- (v.i.) To furnish with calks, to prevent slipping on ice; as, to calk the shoes of a horse or an ox.
- (v.t.) To drive tarred oakum into the seams between the planks of (a ship, boat, etc.), to prevent leaking. The calking is completed by smearing the seams with melted pitch.
- (v.t.) To copy, as a drawing, by rubbing the back of it with red or black chalk, and then passing a blunt style or needle over the lines, so as to leave a tracing on the paper or other thing against which it is laid or held.
- (v.t.) To make an indentation in the edge of a metal plate, as along a seam in a steam boiler or an iron ship, to force the edge of the upper plate hard against the lower and so fill the crevice.
- (v.i.) To wound with a calk; as when a horse injures a leg or a foot with a calk on one of the other feet.
- (n.) A sharp-pointed piece of iron or steel projecting downward on the shoe of a horse or an ox, to prevent the animal from slipping; -- called also calker, calkin.
- (n.) An instrument with sharp points, worn on the sole of a shoe or boot, to prevent slipping.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). calk. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/calk/definitions/1983944 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "calk" http://smartdefine.org/calk/definitions/1983944 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, calk, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/calk/definitions/1983944>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "calk" 27 May 2011. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/calk/definitions/1983944> |