person whose supremacy in his own circle is undisputed (see cock n.1 7).
1615T. Savile in J. J. Cartwright Chapters Hist. Yorks. (1872) 350, I have..borowed my father's cocks... I go..to get walkes for them. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 251/2 The Cocks Walk is the place where he is bred, which usually is a place that no other Cock comes to. c1770T. Fairfax Compl. Sportsm. 4 Let the cock chickens go with their hens, till they begin to fight one with another; but then separate them into several walks, and that walk is the best, that is freest from the resort of others. 1823Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. Egan), Cock, or Chief Cock of the Walk. The leading man in any Society or body; the best boxer in a village or district. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf, Walk (in cocking)—the ground for keeping them. 1857Trollope Barchester T. xvii. heading, Who shall be cock of the walk? 1875G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto i, Mr. Gale, to use his own phraseology, was accustomed to consider himself Cock of the Walk in every society he frequented.
12. Land, or a tract of land, used for the pasture of animals, esp. sheep. Obs. exc. in sheepwalk.
1549Latimer 1st Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 40 He had walke for a hundred shepe, and my mother mylked .xxx. kyne. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 62 The housing of cattel while winter doth hold..spareth the pasture for walke of thy sheepe. a1647Habington Surv. Worcs. (Worcs. Hist. Soc.) I. 254 A large walke for sauage beastes, but nowe more commodiously chaunged to the civill habitations of many gentellmen. 1808Jamieson, Gang,..a pasture or walk for cattle.
13. A farm or cottage to which a young hound is sent in order to get accustomed to a variety of surroundings. Phrases, at walk, to put to walk.
1735Somerville Chase iv. Argt., Of the litter of whelps..of setting them out to their several walks. 1781P. Beckford Thoughts Hunting v. 60 The distemper makes dreadful havoc with whelps at their walks. 1840D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports iv. v. §3. 474 Hounds are usually named at the time they are sent out to their walks. 1845Youatt Dog ii. 36 There is a difference of opinion whether the [greyhound] whelp should be kept in the kennel and subjected to its regular discipline, or placed at walk in some farm⁓house. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. (1901) I. i. 4 The hounds were still kept at walks during the summer. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. iv. §340 The Walks for the Young Hounds should be chosen in such situations as that they shall be accustomed to all sorts of company from children to horses. 1881E. D. Brickwood Hound in Encycl. Brit. XII. 315/2 When about ten or twelve weeks old [foxhound] puppies are sent out to walk.
14. The ‘beat’, round, or circuit of an itinerating official, workman, tradesman, beggar, etc.; the district within which a person is accustomed to practise his occupation without interference from a rival. Now usu., a postman's round.
1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3910/4 Making use of the Company's Pavior of that Walk to Dig the same. 1705tr. Bosman's Guinea 98 The last and most contemptible Office is that of Under-Fiscal, commonly called by us, Auditor, though in his Walks, Informer, as he really is no better. 1824Scott Redgauntlet let. xii, The old man [the blind fiddler] struck the earth with his staff... ‘The whoreson fisher rabble! They have brought another violer upon my walk!’ 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 571 Milk people of less profitable walks. 1848Sinks of Lond. 97 Beat, a watchman's walk. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 435/2 ‘My father had a milk⁓walk’, he said. Ibid. (1861) II. 8/2 He had thoughts at one time of trying to establish himself in a cats'-meat walk. 1908Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 102/2 On arriving at the office of delivery letters are at once stamped and sorted to the ‘walks’ of the postmen. 1977Times 12 July 8/4 A complaint by a postwoman..that she had been prevented from..obtaining a particular postal ‘walk’.
15. a. A distance or length of way to be walked; esp. such a distance as defined by a specified length of time spent in walking. (Often in phrases used advb.)
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 79 Dwellyng a good walke from hir at the townes eende. a1700Evelyn Diary 15 Sept. 1685, Her house being a walke in the forest, within a little of a quarter mile from Bagshot towne. 1808Scott in Lockhart I. i. 59, I agreed to go every morning to his house, which, being at the extremity of Prince's Street, New Town, was a walk of two miles. 1834Dickens Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho. i, ‘A cheerful musical home in a select private family, residing within ten minutes' walk of’—everywhere. 1859Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 4 Within a quarter of an hour's walk of it. 1875Ruskin Morn. in Florence i. 5 A few hundred yards west of you, within ten minutes' walk, is the Baptistery of Florence. 1883C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 123 Beginning with a 1/4 m. walk out of the town, it is an almost continual ascent for 7 m. Ibid., There is a mile run down to the railway, followed by a mile walk up into Stow.
b. U.S. (See quot.)
1901P. Fountain Deserts N. Amer. vii. 118 The Indians had a singular custom in parting with their land. They sold it by the ‘walk’. Ibid. 119 The duration of a walk was always a day in time, no matter what the distance.
16. A course or circuit, in the country or in a town, which may be chosen for walking.
1617Moryson Itin. i. 32 In the valley under this Mountaine of Goates, towards the City, is a pleasant walk, of the sweetnes called the Phylosophicall way. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 28 Though the Countrey about Constantinople be not so delightful, nor so well peopled, as in France; yet it is not without pleasant Walks. 1693Dryden Ovid's Metam. xiii. Acis etc. 51 A Promontory..over-looks the Seas: On either side, below, the water flows: This airy walk the Giant Lover chose. 1757Mrs. P. L. Powys Passages fr. Diaries (1899) 32, I..thought myself most happy when I got into the grove, one of the sweetest walks in Matlock. 1786Cowper Let. to J. Hill 9 Dec., Weston is one of the prettiest villages in England, and the walks about it at all seasons of the year delightful. 1850J. Martineau in J. Drummond Life (1902) I. 337 We can find walks that will vie with the Thiergarten even in this desolate country. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xv. 100 This walk was full of instruction and delight.
III. Department of action.
17. A department of action; a particular branch or variety of some specified activity, e.g. trade, literature, science, etc.; a special line of work.
1759Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 145 Two thirds were to be a quorum in the upper walk of business, and one third in the lower. 1762H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. Pref. p. vii, It would be difficult..to assign a physical reason, why a nation that produced Shakespear, should owe its glory in another walk of genius to Holbein and Vandyck. 1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad Dissert. 167/1 However superior Voltaire may be in the other walks of poetry, certain it is, no originality, no strength of colouring, shines in the Henriade. 1806Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vi. Introd., As you appear to have a peculiar kindness for Inns, I will treat you with a choice sample of satisfactions in that walk of enjoyment. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. xiii. ⁋9 He had..taken upon himself to eclipse the best writers each in their own favourite walk. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 147 Three sisters..displayed much talent in pursuing this walk of literature. 1823De Quincey Lett. Educ. i. (1860) 12 He seeks to renew that elevated walk of study at all opportunities. 1833Chalmers Const. Man (1835) I. ii. 137 Each affection has its peculiar walk of enjoyment. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. i. xix. II. 293 A similar impulse was felt in the other walks of science. 1856Masson Ess. iv. 112 Butler had shewn the more original vein of talent in one particular walk. 1857Dickens Dorrit ii. vi, ‘Does Mr. Henry Gowan paint—ha—Portraits?’ inquired Mr. Dorrit. Mr. Sparkler opined that he painted anything, if he could get the job. ‘He has no particular walk?’.. ‘No speciality?’ said Mr. Dorrit. 1866Crump Banking ii. 48 It is one of the most singular peculiarities in connection with men who have had much experience in other walks of trade, as merchants, &c. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. xcviii. III. 370 When he [a lawyer] has attained real eminence he may confine himself entirely to the higher walks.
18. walk of life (more rarely walk in life):
a. A social grade, station of life, rank. Also walk of society.
b. A trade, profession, or occupation.
a.1752Fielding Covent-Garden Jrnl. No. 56 ⁋9 Both of these [sc. characters of humour] will be almost infinitely diversified according to the different..natural dispositions of each individual; and according to their different walks in life. 1766Fordyce Serm. Young Women (1767) II. xiii. 247 Those who are placed in the higher walks of life. 1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man Pref., The term ‘genteel comedy’ was then unknown amongst us, and little more was desired by an audience than nature and humour, in whatever walks of life they were most conspicuous. 1800Asiatic Ann. Reg. ii. 97/2 The walk of life from which writers are to come should be duly weighed as they are in future, perhaps, to become directors, and probably legislators of India. 1832P. Egan's Bk. Sports No. 5. 66/2 Nature, enriched by art, had rendered the late Mr. Emery a man not often to be met with in the walks of society. 1899Ch. Times 13 Oct. 415/2 But according to the fashion of dress of to-day, it is not easy to tell from what walk in life women may come.
b.1848Sinks of Lond. 3 In what is termed the ‘walks of life’. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. viii. II. 307 They found every walk of life towards which men of their habits could look for a subsistence closed against them with malignant care. 1861Bright Sp. India 19 Mar. Sp. (1868) I. 119 Of course there are men of genius in very objectionable walks of life. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. xcviii. III. 378 The lawyers outnumber the persons belonging to other walks of life. 1912Sat. Rev. 18 May 615/1 Emolument far greater than what was possible for them in any other walk of life.
19. (= walk of life, 18 a and b).
a. Social grade or station;
b. trade or profession. rare.
a.1847Miller First Impr. Eng. xiii. 251, I met a funeral, the first I had seen in England. It was apparently that of a person in the middle walks. 1854― Sch. & Schm. (1858) 246 To those who move in the upper walks, the superiority in status of the village shop-keeper over the journeyman mason may not be very perceptible.
b.1836Dickens Sk. Boz, First of May, Certain dark insinuations.. to the effect that children in the lower ranks of life were beginning to choose chimney-sweeping as their particular walk.
IV.
20. attrib. and Comb. (sense 1) as walk-companion, walk shorts; (sense 9 c), as walk making, walk-side; (sense 14) as walk-rotation; (sense 12) as walk-land; also walk-clerk, a banker's clerk whose duty it is to collect payment of cheques in a particular district; walksman, an officer charged with the care of a certain length of the banks of a river or canal; walkway U.S. = sense 9 c.
1890H. Price Lond. Bankers 35 note, The following misfortune that befell a *walk-clerk.
1833Lamb Let. to Wordsw. May, I am about to lose my old and only *walk-companion, whose mirthful spirits were the ‘youth of our house’.
1797A. Young Agric. Suffolk 108 Ten loads..an acre upon good land, a middling crop; but upon *walk-land (poor sheep-walks ploughed up) less.
1849J. Forbes Physic. Holiday i. (1850) 1 They..indulge in farming, gardening, tree-felling, *walk-making, or [etc.].
1901Daily Chron. 8 June 7/7 The alleged attempts of the [Post Office] department to reduce the value of Christmas boxes by the introduction of a system of ‘*walk-rotation’.
1965Punch 17 Nov. 745 Then we equipped ourselves for our new surroundings [sc. Australia]. My wife..insisted on polished cotton *walk shorts for a reluctant me. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 6 Mar. 11/6 (Advt.), Authentic lederhosen style classic walk shorts for men and women. 1984Gainesville (Florida) Sun 30 Mar. 8a (Advt.), Choose from white tennis shorts or solid and patterned walk shorts in polyester and cotton blends.
1893Stevenson Catriona iii, A pleasant gabled house set by the *walkside among some brave young woods.
1794Ann. Reg., Nat. Hist. 311 For the care of the banks [of the New River], a *walksman is appointed to every two miles. 1903Daily Chron. 17 Mar. 9/5 A ‘walksman’ in the service of the New River Company.
1911H. S. Harrison Queed xvi, He went down the broad steps of the Capitol, and out the winding white *walkway through the park.
