Walk v.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Walk v.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1928, rev. 2024. Walk v.1 Pa. t. and pa. pple. walked. Forms: Inf. and pres. stem: 1 wealcan, wealcian, 2, 3 walki-en, 4 walc, 2–7 walke, 6 walck(e, Sc. valk, 8–9 Sc. wauk, 4– walk. Pa. t. α. strong 1 wéolc, 3–5 welk(e, 5 walke, wilke; β. weak 1 wealcede, 4 welkide, walkit, 5 walkude, walkyd, 6 walckt(e, (6 Sc. valkit), 4– walked. Pa. pple. α. strong 3 i-walken, walke; β. weak 5 walkude, 3– walked. [OE. had two forms: (1) wealcan redupl. str. vb. (pa. t. wéolc, pa. pple. ʓewealcen), to roll, toss (trans. and intr.); (2) wealcian weak vb., occurring only twice, in the senses ‘to muffle up’ (gl. obvolvere), to curl (hair: gl. calamistrare). One or both of these vbs. may have had also the sense ‘to full (cloth)’: see WALK v.2 The corresponding forms in the other Teut. langs. are: OHG. walchan str. vb., recorded only in pa. pple. giwalchen, firwalchen, felted, matted (said of hair: gl. concretus); MHG. walken (pa. t. wielc, pa. pple. walken; later conjugated weak), to knead, to roll (paste) into balls in the palms of the hands; rarely, to move about (trans. and intr.), to turn into something; usually, to full (cloth), whence to cudgel, drub; mod.G. walken wk. vb., to full, to cudgel; (M)LG., (M)Du. walken wk. vb., to full, to work (felt), to cudgel; ON. valka (Icel. válka, mod. volka) wk. vb., to drag about, to torment, refl. to wallow; MSw. valka wk. vb., to roll (a morsel) about in the mouth, Norw. valka wk. vb. to crumple in the hand, MDa. valke wk. vb. to torment; the mod.Sw. valka, Da. valke (wk.), to full, prob. take their sense from LG.

1   The strong pa. t. survived into the 15th c.; the weak conjugation, recorded from the 13th c. onwards, may perh. not be a survival of the rare OE. wealcian but an instance of the frequent change of inflexion from strong to weak. The corresponding weak vb. in continental Teut. is prob. to be explained in this way.

2   It is remarkable that to the end of the OE. period the sense of the str. vb. was ‘to roll,’ and that from the beginning of the ME. period it was ‘to move about, travel.’ The explanation of this apparently sudden change may be that the ME. sense had arisen in OE. as a colloquial (perhaps jocular) use, and that when the literary tradition was interrupted after the Conquest, and people wrote as they spoke, the original meaning of the verb was no longer current.

3   The OTeut. root *wælk- has no certain affinities in any other branch of the Indogermanic family; phonologically the Skr. valg- to leap, dance, and the L. valgus bow-legged, might be related, but there is no clear similarity of meaning.]

4   † I.  1. intr. a. In OE. (str. vb.). Of the waves: To roll, toss. b. In early ME. of persons: To toss about restlessly. Obs.

5   In OE. also trans. (str. vb.) to turn over, roll; also fig. to turn over in one’s mind, consider; (wk. verb) to curl (hair); to press together (cf. WALK v.2). For examples see Bosworth-Toller.

6 a. 1100.  Aldh. Glosses, in Napier, OE. Gl., i. 2474. Feruentis oceani, wealcendre sæ.

7 a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 240. Ho [sc. souls in hell] secheð reste þer nis nan … walkeð weri up and dun, se water deþ mid winde.

8 a. 1200[?].  Body & Soul (Phillips), 5. He walkeþ & wendeþ & woneþ … þes, he sæiþ on his bedde, wome þæt ic libbe, þæt æffre [etc.].

9 1398.  W. Paris, Cristine (Horstm.), 394. Fyve daies … Sche welkide þerin [an oven] to & froo.

10 c. 1400.  Pety Job, 329, in 26 Pol. Poems, 131. Allas, I walke in a lake Of dedly synne that doth me tene.

11   II.  intr. To journey, move about, esp. on foot.

12   † 2.  To go from place to place; to journey, wander. Also with cogn. obj., to go (one’s way).

13   In quot. a. 1000 the sense appears to be ‘to pass over’; if so, the gloss is the only example within the OE. period of any anticipation of the ME. development of the meaning of the word; but it may be significant that the reference is to motion on the sea.

14 a. 1000.  Prudentius Glosses, in Germania, XI. 400. Emensus, ʓewcalcon [‘Emensus et multum freti’ Prud. Peristeph. v. 471].

