walk

Less common meanings

11. 11
    nounfigurativelycountable

    A person's conduct or the course their life takes, and in walk of life, a person's job, class or position in society.

    The charity brings together volunteers from every walk of life.

    The pastor reminded us that small, everyday choices shape a believer's walk with God over a lifetime.

    UsageOften walk with God in religious talk; the set phrase from every walk of life means from all backgrounds.

    Similarpath, course, life

    Note

    Today the noun survives mostly inside walk of life, meaning a person's station or occupation, as in people from every walk of life. The older moral sense shows in Hall Caine's Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1887), which notes that even hostile witnesses praised the purity of Coleridge's walk in life. There it meant conduct, not class, the idea behind the verb's moral use. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Hall Caine wrote Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1887. en.wikipedia.org
    • The biography says that even hostile witnesses praised the purity of Coleridge's conduct. en.wiktionary.org
    • Walk here refers to conduct, corresponding to the verb's moral sense. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    gaitnouncountable

    The particular manner or style in which a person moves on foot.

    Like a fingerprint expressed through movement: recognizable from across a room.

    The actor studied the old sailor's rolling walk for the role.

    She has a graceful walk that turns heads.

    UsageUsually with a describing word: a graceful walk, a rolling walk; you can know someone by their walk.

    Similargait, stride, step, carriage

13. 13
    easy tasknouncolloquialcountable

    A task that is very easily accomplished; something requiring little effort.

    Like strolling downhill, where the path does the work for you.

    With the new tools, the whole repair was a walk.

    The polls had promised a tight race, but the challenger won in a walk, carrying every district.

    UsageUsually after be: it's a walk. A walk in the park means the same.

    Similarbreeze, cinch, snap, doddle, pushover

    Oppositestruggle, slog, ordeal

    Note

    The same idea as a walk in the park, usually a confident boast that a job will be easy. In Robert Barr's BBC radio drama The Coming Out Present (1980), a robber with inside help on a strongroom announces, 'it's a walk!' Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Robert Barr wrote The Coming Out Present, a BBC radio drama dated 1980. en.wiktionary.org
    • A robber discussing inside help with a strongroom says it's a walk! en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    go freeverbcolloquialintransitive

    To be acquitted or otherwise escape conviction in a criminal case, especially when the accused is in fact guilty.

    Without a key witness, the defendant is likely to walk.

    Two of the accused walked on a technicality last spring.

    UsageOften in let someone walk or walk on a technicality; walk free is broader and does not imply guilt.

    Note

    Courtroom slang in which the bare verb carries a whole verdict: a defendant who walks leaves without a conviction.

15. 15
    go missingverbcolloquialeuphemisticintransitive

    Of a thing, to disappear, usually through theft, as if it had wandered off by itself.

    Leave cash on the desk and it tends to walk.

    Expensive tools were walking off the site every week.

    UsageOften a warning about the future (it'll walk) or with off: tools walk off the site.

    Similardisappear, vanish

    Note

    A euphemism that spares the speaker from saying stolen: the wallet walks, as if it left on its own legs. Because no thief is named, it lets people complain about theft without accusing anyone.

16. 16
    track racenouncountable

    A race-walking event in athletics in which one foot must always appear to touch the ground and the front leg must stay straight from landing until it passes under the body.

    The men's 50-kilometer walk was one of the longest events in track and field.

    Judges in the walk disqualify competitors whose feet both leave the ground.

    Note

    Its whole point is that the athlete must never be seen airborne, so the ordinary verb's 'one foot always down' becomes a judged rule. Officials can disqualify competitors seen to lose contact with the ground, and the advancing leg must also straighten from first contact until it passes under the body. Events are named by distance, such as the 50-kilometer walk. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The rule prohibits loss of contact visible to the unaided human eye; imperceptible airborne phases are allowed. usatfsc.org
    • Visible loss of contact can lead to disqualification through the red-card procedure; disqualification does not follow automatically from every loss of contact. worldathletics.org
    • The advancing leg must remain straight from first ground contact until it passes under the body. assets.nfhs.org
    • Race-walking events are named by distance, including the 50-kilometer walk. en.wikipedia.org
17. 17
    creep (machine)verbintransitive

    Of a heavy object or machine, to move, or be moved, by shifting from one point of contact to another as if taking steps.