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). a walk in the park: (the type of) something easy, effortless, or pleasant.
In quot. 1937 with some reference to the literal sense.
1937Amer. Speech 12 155/2 A walk in the park is their [sc. golf caddies'] facetious way of referring to a nine-hole round. 1963Los Angeles Times 22 Jan. iii. 1/1 It's just a walk in the park this year... Crosby doesn't even have any hot water bottles in his overcoat pockets. 1971Daily Kennebec Jrnl. (Augusta, Maine) 22 Sept. 11/6 Bushwhacking a typical woodcock cover is no walk in the park. 1991AARP Bull. Nov. 20/1 To go by the conventional wisdom, the 1992 presidential election is going to be a walk in the park for President Bush. 2003What Home Cinema Jan. 133/1 The flimsy remote control actually performs very well and makes setting up this budget-priced player a walk in the park.
▪ II. † walk, n.2 Sc. Obs.
[repr. OE. wolc, var. of wolcn, wolcen: see welkin.]
A cloud or clouds.
1513Douglas æneis iii. viii. 155 The mone wes vndir walk, and gaif na lycht. c1560Rolland Seven Sages 73 Sa as thir twa togidder was at talk, The Mone wox dark, and hid was vnder walk.
▪ III. walk, v.1|wɔːk|
Pa. tense and pple. walked |wɔːkt|. Forms: inf. and pres. stem: 1 wealcan, wealcian, 2, 3 walki-en, 4 walc, 2–7 walke, 6 walck(e, Sc. valk, 8–9 Sc. wauk, 4– walk. pa. tense. α. strong 1 wéolc, 3–5 welk(e, 5 walke, wilke; β. weak 1 wealcede, 4 welkide, walkit, 5 walkude, walkyd, 6 walckt(e, (6 Sc. valkit), 4– walked. pa. pple. α. strong 3 i-walken, walke; β. weak 5 walkude, 3– walked.
[OE. had two forms: (1) wealcan redupl. strong vb. (pa. tense wéolc, pa. pple. ᵹewealcen), to roll, toss (trans. and intr.); (2) wealcian weak vb., occurring only twice, in the senses ‘to muffle up’ (gl. obvolvere), to curl (hair: gl. calamistrare). One or both of these vbs. may have had also the sense ‘to full (cloth)’: see walk v.2 The corresponding forms in the other Teut. langs. are: OHG. walchan strong vb., recorded only in pa. pple. giwalchen, firwalchen, felted, matted (said of hair: gl. concretus); MHG. walken (pa. tense wielc, pa. pple. walken; later conjugated weak), to knead, to roll (paste) into balls in the palms of the hands; rarely, to move about (trans. and intr.), to turn into something; usually, to full (cloth), whence to cudgel, drub; mod.G. walken weak vb., to full, to cudgel; (M)LG., (M)Du. walken weak vb., to full, to work (felt), to cudgel; ON. valka (Icel. válka, mod. volka) weak vb., to drag about, to torment, refl. to wallow; MSw. valka weak vb., to roll (a morsel) about in the mouth, Norw. valka weak vb. to crumple in the hand, MDa. valke weak vb. to torment; the mod.Sw. valka, Da. valke (weak), to full, prob. take their sense from LG.
The strong pa. tense survived into the 15th c.; the weak conjugation, recorded from the 13th c. onwards, may perh. not be a survival of the rare OE. wealcian but an instance of the frequent change of inflexion from strong to weak. The corresponding weak vb. in continental Teut. is prob. to be explained in this way.
It is remarkable that to the end of the OE. period the sense of the strong vb. was ‘to roll’, and that from the beginning of the ME. period it was ‘to move about, travel’. The explanation of this apparently sudden change may be that the ME. sense had arisen in OE. as a colloquial (perhaps jocular) use, and that when the literary tradition was interrupted after the Conquest, and people wrote as they spoke, the original meaning of the verb was no longer current.
The OTeut. root *walk- has no certain affinities in any other branch of the Indogermanic family; phonologically the Skr. valg- to leap, dance, and the L. valgus bow-legged, might be related, but there is no clear similarity of meaning.]
†I.
1. intr.
a. In OE. (strong vb.). Of the waves: To roll, toss.
b. In early ME. of persons: To toss about restlessly. Obs.
In OE. also trans. (strong vb.) to turn over, roll; also fig. to turn over in one's mind, consider; (weak verb) to curl (hair); to press together (cf. walk v.2). For examples see Bosworth-Toller.
a1100Aldh. Glosses in Napier OE. Gl. i. 2474 Feruentis oceani, wealcendre sæ. a1200Moral Ode 240 Ho [sc. souls in hell] secheð reste þer nis nan..walkeð weri up and dun, se water deþ mid winde. a1200Body & Soul (Phillips) 5 He walkeþ & wendeþ & woneþ..þes, he sæiþ on his bedde, wome þæt ic libbe, þæt æffre [etc.]. 1398W. Paris Cristine (Horstm.) 394 Fyve daies..Sche welkide þerin [an oven] to & froo. c1400Pety Job 329 in 26 Pol. Poems 131 Allas, I walke in a lake Of dedly synne that doth me tene.
II. intr. To journey, move about, esp. on foot.
†2. To go from place to place; to journey, wander. Also with cogn. obj., to go (one's way).
In quot. a 1000 the sense appears to be ‘to pass over’; if so, the gloss is the only example within the OE. period of any anticipation of the ME. development of the meaning of the word; but it may be significant that the reference is to motion on the sea.
a1000Prudentius Glosses in Germania XI. 400 Emensus, ᵹewealcon [‘Emensus et multum freti’ Prud. Peristeph. v. 471]. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 51 Þat israelisshe folc was walkende toward ierusalem on swinche and on drede and on wanrede. c1205Lay. 112 Heuede Eneas þe duc mid his driht folcke widen iwalken. c1250Meid. Maregrete xlix, Muchel ic habbe iwalken bi water ant bi londe. a1300Cursor M. 6359 Queder-sum he welk her or þare, Þis wandes euer he wit him bare. Ibid. 21685 Quen þe nedders..Þe folk stanged of israel, Quen þai welk in þe wilderness. 13..Ibid. 22063 (Gött.) Þe angel..in þe pitt [þe deuil] sperd fast..for to be laised at þe last quen þat thousand ȝere war past, to walk his wai [Edinb. MS. to walc his waiis forthe] fra þat quile. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 498 Vs is likful and lef in landus to walke, þere won walleþ of water in þe welle⁓springus. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. viii. 14 Þei ben men on þis molde þat moste wyde walken. c1400Rule St. Benet 1893 Þai þat sal walk bi way, or wirk, And may not cum to haly kirk,..Þeir seruyse sal þai not for-gete. 1513Douglas æneis v. x. 29 And for ilk menȝe A capitane walkis rewland all his rowt.
3. Of things.
†a. Of time: To pass, elapse. Obs.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 568 An hundred winter..welken or it was ended wel.
†b. Of reports, fame, also of letters, money: To circulate, pass from one to another; also with about. Also said of the person whose fame is spread abroad. Obs.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1521 Your worde & your worchip walkez ay quere. a1352Minot Poems viii. 29 Þe word of him walkes ful wide. 1387T. Usk Test. Love i. vii. (Sk.) 95 Loke now what people has thou served; whiche of them al in tyme of thyne exile ever the refresshed, by the value of the leste coyned plate that walketh in mony? c1470Henry Wallace iii. 252 The worde of him walkit baith fer and ner. 1533More Let. to Cromwell Wks. 1422/1 An vnknowen heretike which hath sent ouer a worke that walketh in ouer many mens handes named the Souper of the lord. 1549Latimer 4th Serm bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 111 Ther was brybes walking, money makynge, makynge of handes. a1566R. Edwards Damon & P. (facs.) B iv, And I vp and downe, Go seekyng to learne what Newes here are walkyng. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 13 If any man that hath freends and money..chance to haue committed neuer so..flagicious a deed,..then letters walke, freends bestir them, and mony carrieth all away. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster iii. v. 77 For he shall weepe, and walke with euery tongue Throughout the citie, infamously song. a1626Bacon War with Spain (1629) 42 A wonderfull erroneous obseruation that walketh about. 1640tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. II. 120 This Prince..never left praying and importuning; every day she had a Page, letters were continually walking [Fr. les lettres marchoient à toutes heures]. 1671Milton Samson 1089, I..now am come to see of whom such noise Hath walk'd about. 1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Dissenter 22 There may be Mony Walking on the One Side as well as on the Other.
†c. Of crime, vice, or virtue: To be rife, spread abroad. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 79 In hym þat taketh is þe treccherye, if any tresoun wawe [read walke (with 5 MSS.)]. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 169 Þese men..beeþ i⁓woned to haue the victorie..in euerich fiȝt wher no treson is walkynge [L. ubi fraus abfuerit]. c1450in Kingsford Chron. Lond. (1905) 140 Ther whas so moch treson walkyng that men wist not what to do. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 101 Thair violence and wrang walkis full wyde. 1573L. Lloyd Pilgr. Princes 53 Then luste knew no way to the pallace of Cæsars, then abstinence walked in the market place, then all Rome was chast. 1626Breton Pasquils Mad-cap (Grosart) 8/2 Wealth is a witch that hath a wicked charme, That in the mindes of wicked men doth walke.
†d. Of drink, etc.: To be handed round, pass, circulate. Obs.
1555R. Smith in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 1254/1 My Lorde mayre being set with the bishop and one of the shriues, wine was walking on euery syde, I standing before them as an outcast. 1567Harman Caveat (Shaks. Soc.) 32 How the pottes walke about! their talking tounges talke at large. 1594Greene & Lodge Looking Gl. 1858 G.'s Wks. 1905 I. 201 Frolicke, my Lord[s]; let all the standerds walke; Ply it till euery man hath tane his load. 1596Ralegh Guiana 85 Wee found them all as drunke as beggers, and the pottes walking from one to another without rest. 1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 216 The pott continually walking, infused desperate and foolish hardinesse in many. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 157 This Hicks..was also Author..of other little trivial matters meerly to get bread, and make the pot walk.
†e. Of various material things, e.g. a pen, a weapon, an instrument, a heavenly body: To move, be in motion. Of leaves: To come out. Obs.
a1400Stockh. Med. MS. ii. 753 in Anglia XVIII. 325 At euery knot ij lewys owt walke. a1530J. Heywood Wether (1903) 686 Whan the wynde doth blow the uttermost Our wyndmylles walk a-mayne in every cost. 1549Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 25 And then bothe ploughes not walkyng, nothyng shoulde be in the common weale but honger. 1550― Serm. Stamford (1562) 103, I hearde a penne walkynge in the chimney behynde the cloth. They hadde appoynted one there to wryte al myne aunsweres. 1565J. Hall Crt. Vertue 150 The great Beare..Whych wyth the small Beare euermore Doth walke the pole about. 1575Gascoigne Making of Verse §1, I would..finde some supernaturall cause whereby my penne might walke in the superlatiue degree. 1580Blundevil Curing Horses Dis. xi. 6 Of the Feuer which commeth of rawe digestion... The Horse will blowe at the nose..you shall see his flankes walke and his backe to beate. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 45 From euery coast that heauen walks about, Haue thither come the noble Martiall crew. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxii. 663 Now English Bowes, and Bills, and Battle-axes walke, Death vp and downe the field in gastly sort doth stalke. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 115 They did not like working, so that the Cudgel was forc'd to walk now and then to quick'n their Laziness. 1815Scott Guy M. xxiv, [They] got me down, and knevelled me sair aneuch, or I could gar my whip walk about their lugs.