15 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 51. Þat israelisshe folc was walkende toward ierusalem on swinche and on drede and on wanrede.

16 c. 1205.  Lay., 112. Heuede Eneas þe duc mid his driht folcke widen iwalken.

17 c. 1250.  Meid. Maregrete, xlix. Muchel ic habbe iwalken bi water ant bi londe.

18 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6359. Queder-sum he welk her or þare, Þis wandes euer he wit him bare. Ibid., 21685. Quen þe nedders … Þe folk stanged of israel, Quen þai welk in þe wildernes. Ibid. (13[?]), 22063 (Gött.). Þe angel … in þe pitt [þe deuil] sperd fast … for to be laised at þe last quen þat thousand ȝere war past, to walk his wai [Edinb. MS. to walc his waiis forthe] fra þat quile.

19 1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 498. Vs is likful and lef in landus to walke, þere won walleþ of water in þe wellespringus.

20 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. VIII. 14. Þei ben men on þis molde þat moste wyde walken.

21 c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet, 1893. Þai þat sal walk bi way, or wirk, And may not cum to haly kirk,… Þeir seruyse sal þai not for-gete.

22 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, V. x. 29. And for ilk menȝe A capitane walkis rewland all his rowt.

23   3.  Of things.

24   † a.  Of time: To pass, elapse. Obs.

25 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 568. ‘An hundred winter … welken or it was ended wel.

26   † b.  Of reports, fame, also of letters, money: To circulate, pass from one to another; also with about. Also said of the person whose fame is spread abroad. Obs.

27 13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1521. Your worde & your worchip walkez ay quere.

28 a. 1352.  Minot, Poems, viii. 29. Þe word of him walkes ful wide.

29 1387.  T. Usk, Test. Love, I. vii. (Sk.), 95. Loke now what people hast thou served; which of them al in tyme of thyne exile ever the refresshed, by the value of the leste coyned plate that walketh in mony?

30 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, III. 252. The worde of him walkit baith fer and ner.

31 1533.  More, Lett. to Cromwell, Wks. 1422/1. An vnknowen heretike which hath sent ouer a worke that walketh in ouer many mens handes named the Souper of the lord.

32 1549.  Latimer, 4th Serm bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 111. Ther was brybes walking, money makynge, makynge of handes.

33 a. 1566.  R. Edwards, Damon & Pithias (facs.), B iv. And I vp and downe, Go seekyng to learne what Newes here are walkyng.

34 1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 13. If any man that hath freends and mony … chance to haue committed neuer so … flagicious a deed,… then letters walke, freends bestir them, and mony carrieth all away.

35 1601.  B. Jonson, Poetaster, III. v. 77. For he shall weepe, and walke with euery tongue Throughout the citie, infamously song.

36 a. 1626.  Bacon, War with Spain (1629), 42. A wonderfull erroneous obseruation that walketh about.

37 1640.  trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., II. 120. This Prince … never left praying and importuning; every day she had a Page, letters were continually walking [Fr. les lettres marchoient à toutes heures].

38 1671.  Milton, Samson, 1089. I … now am come to see of whom such noise Hath walk’d about.

39 1687.  R. L’Estrange, Answ. Dissenter, 22. There may be Mony Walking on the One Side as well as on the Other.

40   † c.  Of crime, vice or virtue: To be rife, spread abroad. Obs.

41 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. VII. 79. In hym þat taketh is þe treccherye, if any tresoun wawe [read walke (with 5 MSS.)].

42 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 169. Þese men … beeþ i-woned to haue the victorie … in euerich fiȝt wher no treson is walkynge [L. ubi fraus abfuerit].

43 c. 1450.  in Kingsford, Chron. Lond. (1905), 140. Ther whas so moch treson walkyng that men wist not what to do.

44 1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 101. Thair violence and wrang walkis full wyde.

45 1573.  L. Lloyd, Pilgr. Princes, 53. Then luste knew no way to the pallace of Cæsars, then abstinence walked in the market place, then all Rome was chast.

46 1626.  Breton, Pasquils Mad-cap (Grosart), 8/2. Wealth is a witch that hath a wicked charme, That in the mindes of wicked men doth walke.

47   † d.  Of drink, etc.: To be handed round, pass, circulate. Obs.

48 1555.  R. Smith, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 1254/1. My Lorde mayre being set with the bishop and one of the shriues, wine was walking on euery syde, I standing before them as an outcast.

49 1567.  Harman, Caveat (Shaks. Soc.), 32. How the pottes walke about! their talking tounges talke at large.

