walk

pronunciation

How to pronounce walk in British English: UK [wɔːk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce walk in American English: US [wɔːk] word us audio image

Noun:

the act of traveling by foot
(baseball) an advance to first base by a batter who receives four balls
manner of walking
the act of walking somewhere
a path set aside for walking
a slow gait of a horse in which two feet are always on the ground
careers in general
Verb:

use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
traverse or cover by walking
accompany or escort
obtain a base on balls
live or behave in a specified manner
take a walk; go for a walk; walk for pleasure
give a base on balls to
be or act in association with
make walk
walk at a pace

Word Origin

walk: walk: [OE] Walk originally meant ‘roll about, toss’ (an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon glossary translated Latin ferventis oceani as ‘walking sea’). This gradually broadened out via ‘move about’ to ‘go on a journey’, but the specific application to ‘travelling on foot’ did not emerge until the 13th century. The verb came from a prehistoric Germanic *walkan, which also produced Dutch walken ‘make felt by beating’ and French gauchir ‘turn aside, detour’ (source of English gauche [18]). It is ultimately related to Sanskrit valgati ‘hops’.=> gauche

walk (v.): "travel on foot," c. 1200, a merger of two verbs, 1. Old English wealcan "to toss, roll, move round" (past tense weolc, past participle wealcen), and 2. wealcian "to roll up, curl," from Proto-Germanic *welk- (cognates: Old Norse valka "to drag about," Danish valke "to full" (cloth), Middle Dutch walken "to knead, press, full" (cloth), Old High German walchan "to knead," German walken "to full"), perhaps ultimately from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, roll" (see volvox). The shift in sense is perhaps from a colloquial use of the Old English word or via the sense of "to full cloth" (by treading on it), though this sense does not appear until after the change in meaning. In 13c. it is used of snakes and the passage of time, and in 15c. of wheeled carts. "Rarely is there so specific a word as NE walk, clearly distinguished from both go and run" [Buck]. Meaning "to go away" is recorded from mid-15c. Transitive meaning "to exercise a dog (or horse)" is from late 15c.; meaning "to escort (someone) in a walk" is from 1620s. Meaning "move (a heavy object) by turning and shoving it in a manner suggesting walking" is by 1890. To walk it off, of an injury, etc., is from 1741. Related: Walked; walking.

walk (n.): c. 1200, "a tossing, rolling;" mid-13c., "an act of walking, a going on foot;" late 14c., "a stroll," also "a path, a walkway;" from walk (v.). The meaning "broad path in a garden" is from 1530s. Meaning "particular manner of walking" is from 1650s. Meaning "manner of action, way of living" is from 1580s; hence walk of life (1733). Meaning "range or sphere of activity" is from 1759. Sports sense of "base on balls" is recorded from 1905; to win in a walk (1854) is from horse racing (see walk-over). As a type of sponsored group trek as a fund-raising event, by 1971 (walk-a-thon is from 1963).

vi.

vt. & vi.