† f. Of a vehicle: To make regular journeys.
c1450Godstow Reg. 671, ij. cartis the which they had every day walkyng to busshyng in his wode of Shottore.
†g. Of the tongue, the jaws: To move briskly.
1550Crowley Epigr. 908 No man shal fynde a tyme to speake, so faste theyr tonges shal walke. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 5 And, ever as she went, her toung did walke In foule reproch and termes of vile despight. 1609Dekker Guls Horne-bk. v. 24 It will adde much to your fame to let your tongue walke faster then your teeth. 1609― Lanth. & Candle-light x. Wks. (Grosart) III. 277 If then..his chappes begin to walke as if he were chewing downe a Horse-loafe. 1673Kirkman Unlucky Citizen 231 He could make but little defence with his hands; but his tongue walked, he stormed, raged and threatened.
h. Naut. Of a ship: To make progress.
1884‘H. Collingwood’ Under Meteor Flag 159 Seeing us walking ahead, he hailed us to keep back in line with him. 1891W. C. Russell Marriage at Sea iii, If..it lies in my power to keep this here Spitfire [the ship's name] awalking.
†i. fig. (a) ? To be successful. (b) To be a substitute, ‘pass’, ‘go’ for. Obs.
(a)a1553Udall Royster D. iii. iii. (Arb.) 48, I doubt not but this geare shall on my side walke.
(b)1557T. Phaer æneid v. (1558) O iv, One only man shall be, whome lost in depe seas he shall seke, One poll shall walke for all [L. unum pro multis dabitur caput]. 1627W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 299 That now, writtes walk for words.
†4.
a. To go about in public, live, move (in a place or region). Also of animals: To range, be found (in a place). Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 17800 In mi cite of aramathi Þar ar þai [sc. the risen dead] walkand witerli. 13..Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXI. 302/310 Þer is a ffisch..Þat in þe see is walkynge; Euere he slumbreþ and eke slepeþ. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4734 Þys feste day..Were offred..þre þousand hyndes, Wylde walkande by wode lyndes. a1350S. Lucy 121 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 18 Whils he welk in þis werld here, He said to his appostels in-fere. ― S. Thomas 2 (ibid. 19) Saint Thomas, þe apostill trew, Þat welk in werld here with Jhesu. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 244 Men suld nocht lichtly traist in na sauf conditis, and namely in the warld that walkis now. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 329 He sawe full feill bestis abide, Off wylde and tayme walkand haboundandlye. 1513More Rich. III, Wks. 40/1 Robbers and riuers walking at libertie vncorrected. 1559Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. x. 32 Upon the which Place St. Augustine wryteth thus, Christe tooke Fleshe of the blessed Virgin his Mother, and in the same he did walke. [1856Aytoun Bothwell i. v, And yet—he bandies texts with Knox, And walks a pious man!]
†b. To be, live in a cerain condition. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 755 Adam ȝode walkand in þat welth þat halden was in micul elth. 1493Will E. Bonde (Somerset Ho.), I Edward Bonde in hole mynde walking & some what syke.
†c. To busy oneself, be active about something. Obs. (Cf. wake v. 4 b.)
a1300Cursor M. 7530 Dauid..toke bot a staf and a sling Þat he was wont to bere in hand Abute his flocke o scep walcand. c1450Mirk's Festial 84 And þi[l]ke folke þat han ben bysy erly and late to walke aboute worldely good, now schuld be bysy, alsoo, to vyset pore and seke.
d. With complementary adj. or phrase: = go v. 6. Now rare or obs.
1604Jas. I Counterbl. Tobacco (Arb.) 100 Why doe we not as well imitate them [the Indians] in walking naked as they doe? a1625Fletcher Custom Country ii. (1647) 8/1 How long might I have walkt without a cloake, Before I should have met with such a fortune?
5. a. To travel or move about on foot. Also with advs. about, on, etc.
to walk about: also spec. of an Aboriginal: cf. walkabout 1. to walk with (a stick): to use it as a partial support in walking. to walk on crutches: to support oneself by crutches in walking.
a1300K. Horn 953 Ich habbe walke [other texts walked] wide Bi þe se side; Nis he nowar ifunde. a1300Cursor M. 17288 + 127 Þese thre maries come þiderward, for drede þai stynted oft For ferd of þe Jews, and sithen welk ful soft. c1403Lydg. Temple of Glas 550, I saugh a man, þat welke al solitarie. a1535Frere & Boy (Ritson) 63 An olde man came hym tyll, Walkynge by the waye. 1557North Guevara's Diall Pr. iii. xlii. (1568) 71 Thow walkest by the thornes: and wylt not that thy gown bee torne. 1697Collier Ess. ii. (1703) 99 To walk always upon crutches, is the way to lose the use of our limbs. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Miss Evans & Eagle, They all walked on together, talking, and laughing. 1836Ibid., Vauxhall-Gardens, We walked about, and met with a disappointment at every turn. 1902‘Violet Jacob’ Sheep-Stealers viii, He carried a stick, but he did not use it to walk with. 1907‘C. E. Craddock’ Windfall iv. 75 Why, I'll feel so old whenst I'm twenty that I reckon I'll hev ter walk with a stick by then. 1908E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber ii. i. 265 This for Johnny Tritton, before alonga Cooktown; now walk about somewhere down here. Might be catch 'em alonga mainland.
†b. with refl. pron.
c1450Godstow Reg. 16, I wil now me walke from sege to sege, And pray to help me now euery saynt. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxvii. (1845) 119 As I went walkyng my selfe to and fro, Full sodaynly Venus wrought me such wo.
¶c. conjugated with to be. Also pa. pple. in intr. sense.
1770C. Jenner Placid Man vi. v. II. 202 Mrs. Stapleton inquired after Lady Clayton; Miss Clayton said she was walked out. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxxii, I shall never forget how frightened I was when I took him for the picture of old Sir Malise walked out of the canvass.
d. with cognate obj.; also, with advb. accusative of distance. Phrase, to walk a turn, to walk once up and once down.
c1460Towneley Myst. xxviii. 261 With lucas and with cleophas he welke a day Iurnee. 1548[see f]. 1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 162 A turne or two Ile walke To still my beating minde. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Pers. Wars i. 6 They prayed the King to walk some turns with Arsaces in their presence, to be witnesses of what passed. 1753J. Collier Art Torment. ii. iv. 177 Strange disorders in her head, for which she is advised to walk long walks. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxiv, They walked a turn through the hall. 1833Dickens Sk. Boz, Mr. Minns, I've walked all the way from Stamford-hill this morning. 1836Ibid., Criminal Courts, They walked a few paces, and paused. 1895J. Winsor Mississ. Basin 239 A scandalous act of Thomas Penn some years back (1737) had asserted inordinate claims by virtue of what was known as the ‘Walking Purchase’. The extent of the concession was dependent on the distance a man could walk in a day and a half by an honest tramp.
Proverb.1605P. Erondelle Fr. Gard. M 6 b, After Dinner sit a while: After Supper walke a mile.
e. In express or implied contrast with ride. Also colloq. to walk it.
1668Pepys Diary 16 Sept., Walking it to the Temple; and in my way observe that the Stockes are now pulled quite down. 1712Steele Spectator No. 454 §6 When I resolved to walk it out of Cheapness. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. x, I therefore walked back by the horse-way. 1805T. Holcroft Bryan Perdue III. 185, I was obliged to walk the journey. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. vi, We alighted and walked up all the hills. 1883C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 84 A dangerous descent, best walked down into Banwell. Ibid. 139 A long stiff ascent..which most tourists will walk up. 1915Blackw. Mag. Apr. 466 He had ridden and I had walked before him.
f. More explicitly, to walk on foot, also (now rarely) walk afoot. † Also transf. of a stream: To flow slowly (obs.).
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 1 (MS. H.) Now riden þis folk & walken on fote to seche þat seint in selcouþe londis. c1375Cursor M. 18548 (Fairf.) Þa iewes sagh þis ilk man..a pon þe see wiþ-outen wete dry to walke a-pon his fete [Cott. and Gött. Gangand als apon a strete]. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John xii. 12–16 Where as before he was wunte to walke his iourneyes on foote. 1565Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 114 The said..bishop Chadde was wonte alwaies to..doo the worke of the ghospell more walking a fote wher he went, than on horsebacke. 1621H. King Serm. 37 But Kings haue walkt afoote whilest the Pope hath rode. 1747W. Horsley Fool (1748) II. 252 When it [the blood] walks a Foot, in an even, regular Peace, every Faculty coincides. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. vi, How comes it..that such a great Gentleman walks about the Country afoot? a1774Goldsm. Hist. Greece II. 221 The King walked on foot among the infantry. 1810S. Green Reformist II. 37 When he quitted Ellingford, he resolved always to walk on foot. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 561 The prisoner..walked on foot, bareheaded, up the whole length of that stately street which..leads from Holyrood House to the Castle.
g. With advs. in, up, † forth, and const. into, the use of this vb. instead of the indefinite come or go sometimes implies an additional notion of absence of pausing or hesitation. So, ‘in the ceremonious language of invitation’ (J.), walk in = ‘come in’ (now chiefly in rustic use). Similarly in the showman's ‘Walk up! walk up!’ when the show is on a raised platform. to walk in (sometimes const. on; cf. sense 13 c below): spec. to arrive unexpectedly; to enter premises, etc., with unwonted ease; to succeed against all expectations.
In general, the tendency to substitute ‘come’ or ‘go’ for this verb has become much more prevalent since the 16–17th c.
a1300Cursor M. 19737 Paulus þan welk forth her and þar, And spelled fast wit-vten spar. 1450Paston Lett. I. 111 Than we welk forthe, and desyryd an answer of hem. 1598Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 291, I pray you Sir walke in. 1614J. Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque B 2, Pre thee, walke in, what you bargaine for, Ile discharge. 1696Vanbrugh Relapse iv. v, If your Lordship please to walk in, we'll help you to some Brown Sugar-Candy. 1797Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxx, Mrs. Jennings..opened the door and walked in with a look of real concern. 1804J. Tobin Honey Moon i. i. (1805) 12 Of as tried a courage As ever walk'd up to the roaring throats Of a deep-rang'd artillery. 1834M. Howitt Spider & Fly 1 ‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the Spider to the Fly. 1836Dickens Sk. Boz, Tuggs's at Ramsgate, ‘Won't you walk in, sir?’ said the servant. 1838― Nich. Nick. iii, The voice replied that the gentleman was to walk up. 1840― Old C. Shop xlviii, Close here, sir, if you please to walk this way. 1847Helps Friends in C. i. viii. 149 Men walk up composedly to the most perilous enterprises. 1867H. Latham Black & White Pref. p. vi, Every American's house cannot be walked into, like the President's; but [etc.]. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo ix. 101 Rather foolishly, I at once scrambled down from the tree and walked up towards him [the lion]. 1909in I. G. Sieveking Francis W. Newman vi. 126 The door opened and the Professor walked in. 1930N. Coward Private Lives ii. 53 What shall we do if they suddenly walk in on us? 1975Cowie & Mackin Oxf. Dict. Current Idiomatic Eng. I. 356/2 The security is so bad here that anyone could simply walk in and take what he wanted. 1977P. Hill Fanatics 125 If the Christian Democrats put enough candidates up at the next election they'll walk in. 1978M. Duke Death of Dandy Dinmont iv. 39, I couldn't think of anything else to do. I was almost relieved when Hamilton walked in on me.
h. To move about or go from place to place on foot for the sake of exercise, pleasure, or pastime; to take a walk or walks. † Also with abroad. to walk out: of a soldier off duty, to go into town on pass.