50 1594.  Greene & Lodge, Looking Gl., 1858, G.’s Wks. 1905, I. 201. Frolicke, my Lord[s]; let all the standerds walke; Ply it till euery man hath tane his load.

51 1596.  Raleigh, Guiana, 85. Wee found them all as drunke as beggers, and the pottes walking from one to another without rest.

52 1622.  R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 216. The pott continually walking, infused desperate and foolish hardinesse in many.

53 1692.  Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 157. This Hicks … was also Author … of other little trivial matters meerly to get bread, and make the pot walk.

54   † e.  Of various material things, e.g., a pen, a weapon, an instrument, a heavenly body: To move, be in motion. Of leaves: To come out. Obs.

55 a. 1400.  Stockh. Med. MS., ii. 753, in Anglia, XVIII. 325. At euery knot ij lewys owt walke.

56 a. 1530.  J. Heywood, Wether (1903), 686. Whan the wynde doth blow the uttermost Our wyndmylles walk a-mayne in every cost.

57 1549.  Latimer, Ploughers (Arb.), 25. And then bothe ploughes not walkyng, nothyng shoulde be in the common weale but honger. Ibid. (1550), Serm. Stamford (1562), 103. I hearde a penne walkynge in the chimney behynde the cloth. They hadde appoynted one there to wryte al myne aunsweres.

58 1565.  J. Hall, Crt. Vertue, 150. The great Beare … Whych wyth the small Beare euermore Doth walke the pole about.

59 1575.  Gascoigne, Making of Verse, § 1. I would … finde some supernaturall cause whereby my penne might walke in the superlatiue degree.

60 1580.  Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., xi. 6. Of the Feuer which commeth of rawe digestion…. The Horse will blowe at the nose … you shall see his flankes walke and his back to beate.

61 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. vii. 45. From euery coast that heauen walks about, Haue thither come the noble Martiall crew.

62 1622.  Drayton, Poly-olb., xxii. 663. Now English Bowes, and Bills, and Battle-axes walke, Death vp and downe the field in gastly sort doth stalke.

63 1686.  trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 115. They did not like working, so that the Cudgel was forc’d to walk now and then to quick’n their Laziness.

64 1815.  Scott, Guy M., xxiv. [They] got me down, and knevelled me sair aneuch, or I could gar my whip walk about their lugs.

65   † f.  Of a vehicle: To make regular journeys.

66 c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 671. ij. cartis the which they had every day walkyng to busshyng in his wode of Shottore.

67   † g.  Of the tongue, the jaws: To move briskly.

68 1550.  Crowley, Epigr., 908. No man shal fynde a tyme to speake, so faste theyr tonges shal walke.

69 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. iv. 5. And, ever as she went, her toung did walke In foule reproch and termes of vile despight.

70 1609.  Dekker, Guls Horne-bk., v. 24. It will adde much to your fame to let your tongue walke faster then your teeth. Ibid. (1609), Lanth. & Candle-light, x. Wks. (Grosart), III. 277. If then … his chappes begin to walke as if he were chewing downe a Horse-loafe.

71 1673.  Kirkman, Unlucky Citizen, 231. He could make but little defence with his hands; but his tongue walked, he stormed, raged and threatened.

72   h.  Naut. Of a ship: To make progress.

73 1884.  ‘H. Collingwood’ (W. J. C. Lancaster), Under Meteor Flag, 159. Seeing us walking ahead, he hailed us to keep back in line with him.

74 1891.  W. C. Russell, Marriage at Sea, iii. If … it lies in my power to keep this here Spitfire [the ship’s name] awalking.

75   † i.  fig. (a) ? To be successful. (b) To be a substitute, ‘pass,’ ‘go’ for. Obs.

76   (a)  a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., III. iii. (Arb.), 48. I doubt not but this geare shall on my side walke.

77   (b)  1557.  Phaër, Æneid, V. (1558), O iv. One only man shall be, whome lost in depe seas he shall seke, One poll shall walke for all [L. unum pro multis dabitur caput].

78 1627.  W. Sclater, Exp. 2 Thess. (1629), 299. That now, writtes walk for words.

79   † 4.  To go about in public, live, move (in a place or region). Also of animals: To range, be found (in a place). Obs.

80 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 17800. In mi cite of aramathi Þar ar þai [sc. the risen dead] walkand witerli.

81 13[?].  Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.), in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LXXXI. 302/310. Þer is a ffisch … Þat in þe see is walkynge; Euere he slumbreþ and eke slepeþ.

82 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 4734. Þys feste day … Were offred … þre þousand hyndes, Wylde walkande by wode lyndes.