    An unbalanced dryer will slowly walk toward the middle of the room.

    Vibration caused the table saw to walk a few inches during the cut.

    Similarcreep, shift

18. 18
    wander restlesslyverbintransitive

    To move about restlessly when expected to stay quiet, as a sleeping person does or as the spirit of a dead person is said to do.

    Servants whispered that the murdered earl's ghost walked after dark.

    Children sometimes walk during deep sleep without remembering it.

    UsageFor sleepers, usually walk in your sleep or sleepwalk; for ghosts, the bare verb: the ghost walks.

    Similarwander, roam, prowl

    Note

    The haunting verb: when a ghost walks, it does what the dead are supposed not to do. The same word covered a sleeper's wandering, and in a sermon Hugh Latimer preached at Stamford in 1550, even a pen moving about in a chimney. Rollo Ahmed's The Black Art (1936) describes burial customs meant to stop a dead girl from walking. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Walk historically described a sleeping person's wandering. gutenberg.org
    • Hugh Latimer preached at Stamford in 1550 and described a pen walking in a chimney. anglicanhistory.org
    • Rollo Ahmed wrote The Black Art, first published in 1936. openlibrary.org
    • The Black Art describes practices before burial intended to prevent a dead girl from walking. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    cricketverbintransitive

    In cricket, to leave the field voluntarily after the fielding side appeals, before the umpire rules, when the batsman believes he is genuinely out: an act of sportsmanship.

    Few professional batsmen walk these days, preferring to leave the decision to the umpire.

    She walked immediately, knowing she had nicked the ball to the keeper.

    Note

    Cricket's honor system in one verb: a batsman who walks gives himself out before the umpire can rule. Walking is a choice, not a requirement of the laws, so a batsman who stays put after an edge breaks no rule. The decision simply returns to the umpire, which is why arguments about walking are arguments about sportsmanship. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • A batsman who walks voluntarily accepts dismissal without waiting for the umpire's ruling. sportnz.org.nz
    • Walking is optional under the Laws; a batsman may await the umpire's decision after an edge. lords.org
    • Debate about walking concerns sportsmanship. en.wikipedia.org
20. 20
    nouncountable

    The slowest natural pace at which a person or animal moves on foot, slower than a run, a trot or a gallop.

    After the long gallop, the rider eased her mare back to a walk.

    When the fire alarm went off, the pupils filed out of the building at a walk, just as they had practiced.

    UsageUsually at a walk for a steady pace and slow to a walk for slowing down.

    Note

    Riders rank a horse's paces from the walk up through the trot to the gallop, and this is the bottom rung. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The horse's walk, trot and gallop occur in increasing order of speed. en.wikipedia.org
    • The walk is the horse's slowest gait. kyhorsepark.com
21. 21
    verbcolloquial

    In the hotel trade, to relocate a guest holding a confirmed booking to another hotel because no room is available at check-in.
22. 22
    noun

    In poker, a situation in which every player folds to the big blind as their first action, letting that player take the blinds unchallenged.
23. 23
    noun

    In graph theory, a sequence of vertices and edges in which each edge connects the vertex before it to the vertex after it, with repetition of vertices and edges allowed.
24. 24
    verb

    In machining, for a rotating tool such as a drill or reamer to drift radially while it feeds straight into the workpiece, moving either toward or away from the intended center.
25. 25
    verb

    In aviation, to work the left and right engine throttles of an aircraft alternately rather than together.
26. 26
    verb

    To finish woolen cloth by beating or trampling it so that its fibers tighten and mat into the dense consistency of felt.
27. 27
    verb

    To keep, rear and condition a puppy at a secluded place set aside for training dogs for dogfighting.
28. 28
    verbobsolete

    To move or be active, as a wagging tongue is.

    her toung did walke / In fowle reproch.

    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
29. 29
    noun

    The open lane separating rows of trees or bushes on a coffee or coconut estate.
30. 30
    noundialectalBelizeCaribbeanGuyanaJamaica

    A section of a property given over to growing fruit trees.
31. 31
    noun

    A site where young fighting dogs are brought up and conditioned for dogfights.
32. 32
    noun

    A fenced space where a fighting rooster is kept to get ready for a fight.
33. 33
    noundatedUK

    A check drawn on a bank outside the London clearing system, which had to be carried to the paying bank by hand.