a1300Cursor M. 4778 Jacob yode walcand be þe nile. 1362Lang. P. Pl. A. ix. 54 And as I wente bi a wode walkyng myn one, Blisse of þe Briddes made me to Abyde. c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 297 Forth welk I tho mi seluyn to solace. c1400Parce Mihi 1 in 26 Pol. Poems 143 By a forest syde, walkyng as I went, Disporte to take. 1569Spenser Vis. Petrarch 73 On hearbs and flowres she walked pensiuely. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 42 Saue sawe dust, and brick dust, and ashes as fine, for alley to walke in, with neighbour of thine. 1617S. H. Engl. Mans Doctor ii. (1624) 41 When you arise in the morning..remember to powre foorth your prayers vnto God..Then walke ye gently. a1626Bacon Med. Rem. Baconiana (1679) 161 Stir up the Pouder when you drink, and walk upon it. 1640tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. II. 120 Carinda said he, being gone out to walk in the garden. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 192 And as touching walking abroad, some of the Ancients have been large. 1685Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Club) I. 153 [At Spa] There is a pleasant garden of the Capuciners, where drinkers of the waters generallie walk. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., She asked me to walk in her garden. 1745E. Haywood Female Spect. xii. (1748) II. 309 That monarch being walking in the Mall one day, was infinitely charmed with the beauty of a young lady who happened to be there. 1830Portugal; or Yng. Travellers 239 As he spoke, Mr. Grey rose from table and invited them to walk. 1867A. J. Wilson Vashti xxi, ‘Stay, Salome! Where are you going?’ ‘To walk.’ 1911[implied in walking-out order s.v. walking vbl. n. 1 b]. 1955Times 27 July 5/1 In Western Command..young soldiers are now forbidden to ‘walk out’ when off duty in plain clothes of unorthodox pattern.
†i. transf. To take air and exercise (on horseback). Obs.
1541Wyatt Def. in H. Walpole Misc. Antiq. ii. (1772) 49 There be maynie men in the towne and most of them gentlemen, wch walke upon there horses, and here and there tawlke with those ladies.
j. to walk (out) with, to walk together: in rustic use said of a young man and young woman ‘keeping company’ with a view to marriage.
1827A. Moore Let. in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 303 [He] has requested to let him have the supreme pleasure of walking out with her. I fear the poor little fellow is pretty far gone, if I may judge from the frequency of his visits. 1849Dickens Dav. Copp. (1850) v. 47 No sweethearts, I b'lieve?.. No person walks with her. 1876C. M. Yonge Womankind xxiii. 195 There is a semi⁓engaged state of ‘walking’ with a man on trial. 1886Hardy Mayor Casterbr. xx, She..no longer said of young men and women that they ‘walked together’ but that they were ‘engaged’. 1896A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad xxv, Rose Harland on her Sundays out Walked with the better man. Ibid., When Rose and I walk out together. 1902W. W. Jacobs Lady of Barge (1908) 5 A certain young woman I'm walking out with. 1905Jerome Idle Ideas xx, ‘You are not engaged, I 'ope?’ ‘Walking out, ma'am, do you mean?’ says Emma. 1906Times 26 Nov. 3/6 Her sister knew him in the way of business, but had never walked out with him.
†k. Followed by a (= on) and vbl. n.: = go v. 32 e. Obs.
1533More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1076/2 Like as if a ryght great man woulde wantonly walke a mumming, and disguise hymself.
l. In various phrases. † to walk at rovers: to have no settled abode (cf. rover1 2). to walk Spanish: see Spanish C. to walk upon air: to be in an exultant state of mind. † to walk will of one's way (Sc.): to go astray, lose oneself.
c1475Rauf Coilȝear 73 Or ony vther gude fallow that I heir fand Walkand will of his way. Ibid. 106 In wickit wedderis and weit walkand full will. 1528More Dial. Heresyes iii. Wks. 228/1 The order is rebuked by priestes begging and lewde liuing, which either is fayne to walke at rouers and liue upon trentalles or worse or els [etc.]. 1887Stevenson Mem. & Portr. iv. 72, I went home that morning walking upon air.
m. Racing. Of a jockey: To weigh (so much) when going on foot.
1856‘Druid’ Post & Paddock v. 83 He was about 5 ft. 5 in. in height, walked about 9 st. 5 lbs. in the winter months, and could ride, if required for a great race, 7 st. 12 lbs. to the last.
n. quasi-trans. with complementary adj., adv., or phrase. to walk off, to get rid of (the effects of liquor, an ailment) by walking exercise. Also in nonce-uses: to walk down, to counteract (poison) by walking; to exhaust (a companion) by walking; to walk out a sermon, to continue walking till it has ended; to walk (a message or the like) through, to take it in person.
1669Pepys Diary 2 May, Thence with them to White Hall, and there walked out the sermon with one or other. 1741Richardson Pamela III. xxxvii. 372 ‘I fear you have sprain'd your Foot—Shall I help you to a Chair?’ ‘No, no, Sir, I shall walk it off, if I hold by you.’ 1823Scott Quentin D. iii, I have walked my clothes dry, or nearly so. 1860Sala Baddington Peerage I. vii. 131 Perhaps he wished to walk off the fumes of the punch and tobacco. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xix, He would have liked..to have..walked himself dead with fatigue. 1884Harper's Mag. Jan. 302/2 A walker who gives promise of great things if he doesn't walk his short legs off within the next two or three years. 1884Tennyson Cup ii. 260, I pray you lift me And make me walk awhile. I have heard these poisons May be walk'd down. 1894F. P. Cobbe Life I. 341, I do believe I could walk down anybody and perhaps talk down anybody too! 1981C. Potok Bk. of Lights (1982) v. 144 ‘How did the major get that memo so quickly, Roger?’ ‘I walked it through to his desk.’
o. Naut. To turn (the capstan) by walking round it; to haul by walking round the capstan or by walking away with a rope. Also, to haul (a balloon) by walking.
1836Marryat Pirate viii, The men..walked the anchor up to the bows. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 118 Walk the yard up to the derrick head with the hawser. Ibid. 203 Walk the anchor up the bow. Ibid. 172 Walk back the capstan. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 27 Oct. 7/2 The..passengers disembarked..before the huge dirigible was ‘walked’ into the hangar. 1938Times 7 Sept. 9/1 He watched a crew ‘walk’ a balloon out of a shed and connect it to a winch for hoisting.
p. to walk (all) over ― (fig.): to treat (a person) with contempt; also, to defeat (an opponent) decisively. slang.
1851Mrs. Stowe in National Era 25 Sept. 1/5 St. Clare wouldn't raise his hand if every one of them walked over him. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxii. 219 In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to, and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it. 1909R. E. Knowles Attic Guest viii. 105 They won't let a pack of negroes walk all over 'em. 1951N. Mitford Blessing i. vi. 65 A woman who lets her husband do exactly as he likes..lets him walk over her, in fact, would never lose him. 1976E. Dunphy Only a Game? i. 34 We played QPR in a public practice game at our place today. And won easily. We walked all over them.
q. Baseball. Of a batter: to secure a base on balls. Cf. walk n.1 1 e.
1867Ball Players' Chron. 14 Nov. 2/4 Goodrich walked to the first on called balls. 1895N.Y. Press 5 July 6/1 The champions harvested a pair of tallies in the second inning. Clarke did not get them over for Kelly, and Joe ‘walked’. 1948Chicago Tribune 7 Mar. ii. 1/4 Baker walked, filling the bases. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c–2/5 Alfredo Griffin singled and Bob Bailor walked to start the eighth-inning burst against Rich Wortham, 11–11.
r. to walk on: (of a theatrical performer) to go on stage with few if any lines to say.
1893H. G. McClelland Jack & Beanstalk 35 She used to walk on in the comic scenes. 1913Confessions of Dancing Girl vii. 127, I obtained an engagement to ‘walk on’ in a musical comedy... I had no lines and no part. 1920[see super v. 1]. 1959P. Bull I know Face i. 17 He had engaged a lot of art school students to what's known as ‘walk-on’ in the production.
s. walk good (imp.): farewell, good luck. Caribbean.
1929M. W. Beckwith Black Roadways xiii. 199 ‘Walk good, me love,’ says one to another setting out on a journey. 1953R. Mais Hills were Joyful Together ii. i. 147 You going further, walk good then; walk good, hear? 1979J. Berry Fractured Circles 58 Walk good, Leela, chile.
t. to walk away from ―: to leave the scene of (an accident or the like) on one's feet, instead of being carried on a stretcher. Cf. walking wounded s.v. walking ppl. a. 3 d. Also transf.
1956W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 561/1 To walk away from an airplane crash or accident, to survive an accident unhurt or without serious injury. 1966M. Woodhouse Tree Frog vi. 50, I had a..cut..but that was all. Walking away from it, they call it. 1980J. Wainwright Eye of Beholder 130 ‘Anybody walk away from it?’.. ‘No. One dead, one smashed up.’ 1984Times 19 Apr. 19/6 The provisions for bad and doubtful debts is increased..and Mr Pattullo stated confidently ‘there is no international or domestic loan that we could not walk away from. It might cause us a red face but it would not harm the bank.’
6. fig.
a. Chiefly in religious use, after Bible examples: To conduct oneself, behave (ill or well, wisely or unwisely). Sometimes with reference to a metaphorical ‘path’ or ‘way’. to walk with God (Gen. v. 22), interpreted to mean ‘to lead a godly life’ (so rendered by Coverdale, after Luther; later versions retain the Heb. phrase), or to have intimate communion with God.
Cf. Heb. hālak, Gr. περιπατεῖν, Vulg. ambulare.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 213 O man (sayth scripture) walke in y⊇ wayes of thy herte as moche as thou wylte, but [etc.]. 1526Tindale 2 Thess. iii. 6 We requyre you..that ye withdrawe youre selves from every brother that walketh inordinatly [Vulg. ambulante inordinate]. 1550Crowley Last Trump. 516 And then, lyke a good Christian, Thou dost walke forth in thy callynge. 1581J. Hamilton Cath. Traict. Epist. 8 b, To..trauell to reduce yame to ye treu vay quhairin all yair forbearis valkit yir mony hundreth zeris bygane. a1593Marlowe Ovid's Elegies iii. xiii. [xiv.] 13 Be more aduisde, walke as a puritan, And I shall thinke you chaste, do what you can. a1629Hinde J. Bruen xliv. (1641) 140 It was the desire and delight of his soule to walke with God. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. Penalties & Forfeit. c 2 If all..had but the knowledge of what they should know, thay might prevent this loss and damage, and walk safely. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xxx. 323 When a man walks suitably to his place and calling in the world, we say he acts like himself. 1853Maurice Proph. & Kings vi. 93 If he walked in God's ways he would establish a sure house. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 11 Those do best who walk most warily.
b. To direct one's conduct by, after a rule, etc.
1581Lambarde Eiren. ii. ii. (1588) 113 Many other wayes there bee, after which the Iustice of Peace may walke in taking of this kind of Recognusance. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 39 He is the great Exempler they walk by. 1711Addison Spect. No. 25 ⁋4 Give me more certain Rules to walk by than those I have already observed. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxv, I give thee way, good imp, and will walk by thy counsel. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 46 We judge a stranger by our home-bred ways, Who, may be, walks by other rule of right.
†c. To be associated, act harmoniously with. Also to walk together. Obs.