83 a. 1350.  S. Lucy, 121, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 18. Whils he welk in þis werld here, He said to his appostels in-fere. Ibid., S. Thomas, 2 (ibid. 19). Saint Thomas, þe apostill trew, Þat welk in werld here with Jhesu.

84 1456.  Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 244. Men suld nocht lichtly traist in na sauf conditis, and namely in the warld that walkis now.

85 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, IV. 329. He sawe full feill bestis abide, Off wylde and tayme walkand haboundandlye.

86 1513.  More, Rich. III., Wks. 40/1. Robbers and riuers walking at libertie vncorrected.

87 1559.  Bp. Scot, in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. App. x. 32. Upon the which Place St. Augustine wryteth thus, Christe tooke Fleshe of the blessed Virgin his Mother, and in the same he did walke.

88 [1856.  Aytoun, Bothwell, I. v. And yet—he bandies texts with Knox, And walks a pious man!]

89   † b.  To be, live in a certain condition. Obs.

90 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 755. Adam ȝode walkand in þat welth þat halden was in micul elth.

91 1493.  Will E. Bonde (Somerset Ho.). I Edward Bonde in hole mynde walking & some what syke.

92   † c.  To busy oneself, be active about something. Obs. (Cf. WAKE v. 4 b.)

93 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7530. Dauid … toke bot a staf and a sling Þat he was wont to bere in hand Abute his flocke o scep walcand.

94 c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 84. And þi[l]ke folke þat han ben bysy erly and late to walke about worldely good, now schuld be bysy, alsoo, to vyset pore and seke.

95   d.  With complementary adj. or phrase: = GO v. 6. Now rare or obs.

96 1604.  Jas. I., Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.), 100. Why doe we not as well imitate them [the Indians] in walking naked as they doe?

97 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Custom Country, II. (1647), 8/1. How long might I have walkt without a cloake, Before I should have met with such a fortune?

98   5.  To travel or move about on foot. Also with advs. about, on, etc.

99   To walk with (a stick): to use it as a partial support in walking. To walk on crutches: to support oneself by crutches in walking.

100 a. 1300.  K. Horn, 953. Ich habbe walke [other texts walked] wide Bi þe se side; Nis he nowar ifunde.

101 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 17288 + 127. Þese thre maries come þiderward, for drede þai stynted oft For ferd of þe Jews, and sithen welk ful soft.

102 c. 1403.  Lydg., Temple of Glas, 550. I saugh a man, þat welke al solitarie.

103 a. 1535.  Frere & Boy (Ritson), 63. An olde man came hym tyll, Walkynge by the waye.

104 1557.  North, trans. Guevara’s Diall Pr., III. xlii. (1568), 71. Thow walkest by the thornes: and wylt not that thy gown bee torne.

105 1697.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., II. (1703), 99. To walk always upon crutches, is the way to lose the use of our limbs.

106 1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Miss Evans & Eagle. They all walked on together, talking, and laughing. Ibid. (1836), Vauxhall-Gardens. We walked about, and met with a disappointment at every turn.

107 1902.  ‘Violet Jacob,’ Sheep-Stealers, viii. He carried a stick, but he did not use it to walk with.

108 1907.  ‘C. E. Craddock,’ Windfall, iv. 75. Why, I’ll feel so old whenst I’m twenty that I reckon I’ll hev ter walk with a stick by then.

109   † b.  with refl. pron.

110 c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 16. I wil now me walke from sege to sege, And pray to help me now euery saynt.

111 1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., xxvii. (1845), 119. As I went walkyng my selfe to and fro, Full sodaynly Venus wrought me such wo.

112   † c.  conjugated with to be. Also pa. pple. in intr. sense.

113 1770.  C. Jenner, Placid Man, VI. v. II. 202. Mrs. Stapleton inquired after Lady Clayton; Miss Clayton said she was walked out.

114 1818.  Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxii. I shall never forget how frightened I was when I took him for the picture of old Sir Malise walked out of the canvass.

115   d.  with cognate obj.; also, with advb. accusative of distance. Phrase, to walk a turn, to walk once up and once down.

116 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. xxviii. 261. With lucas and with cleophas he welke a day Iurnee.

117 1548.  [see f].

118 1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 162. A turne or two Ile walke To still my beating minde.

119 1653.  Holcroft, Procopius, Pers. Wars, I. 6. They prayed the King to walk some turns with Arsaces in their presence, to be witnesses of what passed.

120 1753.  Jane Collier, Art Torment., II. iv. 177. Strange disorders in her head, for which she is advised to walk long walks.

121 1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxiv. They walked a turn through the hall.

122 1833.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Mr. Minns. I’ve walked all the way from Stamford-hill this morning. Ibid. (1836), Criminal Courts. They walked a few paces, and paused.

