chalk
noun /tʃɔːk/
/tʃɔːk/
Idioms - [uncountable] a type of soft white stone
- the chalk cliffs of southern England
Oxford Collocations Dictionarychalk + noun- bed
- cliff
- downs
- …
- chalk and cheese
- [uncountable, countable] a substance similar to chalk made into white or coloured sticks for writing or drawing
- a piece/stick of chalk
- drawing diagrams with chalk on the blackboard
- a box of coloured chalks
Extra ExamplesTopics Educationc1- She had scrawled a note in chalk across the blackboard.
- to write with chalk
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- coloured/colored
- white
- sidewalk
- …
- piece
- stick
- drawing
- line
- mark
- …
- in chalk
- with chalk
Word OriginOld English cealc (also denoting lime), related to Dutch kalk and German Kalk, from Latin calx, ‘lime’, probably from Greek khalix ‘pebble, limestone’.
Idioms
chalk and cheese
- (British English) if two people or things are like chalk and cheese or as different as chalk and cheese, they are completely different from each other
- Frank and I will never get along. We’re chalk and cheese.
- My two horses are as different as chalk and cheese.
More Like This Alliteration in idiomsAlliteration in idioms- belt and braces
- black and blue
- born and bred
- chalk and cheese
- chop and change
- done and dusted
- down and dirty
- in dribs and drabs
- eat somebody out of house and home
- facts and figures
- fast and furious
- first and foremost
- forgive and forget
- hale and hearty
- hem and haw
- kith and kin
- mix and match
- part and parcel
- puff and pant
- to rack and ruin
- rant and rave
- risk life and limb
- short and sweet
- signed and sealed
- spic and span
- through thick and thin
- this and that
- top and tail
- tried and tested
- wax and wane
not by a long chalk (British English)
(also not by a long shot North American English, British English)
- not nearly; not at all
- It's not over yet—not by a long chalk.