1620J. Taylor (Water P.) Jack a Lent Ep. A 3 b, And though it be written in a mery stile, yet I dare presume that mirth and truth walke together in it. 1650H. Ellis Pseudo⁓christus 7 After this, he walked sometime in fellowship with that Congregation. 1657Docum. S. Paul's (Camden) 155 The congregation yt wallke wth Mr John Symson. a1709J. Lister Autobiog. (1842) 50 My wife and myself, were admitted into the church at Kipping, with which we walked satisfyingly many years. Ibid. 51 Some of his hearers left him [the pastor], and others walked with him till new matters of dissatisfaction broke out. Ibid., After he was gone, the church at Kipping was again united, and walked sweetly together, but could not get a pastor. 1841S. S. Arnold Diary 5 Jan. in Proc. Vermont Hist. Soc. (1940) VIII. 149 It was a friendly interview; but she said that she could not walk with the Ch[urc]h, and wished to be out.
†d. to walk wide in words: to argue at cross purposes. Obs.
1529More Dyaloge i. xviii. 23 Wythout whych we were lyke to walke wyde in wordys.
†e. To proceed, ‘go’ upon (grounds). Obs.
1828Life Planter Jamaica 252 What grounds of probability have we to walk upon that the present negroes..would act otherwise.
7. To go on foot at a walk: see walk n.1 5.
a. Of human beings or other bipeds: To progress by alternate movements of the legs, so that one of the feet is always on the ground: contrasted with run, hop, etc. to walk through (a dance) = 7 e; similarly of an actor, to walk through his part (cf. quot. 1824); also simply to walk through, and fig.
1762Foote Orator i. Wks. 1799 I. 193 Soft and fair; we must walk before we can run. 1815Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. i. 65 The progressive motion of this bird is not by walking but hopping. 1824Scott Redgauntlet ch. xix, That caprice which so often tempts painters and musicians and great actors, in the phrase of the latter, to walk through their part, instead of exerting themselves with the energy which acquired their fame. 1857C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace I. xii. 195 Her grave, pensive character only attained to walking through her part [in society]. 1859Habits of Gd. Society v. 206 ‘Steps,’ as the chasser of the quadrille is called, belong to a past age, and even ladies are now content to walk through a quadrille. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. v, It must have been a fine run; but slow... It's labour and sorrow, walking after hounds, to my mind. 1868J. Burroughs Wake-robin viii. (1884) 295 Among the land-birds, the grouse, pigeon, quails, larks, and various blackbirds, walk. 1894Daily News 10 Aug. 5/3 A bluejacket never walks, when an order is given, but does everything at the double. 1899C. Scott Drama of Yesterday & To-Day II. xiv. 442 Often when she is tired to death,..her strength fails her. She walks through the part, as it is called. 1922Mrs. P. Campbell Let. 11 June in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 256, I would like you to come and see Hedda Gabler—it would be nice to hear all the abominable things you might say. Some say I ‘walk through’.
b. Of a horse, dog, or other quadruped: To advance by a gait in which there are always two feet on the ground, and during a part of the step three or (in slow walking) four feet: opposed to amble, trot, gallop, etc. Also said of a rider.
1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1639/4 Lost.., a bright Bay Gelding, 14 hands high,..Walks, Trots, and Gallops, something dull in going, but will leap very well. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxxiii, Ravenswood walked on with equal deliberation until he reached the head of the avenue... When he had passed the upper gate, he turned his horse. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vii. 252 It was only the dogs walking among the dead leaves.
c. to walk over (the course): of a horse, literally, to go over the course at a walking pace, so as to be accounted the winner of a race in which there is no opposition; transf. and fig. to win a race or other contest with little or no effort; also to walk over (an opponent), to be declared the winner of a contest because of the opponent's failure to compete; to walk away from, to outdistance easily in a race (in quot. fig.). Also to walk away with, to win (a prize), steal (a show), with ease; to walk home, to win a contest with ease; to walk round (an opponent) (U.S. colloq.): to beat easily.
1779Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 245 A little on this side the park is Sir John Thorold's, who, you see by the papers, is walking over the course for the county. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf s.v., ‘To walk over’ another, is..to set him at naught, as a racer which is so vastly superior to other cattle that none dare start, and he walks over the course. 1832P. Egan's Bk. Sports 117/2 At Knutsford..he won the Gold Cup..; and walked over for the Pengwern Stakes at Holywell. 1862Cornh. Mag. V. 26, I was promptly assured that..I should be elected without opposition..; in short I should walk over the course. 1883R. Broughton Belinda iv. iii, ‘Beaten by a banjo!’ says she tragically; ‘if it had not been for the banjo I should have walked away from her.’ 1890Rules of Racing §142 in Encycl. Sport (1898) II. 227 When one horse pays forfeit for a match the other need not walk over. 1901Westm. Gaz. 29 June 9/3 To use a colloquial expression, they ‘walked round’ Gamble and Davies. 1903Wodehouse Prefect's Uncle ix. 136 If you'd been there to bowl we should have walked over. 1932Sun (Baltimore) 21 Dec. 12/1 Jack Biener ‘Walks’ Home... Jack Biener, favorite at $5 for $2, simply spreadeagled the field and won in a common canter by eight lengths. 1951N. Coward Star Quality 139 It had been the..play's provincial try-out..and..Leonora had unquestionably walked away with the show. 1958Times 11 Aug. 2/7 Treorchy—a magnificent choir—walked away with the prize for big choirs. 1973Times 31 July 9/8 Major J. D. E. Edwards beat Driver D. A. Beck, 6–1, 7–5; Major P. K. Sharp walked over Captain J. B. Merritt.
¶d. transf. Of a vehicle, a ship, a stream: To go very slowly. nonce-uses.
1827Pollok Course T. i. 346 Round his sacred hill, a streamlet walked, Warbling the holy melodies of heaven. 1852Mundy Antipodes (1857) 200 Our steamer ran, or rather walked—for she could make no running—plump upon a rock off Bradley's Head. 1865Emerson Let. in Harper's Mag. (1884) Feb. 464/1 The train walked all the way.
e. trans. To go through (a dance, esp. a minuet) at a walk.
1810[see minuet n. 1]. 1827Lytton Pelham xl, They just walk a quadrille or spin a waltz,..hang dancing, 'tis so vulgar. 1859Habits of Gd. Society v. 207, I do not attempt to deny that the quadrille, as now walked, is ridiculous. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 362 He walked his minuet in life, and he danced out of it with a caper.
f. Proverbial phrase: to walk before one can run (and varr.), to understand elementary points before proceeding to anything more difficult; cf. creep v. 1 b. Also to run before one can walk.
1762[see sense 7 a]. 1794G. Washington Let. 20 July in Writings (1940) XXXIII. 438 We must walk as other countries have done before we can run. 1876J. Platt Business 124 We must learn and be strong enough to walk before we can run. 1927Melody Maker Sept. 923/1 Beginners..commence on their instruments to dabble in so-called ‘hot’ choruses... They run before they can walk, for, jumping on to what they believe to be ‘hot’ style, they attempt to cut out all the essential months of study. 1973Times 17 Apr. (Liberia Suppl.) p. ii/5 He does not want Liberia to run before she can walk. 1980K. Amis Russian Hide & Seek iv. 49 At the moment we can't leave it to the English to do anything. We must learn to walk before we can run. 1984New Yorker 11 June 31/1 ‘We can't turn you into an actor, but don't turn your back on what we have to offer.’ What they meant, of course, was that you've got to learn to walk before you try to run.
g. Jazz. Of a bass player: to play a walking bass (see walking ppl. a. 9). Also said of the beat.
1951L. Hughes Montage of Dream Deferred 12 Down in the bass That steady beat Walking walking walking Like marching feet. 1952Mademoiselle Dec. 118 And that's the basic jazz beat, that walking beat. Up here in the north all the jazzmen are playing too fast or too slow—nobody walks. 1956[see string bass s.v. string n. 32]. 1970New Yorker 23 May 88/2 Then Hall soloed, while Gomez ‘walked’ behind him.
8. To go away.
a. simply or † with away, forth. Formerly often in imperative = ‘begone’, with a vocative of some term of opprobrium (sometimes retained in indirect narration). Now only colloq., to go away perforce, be turned out; also slang, to die. Also, of a batsman in Cricket, to walk towards the pavilion without waiting for the umpire to give him out; also with out.
c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 106 Leif brother, let vs be walkand. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 140 b, Yf than the porter wold come forth sodeynly & all to beet vs, & bydde vs walke forth vnthryftes with sorowe. a1529Skelton Agst. Garnesche iv. 60 Sche praiid yow walke, on Goddes halfe! 1529More Dyaloge i. xiv. 18 b, He bad hym walk faytoure. And made hym be sett openly in y⊇ stokkys. 1530Palsgr. 770/2 Walke, pyke you hence: tire auant. 1530Tindale Pract. Prelates G v b, The Cardinall bad him walcke a vilayne. 1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. iv. (1867) 52 Walke drab walke. Nay (quoth she) walke knaue walke. 1605Chapman All Fooles i. B 4 b, I like his learning well, make him your heire, And let your other walke. 1607Middleton Mich. Term ii. iii. 169 It stands upon the loss of my credit to-night, if I walk without money. 1712Swift Jrnl. to Stella 26 Dec., Lord Bolingbroke told me I must walk away to-day after dinner, because lord treasurer and he and another were to enter upon business. 1858Trollope Dr. Thorne iv, If the governor were to walk, I think Porlock would content himself with the thirty thousand a-year. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xxviii, If I want to discharge a man, he walks without any question. 1960J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Australia v. 48 Three runs later..Graveney should have walked but O'Neill dropped him at third slip. 1964D. Sheppard Parson's Pitch vi. 107, I never saw him not walk out immediately he was caught at the wicket. He never waited for the umpire's decision. 1973Advocate-News (Barbados) 11 Dec. 14/2 Brian Close, captain of the Robins XI, said: ‘A batsman who knows he is out should walk. That is the way we play the game.’
b. transf. † Of animals: To be stolen (Obs.). Of a thing: To be got rid of; to be carried off. In mod. colloq. use said of objects presumed borrowed or stolen. † to let (something) walk: to dismiss from attention. (Obs.)
c1440J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. 672 Lete argumentys walk, þei ar not to our be-houe. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 141 There horse being tide on a balke, is readie with theefe for to walke. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 619/2 When he comes foorth, he will make theyr cowes and garrans to walke, yf he doe noe other mischeif to theyr persons. 1611Chapman May-Day i. ii, Nay, they [sc. houses] shall walke, thats certaine, Ile turne 'em into money. 1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 125 A sack o' taters, or a sieve o' cherries sometimes goes awalkin' if yer don't keep yer eyes skinned. 1978A. Melville-Ross Blindfold xiv. 87 ‘Get much theft?’ ‘Lord yes, but only the sort of stuff you'd expect to ‘walk’ anyway.’
c. With off: To depart suddenly or abruptly. to walk off with: to carry away as a prize or plunder.
1604Marston Malcontent iii. v. E 4 b, I am heauie, walke of, I shall talke in my sleepe, walke of. Exeunt Pages. 1705Vanbrugh Mistake iv. i, Jacin. Have a care he don't rally, and beat you yet tho'; pray walk off. 1727M. W. Montagu Let. 23 June (1966) II. 78 All the little money they had..they put into the hands of a rogueish Broker who has fairly walk'd off with it. 1836Hawker Diary (1893) II. 107 A green sub...had walked off with my portmanteau. 1840Thackeray Barber Cox Apr., I gave Master Baron that day a precious good beating, and walked off with no less than fifteen shillings of his money. 1848Dickens Dombey ii, Mr. Chick..said no more, and walked off. c1850Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 147 Why dost thou not depart with the rest? Walk off. 1888‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. ix, And then she gave another sniff and walked off to the drawing-room again. 1889Conan Doyle Sign of Four ix, Wait a bit, my friend,..You have important information, and you must not walk off. We shall keep you, whether you like or not, until our friend returns.
d. to walk away from: to fail to deal with (something); to refuse to become involved with; also to walk away simply.
