In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
chalking (countable and uncountable, plural chalkings)
Something chalked on a surface.
(painting) The appearance of non-gloss paint on an exterior surface due to chemical deterioration and removal by weather.
chalking
present participle of chalk
• hackling
Source: Wiktionary
Chalk, n. Etym: [AS. cealc lime, from L. calx limestone. See Calz, and Cawk.]
1. (Min.)
Definition: A soft, earthy substance, of a white, grayish, or yellowish white color, consisting of calcium carbonate, and having the same composition as common limestone.
2. (Fine Arts)
Definition: Finely prepared chalk, used as a drawing implement; also, by extension, a compound, as of clay and black lead, or the like, used in the same manner. See Crayon. Black chalk, a mineral of a bluish color, of a slaty texture, and soiling the fingers when handled; a variety of argillaceous slate.
– By a long chalk, by a long way; by many degrees. [Slang] Lowell.
– Chalk drawing (Fine Arts), a drawing made with crayons. See Crayon.
– Chalk formation. See Cretaceous formation, under Cretaceous.
– Chalk line, a cord rubbed with chalk, used for making straight lines on boards or other material, as a guide in cutting or in arranging work.
– Chalk mixture, a preparation of chalk, cinnamon, and sugar in gum water, much used in diarrheal affection, esp. of infants.
– Chalk period. (Geol.) See Cretaceous period, under Cretaceous.
– Chalk pit, a pit in which chalk is dug.
– Drawing chalk. See Crayon, n., 1.
– French chalk, steatite or soapstone, a soft magnesian mineral.
– Red chalk, an indurated clayey ocher containing iron, and used by painters and artificers; reddle.
Chalk, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chalked; p. pr. & vb. n. Chalking.]
1. To rub or mark with chalk.
2. To manure with chalk, as land. Morimer.
3. To make white, as with chalk; to make pale; to bleach. Tennyson. Let a bleak paleness chalk the door. Herbert. To chalk out, to sketch with, or as with, chalk; to outline; to indicate; to plan. [Colloq.] "I shall pursue the plan I have chalked out." Burke.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
27 May 2025
(noun) the property of being directional or maintaining a direction; “the directionality of written English is from left to right”
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.