123 1895.  J. Winsor, Mississ. Basin, 239. A scandalous act of Thomas Penn some years back (1737), had asserted inordinate claims by virtue of what was known as the ‘Walking Purchase.’ The extent of the concession was dependent on the distance a man could walk in a day and a half by an honest tramp.

124   Proverb.  1605.  Erondelle, Fr. Gard., M 6 b. After Dinner sit a while: After Supper walke a mile.

125   e.  In express or implied contrast with ride. Also colloq. to walk it.

126 1668.  Pepys, Diary, 16 Sept. Walking it to the Temple; and in my way observe that the Stockes are now pulled quite down.

127 1712.  Steele, Spectator, No. 454, ¶ 6. When I resolved to walk it out of Cheapness.

128 1766.  Goldsm., Vicar W., x. I therefore walked back by the horse-way.

129 1805.  T. Holcroft, Bryan Perdue, III. 185. I was obliged to walk the journey.

130 1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., vi. We alighted and walked all the hills.

131 1883.  C. Howard, Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3), 84. A dangerous descent, best walked down into Banwell. Ibid., 139. A long stiff ascent … which most tourists will walk up.

132 1915.  W. J. Childs, in Blackw. Mag., April, 466/2. He had ridden and I had walked before him.

133   f.  More explicitly, To walk on foot, also (now rarely) afoot. † Also transf. of a stream: To flow slowly (obs.).

134 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VI. 1 (MS. H.). Now riden þis folk & walken on fote to seche þat seint in selcoupe londis.

135 c. 1375.  Cursor M., 18548 (Fairf.). Þa iewes sagh þis ilk man … a-pon þe see wiþ-outen wete dry to walke a-pon his fete [Cott. and Gött. Gangand als apon a strete].

136 1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John, xii. 12–6. Where as before he was wunte to walke his iourneyes on foote.

137 1565.  Stapleton, trans. Bede’s Hist. Ch. Eng., 114. The said … bishop Chadde was wonte alwaies to … doo the worke of the ghospell more walking a fote wher he went, than on horsebacke.

138 1621.  H. King, Serm., 37. But Kings haue walkt afoote whilest the Pope hath rode.

139 1747.  W. Horsley, Fool (1748), II. 252. When it [the blood] walks a Foot, in an even, regular Peace, every Faculty coincides.

140 1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, IX. vi. How comes it … that such a great Gentleman walks about the Country afoot?

141 a. 1774.  Goldsm., Hist. Greece, II. 221. The King walked on foot among the infantry.

142 1810.  S. Green, Reformist, II. 37. When he quitted Ellingford, he resolved always to walk on foot.

143 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 561. The prisoner … walked on foot, barehended, up the whole length of that stately street which … leads from Holyrood House to the Castle.

144   g.  With advs. in, up, † forth, and const. into, the use of this vb. instead of the indefinite come or go sometimes implies an additional notion of absence of pausing or hesitation. So, ‘in the ceremonious language of invitation’ (J.). Walk in = ‘come in’ (now chiefly in rustic use). Similarly in the showman’s ‘Walk up! walk up!’ when the show is on a raised platform.

145   In general, the tendency to substitute ‘come’ or ‘go’ for this verb has become much more prevalent since the 16–17th c.

146 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 19737. Paulus þan welk forth her and þar, And spelled fast wit-vten spar.

147 1450.  Paston Lett., I. 111. Than we welk forthe, and desyryd an answer of hem.

148 1598.  Shaks., Merry W., I. i. 291. I pray you Sir walke in.

149 1614.  J. Cooke, Greene’s Tu Quoque, B 2. Pre thee, walke in, what you bargaine for, Ile discharge.

150 1696.  Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV. v. If your Lordship please to walk in, we’ll help you to some Brown Sugar-Candy.

151 1797.  Jane Austen, Sense & Sensib., xxx. Mrs. Jennings … opened the door and walked in with a look of real concern.

152 1804.  J. Tobin, Honey Moon, I. i. (1805), 12. Of as tried a courage As ever walk’d up to the roaring throats Of a deep-rang’d artillery.

153 1834.  Mary Howitt, Spider & Fly, 1. ‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the Spider to the Fly.

154 1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tuggs’s at Ramsgate. ‘Won’t you walk in, sir?’ said the servant. Ibid. (1838), Nickleby, iii. The voice replied that the gentleman was to walk up. Ibid. (1840), Old C. Shop, xlviii. Close here, sir, if you please to walk this way.

155 1847.  Helps, Friends in C., I. viii. 149. Men walk up composedly to the most perilous enterprises.