1963Life 8 Feb. 4/1 The Kennedy proposals walk away from most of the tax reform problems. 1973P. O'Donnell Silver Mistress iii. 48 ‘Why look for trouble?’..Something comes along, and you just can't turn round and walk away from it.’ 1978S. Sheldon Bloodline xx. 237 Roffe and Sons needs an experienced president, Elizabeth... For your own sake, as well as everyone else's, I would like to see you walk away from this. 1981Times 7 Dec. 13/3 Libya and Nigeria started the year trying to maintain prices at a wide premium over the marker, but instead saw buyers walk away. 1983Times 6 May 15/4 No parent which itself took deposits..could expect to walk away from a subsidiary in trouble without risking a loss of confidence on the part of its own depositors.
e. = sense 13 b below.
1976National Observer (U.S.) 14 Aug. 16/3 Our baby sitter founded the Sitters' Union. They get TV, cookies, and root beer, or they walk. Ibid. 28 Aug. 16/1 The sentry in the lobby was a representative of Universal Pictures. His mission: to keep an anxious eye out for ‘walkers’ and try, if he could, to find out why they walked, since there was still time to do some patching on the film. 1978S. Brill Teamsters v. 180 Carey called a strike, and all four thousand of his UPS members walked. 1983W. F. Nolan Hammett, Life at Edge i. 6 He would not lie to keep a job. And he walked.
9. Of a ghost, spectre, fiend: To be seen walking, to appear. Of a dead person: To ‘come back’ as a ghost. Also † to walk out.
For the ghost walks (Theat. Slang), see ghost n. 8 b.
a1300Cursor M. 22611 Quen sal scine [= chine] þe heuennes open, þaa warlaus all sal walk þan vte. c1440Gesta Rom. 408 (Add. MS.) All the chambres were take vp, safe oon, in the which was a sperite walkyng. a1513Fabyan's Chron. clxxix. (1533) 105 He also for that the munkes of wynchester sayd that his father Alurede walkyd, caused hym to be remoued vnto the new abbay. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 111 b, Sore subiecte to the terrours of buggues, and spyrytes, or goblyns, that walken by night and in places solitarie. 1573L. Lloyd Pilgr. Princes 101 We reade in Lucan how that the soules of Silla and Marius..were alwayes walking and appearing vnto men before they were purged by sacrifice. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 10, I am thy Father's Spirit Doom'd for a certaine terme to walke the night. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. iv. iii, There's a talke, thou know'st, that the Ghoast of olde Montfarers walks. a1625Fletcher Hum. Lieut. iii. v, I make your Grace my Executor, and I beseech ye See my poor Will fulfill'd: sure I shall walk else. 1727De Foe Hist. Appar. x. 201 Such a courage..would..lay all the devils that ever walked. 1801Scott Glenfinlas xlvi, Alone, I dare not venture there, Where walks, they say, the shrieking ghost. 1882A. Jessopp in 19th Cent. Nov. 737 Everybody knows that it's an awful thing for a dead man to walk. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow Prol. 12 Would ye rob the man before his body? Nay, he would walk!
10. ‘To act in sleep’ (J.); to walk about or perform other actions as a somnambulist. rare exc. in the full phrase to walk in one's sleep.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. i. 3 When was it shee [Lady Macbeth] last walk'd? Ibid. 66 Yet I haue knowne those which haue walkt in their sleep, who haue dyed holily in their beds. 1607Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe iii. E 1 b, My mistris makes her husband belieue that shee walkes in her sleepe. 1728Chambers' Cycl., Somnambuli, an Appellation given to People, who walk in their Sleep. 1848Dickens Dombey xxxix, Some uneasy ideas that he must be walking in his sleep, or that he had been troubled with phantoms,..beset the Captain at first.
11. a. To go on foot in procession; also, to go in a regular circuit or to and fro over a prescribed track in the course of official duty. Also with cognate accus., as in to walk one's round(s, walk the round, walk a round, to walk guard, said esp. of a sentinel.
1594–1600Min. Archdeaconry Colchester (MS.) 99 b, 19 Apr. 1596. Our perambulacion was not walked through the defalte of our vicar. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 679/1 The sheriff of the shire, whose peculiar office it is to walke continuallye up and downe his baly-wick,..to snatch up all those runnagates [etc.]. Ibid., The sherriff may doe therin what he can, and yet the marshall may walke his course besides. 1639Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 102 Octavian coms accompanyed with his friend Leobell to walke his accustomed round. a1700Evelyn Diary 12 Sept. 1641, I was permitted to walk the round and view the workes. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xviii, If the lovers have agreed, Agelastes, it is probable, walks his round, to prevent intrusion. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xxii, He..was to walk in procession as Latin secretary. 1930F. A. Pottle Stretchers 51 In France we always wore large automatics when we walked guard.
transf. and fig.1629Massinger Picture ii. i, Dreames and phantasticke visions walke the round About my widdowed bed. 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxiv. (1857) 351 He continued to walk the round of his duties.
†b. Oxford Univ. (a) Of a proctor or pro-proctor: To perambulate the streets at night, in the exercise of his function. (b) Of the proctors: To march to and fro in the Convocation House, as part of the ceremony of conferring degrees.
1530in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 77 It was proved that the ij Proctors servaunts walkyd wt other persons as plesyd them, and theyr maisters walkyd not nor noe other for them. 1677Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 384, I [a Pro-proctor] walk by the authoritie of the vice-chancellour. Ibid. 391 Dr. Nicholas..verie active in walking and hauling taverns. 1906J. Wells Oxf. Degree Cerem. 8 Within living memory it was necessary for each ‘grace’ to be taken separately, and the Proctors ‘walked’ for each candidate. Ibid. 9 It is currently believed that the Proctors walk in order to give any Oxford tradesman the opportunity of ‘plucking’ their gown and protesting against the degree of a defaulting candidate.
12. walk into―. (colloq. or slang.)
a. In phrase to walk into (a person's) affections, to win the love of (a person) at once and without effort. Sometimes used jocularly for b or c.
1858in K. Young Delhi 1857, App. 328 Major Erskine was fearful that the jolly 50th would have walked into the affections of the Madrassees, and then all would have gone a regular smash.
b. To make a vigorous attack upon.
1794Ld. Hood 14 July in Nicolas Disp. & Lett. Nelson (1845) I. 438 note, From your rapid firing last night I flattered myself it was intended to walk into the Mozelle as this night. 1852C. B. Mansfield Paraguay etc. (1856) 20 Some small spermaceti whales, which came in for a lark (luckily for them, after the American and French vessels had left, who would assuredly have walked into them). 1853‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green i. xi, His claret had been repeatedly tapped, his bread-basket walked into, his day-lights darkened.
transf.1840H. Cockton Val. Vox xiii, The carver walked into the pie and bounteously helped each man, woman, and child, to a share. 1846De Quincey Syst. Heavens (1862) III. 185 A call was heard for Lord Rosse! and immediately his telescope walked into Orion; destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, created immeasurable worlds.
c. To assail with invective or reproof.
1859Lang. Wand. India 399 His Excellency ‘walked into’ the President, and recommended him to study some catechism of the Law of Courts Martial. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ix, He walks into us all as if it were our faults.
d. To eat or drink heartily of, to ‘make a hole in’.
1837Dickens Pickw. xxii, I wish you could ha' seen the shepherd walkin' into the ham and muffins. 1849Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy xxvi. 280 Look at that little fellow—how he is walking into the raised pie, and how ill he will be to-morrow! 1850Smedley F. Fairlegh xiv, I must walk into old Coleman's champagne before I make a fresh start. 1871M. Collins Marq. & Merch. III. iii. 78 He..with most voracious swallow Walks into my mutton chops.
e. To make large inroads on (one's stock of money).
1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xv, ‘And you've got her money?’ ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘but I've been walking into it.’
f. To get into an awkward situation as a result of one's own unwariness.
1911G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma iii. 60 Ridgeon: I don't so much mind your borrowing {pstlg}10 from one of my guests and {pstlg}20 from the other—Walpole: I walked into it, you know. I offered it. 1942J. Sweeney in Murdoch & Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 384 No sooner does the gong go for the third than Irish walks into a haymaker. 1978M. Birmingham Sleep in Ditch 188, I had walked into this with my eyes wide open. No one could taunt me with being always right.
13. walk out.
a. To leave a gathering or place without warning, esp. in protest or disapproval; also fig. Const. on. orig. Theatr.
1840W. C. Macready Diary 19 Feb. (1912) II. 45 Very much disgusted and irritated by Mr Elton walking out in the last scene. 1897Daily Tel. 24 Feb. 10/3 New York did not take kindly to his new play... I am delighted to find, on the assurance of the author, that though New York ‘walked out’, Washington ‘walked in’ and received it warmly. 1936H. G. Wells Anat. of Frustration vi. 55 Suicide..may be represented very attractively as a proud and passionate refusal to drink the cup to the dregs. You ‘walk out’ as they say in the film world. 1937M. Levin in A. Cooke Garbo & Night Watchmen 124, I rarely walk out on a picture, and never want to walk out on a simple programme picture. 1948W. Charvat in R. Spiller et al. Lit. Hist. U.S. I. xxxi. 525 When a ‘stout Illinoian’ walked out on his lectures, he reflected that ‘the people are always right’. 1969H. Perkin Key Profession iii. 103 The A.U.T. delegates to the International Conference walked out the day before Hitler arrived.
b. spec. Of an employee: to leave his place of work at short notice, as a form of industrial action. orig. U.S.
1894W. H. Carwardine Pullman Strike iv. 37 The men passed the word from one to another to ‘walk out’, which they did orderly and deliberately. 1937Irish Press 11 Feb. 1/2 (caption) Photo shows the nursing and boiler house staffs ‘walking out’. 1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris v. 95 Gas workers were about to walk out, and hamstring home cooking to a certain extent. 1979Daily Tel. 27 Nov. 2/2 Last night one of the two lighting and sound engineering crews on BBC-1's ‘Nationwide’ walked out shortly before the programme was due to go on the air.
c. To desert a partner, esp. a spouse; to withdraw from an agreed arrangement. Const. on (cf. sense 5 g above). orig. U.S.
1896Typographical Jrnl. (Indianapolis) IX. 232 The Review, Republican daily, ‘walked out’ on the St. Louis platform. 1921Wodehouse Indiscretions of Archie xii. 127 ‘Has she walked out on you?’ ‘Left us flat!’ 1937Sunday Times 2 May 7/4 Father Donelly..is a fairy godfather to her after she has walked out on her guardians. 1953Sun (Baltimore) (B ed.) 31 Aug. 14/3 The Southern Conference digs in Tuesday for its first football practice since seven of its greatest powers walked out to form a league of their own. 1962New Statesman 7 Dec. 829/1 What surprises is the famous malleability of the two women: did neither one dream of walking out? 1973‘E. Peters’ City of Gold & Shadows i. 6 My father walked out on my mother when I was seven.
III. trans. To perambulate, traverse: = walk over, upon, etc.
†14. To travel over (a country, etc.). Cf. 2. Obs.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 519 Sire, þer sall borne be a barne of þi blithe lady, þat driȝtyn efter þi day has destaned to regne, þe quilke sall walke all þe werd & wyn it him selfe.
15. Of fame, etc.: To pervade (a country). Cf. 3 b. Obs. exc. as transferred use of 18.
c1350St. John 43 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 35 Þe word of him welk al þe land. 1806Wordsw. Char. Happy Warrior 77 Whether praise of him must walk the earth For ever, and to noble deeds give birth, Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame.
