See Also: walk-in(dictionary)
You'll Never Walk Alone(dictionary)
walk(dictionary)
walk-up(dictionary)
Walk away(finance)
by-walk(dictionary)
walk(1)(dictionary)
walk(2)(dictionary)
walk-through(dictionary)
walk-on(dictionary)

walk(1) (iou)



walk noun. ME.
[from WALK verb1.]
I.
The action or an act of walking; esp. a short journey on foot for exercise or pleasure; a stroll, a constitutional. ME.
Sara Maitland Taking her for long weekend walks in the park.
b. Travel; wandering. LME-L17.
c. Line or path of movement. LME-L16.
fig.
a. Movement in time; progress, development. Formerly also (rare), expatiation, extended discourse. M16.
C. Lamb The..infelicity which accompanies some people in their walk through life.
b. Manner of behaviour; conduct. L16.
c. A course of action or conduct forming part of the plot of a drama. M17-M18.
spec.
a. A formal procession. M16.
b. A walking race or sports contest. L19.
c. Baseball. = base on balls s.v. BASE noun1. E20.
d. A dance performed at a walking pace. Chiefly with specifying word, as Lambeth walk (see LAMBETH 3). M20.
e. A sponsored event in which participants walk a certain distance for charity. L20.
Guardian Oxfam depended on walks for up to 175,000 of its year's 2 1 / 2 millions budget.
An act of walking as distinguished from more rapid progress; the slowest gait or pace of a person or animal. E17.
Day Lewis At a brisk walk, which..I prevent from degenerating into a trot. Scientific American In the walk at least two of the horse's legs touch the ground.
A characteristic manner of walking; a person's gait. M17.
E. Birney A small nimble fellow with..a walk like a prowling tomcat.
II.
a. A usual or favourite place for walking; a preferred route for walking. LME.
b. A route chosen for walking. E17.
J. Martineau We can find walks that will vie with the Thiergarten.
c. A regular circuit of delivery etc.; a worker's usual round or run. E18.
Times A postwoman..prevented from..obtaining a particular postal 'walk'.
a. A poultry run (cf. RUN noun 11c). M16.
b. The place in which a gamecock is kept. E17.
A place or route intended or suitable for walking; spec. (a) a cloister or aisle in a church or other public building; (b) (with specifying word) in the Royal Exchange, any of the areas of pathway in which a particular class of merchant was allowed to walk, as East India walk, Virginia walk, etc. M16.
N. Hawthorne The great cloister..has a walk of intersecting arches.
b. A broad path through or around a garden. Also, a pavement for pedestrians. M16.
New Yorker A..man is smoothing cement for his new walk.
c. A tree-lined avenue. L16.
Addison There is a long Walk of aged Elms.
d. A circular pavement walked on by a horse driving a mill. M18.
e. = rope-walk s.v. ROPE noun1. L18.
A division of a forest in the charge of a particular forester, ranger, or keeper. M16.
b. Hist. A plantation. L18.
(An area of) land used for pasturage; now spec. a sheepwalk. M16.
A distance to be walked; esp. such a distance defined by a specified length of time spent in walking. M16.
J. Ruskin A few hundred yards west.., within ten minutes' walk, is the Baptistry.
fig.
a. A branch or sphere of a specified activity or interest; a speciality. E18.
Dickens He painted anything...'He has no particular walk?..No speciality?' said Mr. Dorrit. N. Pevsner Dealing with the higher walks of administration.
b. = walk of life below. Now rare. M19.
A farm etc. where a hound-puppy is sent to accustom it to various surroundings. Freq. in at walk, put to walk. M18.
Phrases etc.: cock-of-the-walk: see COCK noun1. random walk: see RANDOM adjective. take a walk (a) N. Amer. slang be dismissed; in imper., go away, get out; (b) walk out as a form of industrial action. walk in life (now rare or obsolete) = walk of life below. walk of life (a) a person's social rank; (b) a person's profession, occupation, or calling. Whit walk: see WHIT adjective. win in a walk N. Amer. colloq. win easily; walk over.
Comb.: (See also combs. of WALK verb1.) walk-clerk (obsolete exc. Hist.) a bank clerk charged with collecting payment of cheques in a particular district; walksman (chiefly Hist.) an officer in charge of a particular stretch of the bank of a river or canal.