156 1867.  H. Latham, Black & White, Pref. p. vi. Every American’s house cannot be walked into, like the President’s; but [etc.].

157 1907.  J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, ix. 101. Rather foolishly, I at once scrambled down from the tree and walked up towards him [the lion].

158 1909.  in I. G. Sieveking, Francis W. Newman, vi. 126. The door opened and the Professor walked in.

159   h.  To move about or go from place to place on foot for the sake of exercise, pleasure or pastime; to take a walk or walks. † Also with abroad.

160 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4778. Jacob yode walcand be þe nile.

161 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. IX. 54. And as I wente bi a wode walkyng myn one, Blisse of þe Briddes made me to Abyde.

162 c. 1381.  Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 297. Forth welk I tho mi seluyn to solace.

163 c. 1400.  Parce Mihi, 1, in 26 Pol. Poems, 143. By a forest syde, walkyng as I went, Disporte to take.

164 1569.  Spenser, Vis. Petrarch, 73. On hearbs and flowres she walked pensiuely.

165 1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 42. Saue sawe dust, and brick dust, and ashes as fine, for alley to walke in, with neighbour of thine.

166 1617.  S. H., Engl. Mans Doctor, II. (1624), 41. When you arise in the morning … remember to powre foorth your prayers vnto God … Then walke ye gently.

167 a. 1626.  Bacon, Med. Rem., Baconiana (1679), 161. Stir up the Pouder when you drink, and walk upon it.

168 1640.  trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., II. 120. Carinda said he, being gone out to walk in the garden.

169 1653.  W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 192. And as touching walking abroad, some of the Ancients have been large.

170 1685.  Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Club), I. 153. [At Spa] There is a pleasant garden of the Capuciners, where drinkers of the waters generallie walk.

171 1718.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Mar, 10 March. She asked me to walk in her garden.

172 1745.  Eliza Haywood, Female Spect., XII. (1748), II. 309. That monarch being walking in the Mall one day, was infinitely charmed with the beauty of a young lady who happened to be there.

173 1830.  Portugal; or Yng. Travellers, 239. As he spoke, Mr. Grey rose from table and invited them to walk.

174 1867.  Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxi. ‘Stay, Salome! Where are you going?’ ‘To walk.’

175   † i.  transf. To take air and exercise (on horseback). Obs.

176 1541.  Wyatt, Def., in H. Walpole, Misc. Antiq., II. (1772), 49. There be maynie men in the towne and most of them gentlemen, wch walke upon there horses, and here and there tawlke with those ladies.

177   j.  To walk (out) with, to walk together: in rustic use said of a young man and young woman ‘keeping company’ with a view to marriage.

178 1876.  Miss Yonge, Womankind, xxiii. 195. There is a semi-engaged state of ‘walking’ with a man on trial.

179 1886.  Hardy, Mayor Casterbr., xx. She … no longer said of young men and women that they ‘walked together’ but that they were ‘engaged.’

180 1896.  Housman, Shropsh. Lad, xxv. Rose Harland on her Sundays out Walked with the better man. Ibid. When Rose and I walk out together.

181 1902.  W. W. Jacobs, Lady of Barge, 5. There’s a certain young woman I’m walking out with I——.

182 1905.  Jerome, Idle Ideas, xx. ‘You are not engaged, I ’ope?’ ‘Walking out, ma’am, do you mean?’ says Emma.

183 1906.  Times, 26 Nov., 3/6. Her sister knew him in the way of business, but had never walked out with him.

184   † k.  Followed by a (= on) and vbl. sb.: = GO v. 32 e. Obs.

185 1533.  More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., Wks. 1076/2. Like as if a ryght great man woulde wantonly walke a mumming, and disguise hymself.

186   l.  In various phrases. † To walk at rovers: to have no settled abode (cf. ROVER1 2). To walk Spanish: see SPANISH C. To walk upon air: to be in an exultant state of mind. † To walk will of one’s way (Sc.): to go astray, lose oneself.

187 c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 73. Or ony vther gude fallow that I heir fand Walkand will of his way. Ibid., 106. In wickit wedderis and weit walkand full will.

188 1528.  More, Dial. Heresyes, III. Wks. 228/1. The order is rebuked by priestes begging and lewde liuing, which either is fayne to walke at rouers and liue upon trentalles or worse or els [etc.].

189 1887.  Stevenson, Mem. & Portr., iv. 72. I went home that morning walking upon air.

190   m.  Racing. Or a jockey: To weigh (so much) when going on foot.

191 1856.  ‘Druid,’ Post & Paddock, v. 83. He was about 5 ft. 5 in. in height, walked about 9 st. 5 lbs. in the winter months, and could ride, if required for a great race, 7 st. 12 lbs. to the last.