16. a. To go over or traverse on foot.
a1300Cursor M. 3155 He welk þat fell ner dais thre To sek þe sted quar he wald be. 1576Gascoigne Kenelworth Castle Wks. 1910 II. 108 Beware (I say) least whiles we walke these woods... Some harmfull hart entrap your harmlesse moodes. 1748Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 38 The needy traveller..Walks the wild heath. 1763P. Collinson in Darlington Memorials (1849) 257 They [Indians] were notoriously..cheated out of their land in your province [Penn.], by a man's walking a tract of ground in one day, that was to be purchased of them. 1871Simpson Recit. 9 Hundreds of diggers daily then were walking Melbourne town with their pockets filled with gold. 1868Browning Ring & Bk. x. 360 When man walks the garden of this world For his own solace.
b. in contrast with ride.
1864Good Words 516/2 Devonshire, to be properly seen, should be walked.
c. Of a stallion: To travel over (a tract of country) serving mares.
1898Daily News 9 Mar. 4/4 The judging yesterday began with stallions that are to walk the Eastern and Midland counties.
17. a. To walk on or along (a road). to walk the street(s: see street n. 2 f.
1530Palsgr. 770/2 In dede you walke the stretes. 1577Grange Golden Aphrod. etc. P j, They onely walke the streates, to see and to be seene. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. x. 10 All..take delight With many rather for to go astray..Than with a few to walke the narrow way.
b. in contrast with ride.
1883C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 3 The very steep ascent of Chatham Hill, which most riders will walk. Ibid. 134 A very bad hill leading down into Rickmansworth, which is best walked.
18. To walk about upon (a surface, the ground, the sea, etc.). So Naut., of an officer, to walk the deck, walk the quarter-deck.
to walk the plank: see plank n. 6.
1634Milton Lycidas 173 Through the dear might of him, that walk'd the waves. 1667― P.L. v. 200 Yee that in Waters glide, and yee that walk The Earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep. Ibid. vii. 503 Aire, Water, Earth, By Fowl, Fish, Beast, was flown, was swum, was walkt. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 7 It must be a great Change of Weather indeed, when he deigns to walk the Quarter-Deck. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iv. xvi, Edward, who walk'd the deck apart. 1840Marryat Poor Jack vi, He was..walking the deck. 1849Aytoun Poems, Heart of Bruce v, The good Lord Douglas walk'd the deck. 1872M. Collins Two Plunges for Pearl III. 71 He walked the moorland as if it were his native earth. 1885R. L. & F. Stevenson Dynamiter xiii. 197 He continued to walk the pavements.
transf.1813Byron Corsair i. iii, She [the ship] walks the waters like a thing of life. a1861T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 3 At five p.m. we found ourselves..on board the Isaac Newton, a great, ugly, three-tiered box that walks the North River.
19. To walk along (a line); to perambulate (a boundary). Cf. 11.
to walk the chalk (slang): to walk along a chalked line (as a proof of being sober). to walk one's chalks (slang): see chalk n. 6 b.
1602–5Min. Archdeaconry Colchester (MS.) 104, 1604. They did not walke the bounds of ther parishe. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf s.v., ‘To walk the chalk’—a military manœuvre to discover which is drunkest. 1842Punch II. 20 Ere death her charms should fix, Gladly I'd walk my chalks or cut my sticks. 1876Farrar Marlb. Serm. xxiii. 226 You cannot walk the dim borderland between vice and virtue without knowing it.
†20.
a. To attend, frequent (the exchange, a market). Obs.
1634Peacham Compl. Gentl. i. (1906) 15 In Venice likewise, every Mechanique is a Magnifico, though his magnificence walketh the Market but with a Chequin. 1649W. Bullock Virginia 43 Let him then enquire of the principallest straights and Spanish Merchants, walking the Exchange. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 182 ⁋6 To walk the exchange with a face of importance.
b. to walk the hospitals or a hospital: to receive regular clinical instruction and assist in surgical work.
1781G. White Let. to S. Barker 26 Nov., I have not yet heard—whether he will walk the hospitals in town. 1807Picture of Lond. (ed. 8) 235 The combined method of walking the hospitals and attending lectures. 1823Ibid. (ed. 22) 211 A number of young men, who walk the hospital, as it is termed. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 333 He became..a..medical student, came up to London to walk the hospitals.
21. Shooting. To start (game-birds) by beating up the ground with pointers or setters. Usually to walk up.
1873G. S. Baden-Powell New Homes 255 A good dog for putting them [sc. quail] up would be very valuable, but [etc.]... Walking up quail, even with the help of a chain, is equally unsatisfactory. 1900G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impressions 8 Year in and year out they lived at home,..walking up their own game with the aid of pointers. 1913Times 12 Sept. 12/6 Now voices are raised in favour of a return..to the use of pointers and setters, in conjunction with the system of walking-up the birds. Ibid., Walked or driven, moreover, the partridge gives more enjoyment to many keen shots than all the pheasants in a beat.
22. To win easily. Cf. sense 7 c slang.
1937Partridge Dict. Slang 935/2 Walk, to win easily: Public Schools' coll.: from ca. 1895. [Refers to quot. 1903 in sense 7 c above.] 1976Times 12 Feb. 10/2, I went to the British [championship] thinking I'd walk it... This was a mistake... It was a close shave.
IV. Causative uses.
23. To lead, drive, or ride (a horse) at a walk; to exercise (a horse, a dog) by causing it to walk. Also with out. Also to walk hots (see quots.).
1470–85Malory Arthur v. ix. 176 A man armed walkynge his hors easyly by a wodes syde. 1562Child-Marriages (1897) 82 This deponent scarslie rested walkinge the horses at the doore, half or quarter of an howre, when one callid hym in to his Mistris. 1601W. Percy Cuckqueanes & Cuckolds Errants iv. ii. (Roxb.) 48 Sirrha Rooke, take my Nagge, and see you walk him faire and soft to Colchester. 1615G. Markham Country Contentm. i. vii. 103 Touching ayring or walking of grey-hounds,..it must dewlie be done euerie morning before sunne-rise, [etc.]. 1681T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 32 (1713) I. 206 Let's walk them a little; for they have run Heats, and must be rubb'd down well. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. vii, As he walked his cob [he was riding] back from the fields. 1835H. Harewood Dict. Sports s.v. Training, Taking care that he [the horse] is walked for some time afterward, that he may become rather cool before he returns to the stable. 1866Kingsley Herew. xvii, You may walk your bloodhound over his grave to-morrow without finding him. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton vi, We had walked the horses nearly to the end of the pleasant stretch of beechwood. 1902A. E. T. Watson Hunting in Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 365/2 The kennel huntsman is generally called the ‘feeder’. It is his business to look after the pack which is not hunting, to walk them out, to prepare the food for the hunting pack. 1958Washington Post 25 Sept. d–4/1 Each got his start walking hots (leading horses to cool them out following a race or a workout). 1976New Yorker 29 Mar. 109/2 He got an after-school job at a ranch, mucking out stalls and ‘walking hots’, as the chore of cooling out horses who have just worked or raced is called.
transf.1583B. Melbancke Philotimus S j, If you be chafed you shal be walked, if you be hot you may be cooled.
24. a. To cause or induce (a person) to walk; to conduct on a walk. Also with advs., off, out, etc. † walk your body (Sc.) = take yourself off, begone (obs.).
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Gt. Eater of Kent Wks. i. 144 Now Gentlemen, as I haue walked you amongst the Trees, and thorow the Wood, I pray set downe, and take a taste or two more of this Banquet. 1667Pepys Diary 14 July, Then I carried them to see my cozen Pepys's house..; and then I walked them to the wood hard by. 1717Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 547 He walked us round the town. c1730Ramsay To æolus 11 Pray wauk your body, if you please, Gae gowl and tooly on the seas. 1818T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 448 He walked me backwards and forwards before the President's door for half an hour. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lvii, She slaved, toiled..for old Sedley, walked him out sedulously into Kensington Gardens. 1883C. M. Yonge Armourer's Prentices ii, Stephen and Ambrose found themselves walked out of the cloister of St. Grimbald, and the gates shut behind them. 1912J. S. Fletcher in Throne 7 Aug. 224/2 He soon drew me out of the office to walk me off in the direction of Gray's Inn Road.
b. To force to walk (by holding the arms or pushing before one). Also, to help to walk.
to walk (a person) Spanish: see Spanish C.
1809R. K. Porter Russ. & Swed. (1813) II. 21 The poor wretch, attended by the police, had been walked through the streets; in order to shew him to the populace. 1848Dickens Dombey xii, Mr. Feeder himself held a glass of water to his [the boy's] lips, and the butler walked him up and down several times between his own chair and the sideboard. 1853― Bleak Ho. xxii, Thirdly, Mr. Bucket has to take Jo by the arm a little above the elbow, and walk him on before him. 1918F. Hackett Ireland viii. 230 Good bewildered people who never knew they were deemed blameworthy until they were walked out to the guillotine.
c. Baseball. Of a pitcher: to give (a batter) a base on balls.
1913Chicago Record-Herald 20 Mar. 10/5 Lange walked Kores in the hostile part, then disposed of the next pair on easy infield flies. 1938Chicago Tribune 5 Apr. 19/2 Dobernic walked three batsmen in a row. 1952B. Malamud Natural 78 With two out Schultz weakened, walking one man and handing the next a good enough throw to hit for a sharp single. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 16 Oct., Our Pitcher had walked three men in a row and I was invited to take the mound.
25. a. To take charge of (a puppy) ‘at walk’ (see walk n. 13). b. To keep (a game-cock) in a ‘walk’.
a.1845Youatt Dog iii. 75 Whelps walked, or taken care of, at butchers' houses..are apt to be heavy-shouldered and throaty. 1887Field 19 Feb. 229/1 The practice of walking puppies is not quite so prevalent as it used to be. 1907Times 3 Oct. 4/4 Defendant said he had walked puppies for the Southwold Hunt for 25 years.
b.1854Poultry Chron. I. 474 Formerly when cock-fighting was more practised, every farm-yard walked a game cock or two. 1889Archæol. æliana N.S. XIII. 314 ‘Walking a cock’ was the feeding and tending of a game cock.
26. With a thing as obj.
†a. To send round (drink). Cf. 3 d. Obs.
1581A. Hall Iliad i. 14 A seemely sight it was to see the seamen plye their teeth, Wherewith the Cups apace they walke.
b. Cribbage. (See quots.)
1803Sporting Mag. XXI. 326 Walking the pegs—at cribbage, means either your adversary putting his own pegs forward, or those of your's back. 1865Hotten's Slang Dict., ‘Walking the pegs,’ a method of cheating at the game of cribbage by a species of legerdemain, the sharper either moving his own pegs forward, or those of his antagonist backward, according to the state of the game.
c. Bell-ringing. (See quot.)
1671[Stedman] Tintinalogia 53 All changes are to be Rang either by walking them (as the term is) or else Whole-pulls, or Half-pulls. By walking them, is meant, that the bells go round, four, six, eight times or more, in one change, which is commonly used by young Practisers.
d. To swing (a gun) so as to describe a straight line on the target with successive hits.
1944Sun (Baltimore) 15 June 2/5, I..aimed for his groin and walked my tommy gun right up his middle and blew him 90 feet away. 1969I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam xi. 187 ‘Charlie’ really seemed to be walking that mortar up behind me; he was right on target with his shots.
V.
