walk (wôk)

v., walked, walk·ing, walks.

v.intr.

1. To move over a surface by taking steps with the feet at a pace slower than a run: a baby learning to walk; a horse walking around a riding ring.
2. 1. To go or travel on foot: walked to the store.
   2. To go on foot for pleasure or exercise; stroll: walked along the beach looking for shells.
   3. To move in a manner suggestive of walking: saw a woodpecker walking up the tree trunk.
3. To conduct oneself or behave in a particular manner; live: walks in majesty and pride.
4. To appear as a supernatural being: The specter of famine walks through the land.
5. Slang.
   1. To go out on strike.
   2. To resign from one's job abruptly; quit.
   3. To be acquitted: The alleged killer walked.
6. 1. Baseball. To go to first base after the pitcher has thrown four pitches ruled as balls.
   2. Basketball. To move illegally while holding the ball; travel.
7. Obsolete. To be in constant motion.

v.tr.

1. To go or pass over, on, or through by walking: walk the financial district of a city.
2. To bring to a specified condition by walking: They walked me to exhaustion.
3. To cause to walk or proceed at a walk: walk a horse uphill.
4. To accompany in walking; escort on foot: walk the children home; walked me down the hall.
5. To traverse on foot in order to survey or measure; pace off: walked the bounds of the property.
6. To move (a heavy or cumbersome object) in a manner suggestive of walking: walked the bureau into the hall.
7. Baseball.
   1. To allow (a batter) to go to first base by throwing four pitches ruled as balls.
   2. To cause (a run) to score by walking a batter. Often used with in.

n.

1. 1. The gait of a human or other biped in which the feet are lifted alternately with one part of a foot always on the ground.
   2. The gait of a quadruped in which at least two feet are always touching the ground, especially the gait of a horse in which the feet touch the ground in the four-beat sequence of near hind foot, near forefoot, off hind foot, off forefoot.
   3. The self-controlled extravehicular movement in space of an astronaut.
2. The act or an instance of walking, especially a stroll for pleasure or exercise.
3. 1. The rate at which one walks; a walking pace.
   2. The characteristic way in which one walks.
4. The distance covered or to be covered in walking.
5. A place, such as a sidewalk or promenade, on which one may walk.
6. A route or circuit particularly suitable for walking: one of the prettiest walks in the area.
7. 1. Baseball. A base on balls.
   2. Basketball. The act or an instance of moving illegally with the ball; traveling.
8. Sports.
   1. A track event in which contestants compete in walking a specified distance.
   2. Racewalking.
9. An enclosed area designated for the exercise or pasture of livestock.
10. 1. An arrangement of trees or shrubs planted in widely spaced rows.
    2. The space between such rows.

phrasal verbs:

walk out

1. To go on strike.
2. To leave suddenly, often as a signal of disapproval.

walk over Informal.

1. To treat badly or contemptuously.
2. To gain an easy or uncontested victory over.

walk through

1. To perform (a play, for example) in a perfunctory fashion, as at a first rehearsal.

idioms:

walk away from

1. To outdo, outrun, or defeat with little difficulty.
2. To survive (an accident) with very little injury.

walk off (or away) with

1. To win easily or unexpectedly.
2. To steal.

walk on air

1. To feel elated.

walk out on

1. To desert or abandon.

walk (someone) through

1. To guide (someone) deliberately through (a process), one step at a time: She walked me through the installation of new software.

walk the plank

1. To be forced, as by pirates, to walk off a plank extended over the side of a ship so as to drown.

[Middle English walken, from Old English wealcan, to roll.]

walkability walk'a·bil'i·ty n.
walkable walk'a·ble adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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