Walk Definition

walk

English

Etymology

From Middle English walken (“to move, roll, turn, revolve, toss”), from Old English wealcan (“to move round, revolve, roll, turn, toss”), ġewealcan (“to go, traverse”); and Middle English walkien (“to roll, stamp, walk, wallow”), from Old English wealcian (“to curl, roll up”); both from Proto-Germanic *walkanan, *walkōnan (“to twist, turn, roll about, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *walg-, *walk- (“to twist, turn, move”). Cognate with Scots walk (“to walk”), West Frisian swalkje (“to wander, roam”), Dutch walken (“to full, work hair or felt”), Dutch zwalken (“to wander about”), German walken (“to flex, full, mill, drum”), Danish valke (“to waulk, full”), Latin valgus (“bandy-legged, bow-legged”). More at vagrant.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: wôk, IPA: /wɔːk/, SAMPA: /wO:k/
• (US) enPR: wôk, IPA: /wɔk/, SAMPA: /wOk/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: wäk, IPA: /wɑk/, SAMPA: /wAk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːk

Verb

walk (third-person singular simple present walks, present participle walking, simple past and past participle walked)

1. (intransitive) To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.
2. (intransitive, colloquial) (law) To "walk free", i.e. to win, or avoid, a criminal court case, particularly when actually guilty.

   If you can’t present a better case, that robber is going to walk.

3. (intransitive, colloquial, euphemistic) Of an object, to be stolen.

   If you leave your wallet lying around, it’s going to walk.

4. (intransitive, cricket, of a batsman) To walk off the field, as if given out, after the fielding side appeals and before the umpire has ruled; done as a matter of sportsmanship when the batsman believes he is out.
5. (transitive) To travel (a distance) by walking.

   I walk two miles to school every day.

   The museum’s not far from here – you can walk it.

6. (transitive) To take for a walk or accompany on a walk.

   I walk the dog every morning

   Will you walk me home?

7. (transitive, baseball) To allow a batter to reach base by pitching four balls.
8. (transitive) To move something by shifting between two positions, as if it were walking.

   I carefully walked the ladder along the wall.

9. (transitive) To full; to beat cloth to give it the consistency of felt.
10. (transitive) To traverse by walking (or analogous gradual movement).

    I walked the streets aimlessly.

    Debugging this computer program involved walking the heap.

11. (intransitive, colloquial) To leave, resign.

    If we don't offer him more money he'll walk.

12. (transitive) To push (a vehicle) alongside oneself as one walks.
    • 1994, John Forester, Bicycle Transportation: A Handbook for Cycling Transportation Engineers, MIT Press, page 245:

      The county had a successful defense only because the judge kept telling the jury at every chance that the cyclist should have walked his bicycle like a pedestrian.

Synonyms

• (move upon two feet): - See also Wikisaurus:walk
• (colloquial: go free): be acquitted, get off, go free
• (be stolen): be/get stolen; (UK) be/get nicked, be/get pinched
• (beat cloth): full, waulk (obsolete)

Derived terms

Noun

walk (plural walks)

1. A trip made by walking.

   I take a walk every morning

2. A distance walked.

   It’s a long walk from my house to the library

3. (sports) An Olympic Games track event requiring that the heel of the leading foot touch the ground before the toe of the trailing foot leaves the ground.
4. A manner of walking; a person's style of walking.

   The Ministry of Silly Walks is underfunded this year

5. A path, sidewalk/pavement or other maintained place on which to walk. Compare trail.
6. (baseball) An award of first base to a batter following four balls being thrown by the pitcher; known in the rules as a "base on balls".

   The pitcher now has two walks in this inning alone

Synonyms

• (trip made by walking): stroll (slow walk), hike (long walk), trek (long walk)
• (distance walked): hike (if long), trek (if long)
• (manner of walking): gait
• (path): footpath, path, (UK) pavement, (US) sidewalk

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: horses · wonder · smile · #707: walk · places · simple · fresh

Manx

Verb

walk (verbal noun walkal, past participle walkit)

1. to full (cloth)

Synonyms

• tuck
• giallee

Middle English

Alternative forms

• valk
• vakk
• wakk

Etymology

Probably cognate with Modern English and wake.

Verb

walk

1. to

Related terms

• wake (“a , vigil”)
• waken (“to wake”)
• wakien (“to , awake”)
• waknen (“to be aroused from sleep”)

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