27. The verb-stem in combination: walk-around, (a) Colonial, a kind of rotary mill turned by oxen; (b) U.S., among Negroes, a dance in which the performers go round in a large circle; a song or piece of music to accompany such a dance; walk-away, a race in which the winner ‘walks away’ from his competitors, i.e. leaves them far behind; also transf. and as adj.; walk-back U.S. slang, a rear apartment; walk-march v., to march at a walking pace; of cavalry, to proceed at the walk; also as n. † walk-street, one who walks the streets. Also walk-on, walk-out, walk-over.
1886Official Catal. Colonial & Ind. Exhib. (ed. 2) 462 Their sugar plots are confined to one or two small green pieces in Tortola, worked by a ‘*walk-around’ or cattle-mill. 1888B. Matthews Pen & Ink 153 ‘Dixie’ was composed in 1859, by Mr. Dan D. Emmett, as a ‘walk-around’ for Bryant's minstrels.
1888Daily News 16 July 3/6 The final heat was of course a *walk away for Thames, who won by three lengths. 1926Amer. Mercury Dec. 465/2 It [sc. Variety] has developed..the following new terms for a [Broadway] success: ‘zowied 'em’,..‘walk-away hit’ and ‘clicked heavy’. 1958Time (Atlantic ed.) 6 Oct. 16 Turning from a Democratic walkaway into a neck-and-neck sprint. 1978Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. c 4/1 For UCLA, the walkaway winner of the Pac-8 title, the game against U-M will be a final tuneup before going into the NCAA tournament.
1945L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 35 *Walk back, rear apartment. 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder vii. 80 One-o-four Platt Street was a rooming house... The Royales lived in a walk-back at the rear of the lobby.
[1851Regulations for Cavalry 190 Commanding Officer, repeated by Squadron Leaders, ‘Walk, Trot, or Gallop March.’] 1904Mounted Infantry Training (Provisional, H.M. Army) iv. 36 The word ‘Walk’ or ‘Trot’ will in every case precede the word ‘March’ when the men are mounted... The word on which they move should be drawn out and rolled thus:—‘*Walk—M-a-r-r-c-h’, and when the pace is to be increased to a trot—‘T-r-r-o-t’. 1909Mounted Infantry Training (War Office) iii. 36 On the command, ‘Walk—March’..the whole company moves off..general alignment and cohesion..being secured by the section leaders riding on the same alignment, and at the proper intervals. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) ix. ci. 553 Buxton a moment later called ‘Walk-March!’ to his men, and the four-hundred camels..started off for Jefer. 1942C. Barrett On Wallaby iv. 88 We flushed many birds as we walk-marched among rocks and stones. a1977D. Wheatley Officer & Temp. Gentleman (1978) xiii. 157 We had to move at a sedate walk-march.
1611Cotgr., Bateur de pavez, an idle or continuall *walke-street..a lasciuious, or vnthrifty, night⁓walker.
Add:[IV.] [23.] b. Angling. To draw (a hooked fish) through the water by walking upstream or (occas.) downstream with the rod, esp. in order to escape a current or obstruction. Freq. const. up.
[1885D. Webster Angler & Loop-Rod xi. 275 As Mr Penn says ‘if you can prevail upon him to walk a little way down-stream with you, you will have no difficulty afterwards in persuading him to let you have the pleasure of seeing him at dinner.’] 1913F. M. Halford Dry-Fly Man's Handbk. i. ix. 206 (heading) Walking a hooked fish up or downstream. 1931E. Taverner Salmon Fishing xxi. 220 Walking a fish up is a simple trick by means of which it can be persuaded to move upstream out of the vicinity of a snag or from the draw of pool. The rod-point is lowered, the line held and the angler walks gently upstream dragging the fish after him. 1965R. V. Righyni Salmon Taking Times 108 ‘Walking a fish up’..is a common practice. 1972Shooting Times & Country Mag. 27 May 12/2, I hoped the hook was well home and as soon as the fish settled a bit I walked it back up from the tail. 1987Trout & Salmon Mar. 36/2, I did manage to walk the fish back up from the pool to the top of the stream below the bridge.
▸ to walk the dog (freq. forming the noun phrase walking the dog). a. To perform a jazz dance that mimics the movements of a person walking a dog in a haughty manner.
1916S. Brooks (heading of sheet-music) Walkin' the dog... The latest metropolitan dance craze! 1917Variety 30 Nov. 19/1 The opening number was programed as a combination of ‘Strutter's Ball’, ‘Shimme-Sha-Wabble’ and ‘Walking the Dog’. 1945S. Brown in F. J. Brown & J. S. Roucek One Amer. (rev. ed.) xxxiii. 600 Some of the earlier dances invented by Negroes are the Pas Mala, the Strut, the Palmer House, Walking the dog, [etc.]. 1999S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) xvii. 535 She can do the twist, the stomp,..and the locomotion, and if you don't know how to do it, she'll show you how to walk the dog.
b. To perform a trick with a yo-yo in which the spinning yo-yo rolls along the ground away from the person performing the trick, who holds the string like a dog's lead.
1931Lowell (Mass.) Sun (Electronic text) 8 Aug. Each contestant would be given three chances to perform the various Yo-Yo feats... The line remained intact for the next trick, ‘Walking the Dog’. 1975Newsweek (Nexis) 20 Jan. 71 For a dime or a quarter, every kid in the neighborhood could afford the twin wooden disks that rose and fell on a cotton string and, with a little skill, could perform prodigious feats like ‘walking the dog’. 1986D. A. Dye Platoon (1987) v. 82 He could usually do cat's cradle and walk-the-dog. 2007San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News (Nexis) 8 Sept. Forget walking the dog or going around the world. In Han's hands, the simple string and disc come alive.
▸ trans. colloq. (orig. U.S.). to walk the (also that) walk: to behave in a manner consistent with the image one projects or the values one advocates; to back up rhetoric with action. Freq. collocated or contrasted with to talk the (also that) talk at talk v. Additions a.
1921Mansfield (Ohio) News 27 June 9/3 Although he has no gilded medals upon his bosom, Howard Herring of the North American Watch company, walks the walk, and talks the talk, of a hero today. 1972N.Y. Times 29 May 17/4 I've talked that talk, and now I'm ready to walk that walk. 1991Rolling Stone 28 Nov. 9/2 Tyner, more than anyone, walked the walk and talked the talk. 2002POW Mag. Mar. 72/1 After taking a real beating from McMahon during the Street Fight, ‘The Dirtiest Player in the Game’ proved that he could still walk the walk as he eventually defeated McMahon with his trusty figure-four leglock.
▸ intr. orig. U.S.to walk free: to be released from a criminal charge without punishment; not to receive expected or deserved punishment. Cf. free adj. 6.
1925Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram 21 Dec. 1/7 She walked free today after her fourth arrest in as many months. 1989R. Graef Talking Blues ix. 302 You'll get far more murderers walking free if the jury thinks they're going to be topped. 2004Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) 5 Dec. 83 A virtually impromptu rally..was prompted by judges' decisions to let two rapists walk free.
▸ intr. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). = to walk free at Additions.
1958J. M. Murtagh & S. Harris Cast First Stone vii. 105 This is a good judge sitting today... He's liable to call you a tramp, but if he can, he'll let you walk. 1986L. Sanders Eighth Commandm. xxxii. 282 ‘Havistock is going to walk, isn't he?’ ‘Sure he is... What could we charge him with?’ 2002Nation (N.Y.) 11 Mar. 4/2 He was sentenced to six months in prison. But he walked... The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned..[his] convictions.
▪ IV. walk, v.2 Now only dial. and Hist.|wɔːk|
Pa. tense and pple. walked. Forms: 5 walke, 6 woke, 7 wak, wack, 8 wawk, 9 waulk (dial. wauk, wack, wake: see Eng. Dial. Dict.).
[Orig. identical with walk v.1; here separated from that vb. because the sense ‘to full (cloth)’ is not recorded in Eng. before the 14th c. (see walk-mill1), though prominent in other Teut. langs.
OE. had the agent-n. wealcere walker2 (a Com. WGer. formation), but it is possible that the corresponding sense of the Teut. vb. had not survived into OE., and that the late ME. walke is either a back-formation from the agent-n. or an adoption from MLG. or MDu. walken.
The Teut. vb. in the sense ‘to full’ is the source of It. gualcare and OF. *gaucher (inferred from med.L. gauchatorium fulling-mill).]
1. trans. To subject (woollen cloth) to the operation of beating or pressing (together with other processes, as moistening and heating), in order to cause felting of the fibres and consequent shrinkage and thickening: = full v. 1.
14..Langland's P. Pl. B. xv. 447 (MS. C) Y walked [other MSS. Ytouked]. 1437Cov. Leet Bk. 187 That euery walker withe-in this Cite ffro this tyme fforwarde walke no Cloth & wete hym, but yeff [etc.]. 1467in Engl. Gilds (1870) 383 To dye, carde, or spynne, weve, or cloth-walke, withyn the seid cyte. 1511–12Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 The Walker and Fuller shall truely walke fulle thikke and werke every webbe of wollen yerne. 1568Satir. Poems Reform. xlviii. 41 It is weill walkit, cairdit, and calkit. 1596Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 107 For wokinge and ditchinge [i.e. dighting or dressing] of the said clothe iiijs xd. 1669in Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 150 The Magistratis ordaines the thesaurer to by thrie scoir elnes of plaiding and caus wack and lit the samen reid to be coittis to the sojoris. 1773Boswell Tour Hebrides 11 Sept. (1785) 205 Last night Lady Rasay shewed him the operation of wawking cloth, that is, thickening it in the same manner as is done by a mill. Here it is performed by women, who kneel upon the ground, and rub it with both their hands. 1797W. Johnston tr. Beckmann's Invent. III. 266 The fullers received the cloth as it came from the loom, in order that it might be scoured, walked, and smoothed. 1814Scott Diary 24 Aug. in Lockhart, In a cottage..we heard the women singing as they waulked the cloth by rubbing it with their hands and feet.
absol.1608in N. & Q. 8th Ser. XI. 202/1 That none of the inhabitants..doe washe anie clothes or walk at the well.
b. To mat together, felt. Also Sc. ‘to render hard and callous, as the skin of the hand by hard work’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 20 When woll is well risen from the skinne, the fleece is as it weare walked togeather on the toppe.
†2. transf. To beat, drub (a person). Also, to walk (a person's) coat. Obs. [So G. walken.]
a1530Heywood Johan & Tyb (Brandl) 40 Than I thynke he wyll say by and by, Walke her cote, Johan Johan, and bete her hardely. Ibid. 667, I thank god I haue walkyd them well And dryuen them hens. 1556J. Olde tr. Walther's Antichrist 151 b, The rebellious stubburne fleshe must nedes be walked with a good cudgell. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 117 Thou wilt foole by walkt with a waster. c1563Jack Juggler (facs.) C iv b, Thou..drunken sote Yt were an almes dyde to walke thy cote. 17..in R. Chambers Scott. Songs (1829) II. 279 We'll wauk their hides, and fyle their fuds.
3. Comb.: walk-apron Hat-making (see quot. 1886); walk-pin Hat-making (see quot. 1831-3); † walk-stock [cf. G. walkstock] = fulling-stock. Also walk-mill.
1886Cheshire Gloss., *Walk apron, hatting term, the apron used by workmen to keep them dry while working at the kettles.
1831–3Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 761/2 The felt is worked and squeezed by means of a rolling pin, called a *walk pin.
1434–5Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 232 In cariacione de le *walkstoke. 1460–1Ibid. 242 Pro factura unius walkestocke pro molendino ibidem [fulling-mill at Rilly] vjs.
▪ V. walk
obs. form of wake. |