192   n.  quasi-trans. with complementary adj., adv. or phrase. To walk off, to get rid of the effects of liquor, an ailment) by walking exercise. Also in nonce-uses: To walk down, to counteract (poison) by walking; to exhaust (a companion) by walking; to walk out a sermon, to continue walking till it has ended.

193 1669.  Pepys, Diary, 2 May. Thence with them to White Hall, and there walked out the sermon with one or other.

194 1823.  Scott, Quentin D., iii. I have walked my clothes dry, or nearly so.

195 1860.  Sala, Baddington Peerage, I. vii. 131. Perhaps he wished to walk off the fumes of the punch and tobacco.

196 1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, xix. He would have liked … to have … walked himself dead with fatigue.

197 1884.  Harper’s Mag., Jan., 302/2. A walker who gives promise of great things if he doesn’t walk his short legs off within the next two or three years.

198 1884.  Tennyson, Cup, II. 260. I pray you lift me And make me walk awhile. I have heard these poisons May be walk’d down.

199 1894.  Frances P. Cobbe, Life, I. 341. I do believe I could walk down anybody and perhaps talk down anybody too!

200   o.  Naut. To turn (the capstan) by walking round it; to haul by walking round the capstan or by walking away with a rope.

201 1836.  Marryat, Pirate, viii. The men … walked the anchor up to the bows.

202 1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 118. Walk the yard up to the derrick head with the hawser. Ibid., 203. Walk the anchor up the bow. Ibid., 172. Walk back the capstan.

203   6.  fig. a. Chiefly in religious use, after Bible examples: To conduct oneself, behave (ill or well, wisely or unwisely). Sometimes with reference to a metaphorical ‘path’ or ‘way.’ To walk with God (Gen. v. 22), interpreted to mean ‘to lead a godly life’ (so rendered by Coverdale, after Luther; later versions retain the Heb. phrase), or to have intimate communion with God.

204   Cf. Heb. hālak, Gr. περιπατεῖν, Vulg. ambulare.

205 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 213. O man (sayth scripture) walke in ye wayes of thy herte as moche as thou wylte, but [etc.].

206 1526.  Tindale, 2 Thess. iii. 6. We requyre you … that ye withdrawe youre selves from every brother that walketh inordinatly [Vulg. ambulante inordinate].

207 1550.  Crowley, Last Trump., 516. And then, lyke a good Christian, Thou doste walke forth in thy callynge.

208 1581.  J. Hamilton, Cath. Traict., Epist. 8 b. To … trauell to reduce yame to ye treu vay quhairin all yair forbearis valkit yir mony hundreth zeris bygane.

209 a. 1593.  Marlowe, Ovid’s Elegies, III. xiii. [xiv.] 13. Be more aduisde, walke as a puritan, And I shall thinke you chaste, do what you can.

210 a. 1629.  Hinde, J. Bruen, xliv. (1641), 140. It was the desire and delight of his soule to walke with God.

211 1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., Penalties & Forfeit., c. 2. If all … had but the knowledge of what they should know, they might prevent this loss and damage, and walk safely.

212 1681.  Flavel, Meth. Grace, xxx. 323. When a man walks suitably to his place and calling in the world, we say he acts like himself.

213 1853.  Maurice, Proph. & Kings, vi. 93. If he walked in God’s ways he would establish a sure house.

214 1872.  Morley, Voltaire (1886), 11. Those do best who walk most warily.

215   b.  To direct one’s conduct by, after a rule, etc.

216 1581.  Lambarde, Eiren., II. ii. (1588), 113. Many other wayes there bee, after which the Iustice of Peace may walke in taking of this kind of Recognusance.

217 1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 39. He is the great Exempler they walk by.

218 1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 25, ¶ 4. Give me more certain Rules to walk by than those I have already observed.

219 1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xxv. I give thee way, good imp, and will walk by thy counsel.

220 1884.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 46. We judge a stranger by our home-bred ways, Who, may be, walks by other rule of right.

221   † c.  To be associated, act harmoniously with. Also to walk together. Obs.

222 1620.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Jack a Lent, Ep. A 3 b. And though it be written in a mery stile, yet I dare presume that mirth and truth walke together in it.

223 1650.  H. Ellis, Pseudo-christus, 7. After this, he walked sometime in fellowship with that Congregation.

224 1657.  Docum. S. Paul’s (Camden), 155. The congregation yt wallke wth Mr John Symson.

225 a. 1709.  J. Lister, Autobiog. (1842), 50. My wife and myself, were admitted into the church at Kipping, with which we walked satisfyingly many years. Ibid., 51. Some of his hearers left him [the pastor], and others walked with him till new matters of dissatisfaction broke out. Ibid. After he was gone, the church at Kipping was again united, and walked sweetly together, but could not get a pastor.

226   † d.  To walk wide in words: to argue at cross purposes. Obs.

227 1529.  More, Dyaloge, I. xviii. 23. Wythout whych we were lyke to walke wyde in wordys.

228   † e.  To proceed, ‘go’ upon (grounds). Obs.

229 1828.  Life Planter Jamaica, 252. What grounds of probability have we to walk upon that the present negroes … would act otherwise.

230   7.  To go on foot at a walk: see WALK sb.1 5.

231   a.  Of human beings or other bipeds: To progress by alternate movements of the legs, so that one of the feet is always on the ground: contrasted with run, hop, etc. To walk through (a dance) = 7 e; similarly of an actor, to walk through his part (cf. quot. 1824).

232 1762.  Foote, Orator, I. Wks. 1799, I. 193. Soft and fair; we must walk before we can run.

233 1815.  Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., IX. I. 65. The progressive motion of this bird is not by walking but hopping.

234 1824.  Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xix. That caprice which so often tempts painters and musicians and great actors, in the phrase of the latter, to walk through their part, instead of exerting themselves with the energy which acquired their fame.

235 1859.  Habits of Gd. Society, v. 206. ‘Steps,’ as the chasser of the quadrille is called, belong to a past age, and even ladies are now content to walk through a quadrille.

236 1861.  Whyte-Melville, Mkt. Harb., v. It must have been a fine run; but slow…. It’s labour and sorrow, walking after hounds, to my mind.

237 1868.  J. Burroughs, Wake-robin, viii. (1884), 295. Among the land-birds, the grouse, pigeon, quails, larks, and various blackbirds, walk.

238 1894.  Daily News, 10 Aug., 5/3. A bluejacket never walks, when an order is given, but does everything at the double.

239   b.  Of a horse, dog or other quadruped: To advance by a gait in which there are always two feet on the ground, and during a part of the step three or (in slow walking) four feet: opposed to amble, trot, gallop, etc. Also said of a rider.

240 1681.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1639/4. Lost…, a bright Bay Gelding, 14 hands high,… Walks, Trots, and Gallops, something dull in going, but will leap very well.

241 1818.  Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxiii. Ravenswood walked on with equal deliberation until he reached the head of the avenue…. When he had passed the upper gate, he turned his horse.

242 1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, vii. 252. It was only the dogs walking among the dead leaves.

243   c.  To walk over (the course): of a horse, literally, to go over the course at a walking pace, so as to be accounted the winner of a race in which there is no opposition; transf. and fig. to win a race or other contest with little or no effort. To walk away from, to outdistance easily in a race (in quot. fig.). Also (U.S. colloq.) to walk round (an opponent): to beat easily.

244 1779.  Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 245. A little on this side the park is Sir John Thorold’s, who, you see by the papers, is walking over the course for the county.

245 1823.  ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, s.v., ‘To walk over’ another, is … to set him at naught, as a racer which is so vastly superior to other cattle that none dare start, and he walks over the course.

246 1832.  P. Egan’s Bk. Sports, 117/2. At Knutsford … he won the Gold Cup…; and walked over for the Pengwern Stakes at Holywell.

247 1862.  Cornh. Mag., V. 26. I was promptly assured that … I should be elected without opposition…; in short I should walk over the course.

248 1883.  Miss Broughton, Belinda, IV. iii. ‘Beaten by a banjo!’ says she tragically; ‘if it had not been for the banjo I should have walked away from her.’

249 1890.  Rules of Racing, § 142, in Encycl. Sport (1898), II. 227. When one horse pays forfeit for a match the other need not walk over.

250 1901.  Westm. Gaz., 29 June, 9/3. To use a colloquial expression, they ‘walked round’ Gamble and Davies.

251   ¶ d.  transf. Of a vehicle, a ship, a stream: To go very slowly. nonce-uses.

252 1827.  Pollok, Course T., I. 346. Round his sacred hill, a streamlet walked, Warbling the holy melodies of heaven.

253 1852.  Mundy, Antipodes (1857), 200. Our steamer ran, or rather walked—for she could make no running—plump upon a rock off Bradley’s Head.

254 1865.  Emerson, Lett., in Harper’s Mag. (1884), Feb., 464/1. The train walked all the way.

255   e.  trans. To go through (a dance, esp. a minuet) at a walk.

256 1810.  [see MINUET 1].

257 1827.  Lytton, Pelham, xl. They just walk a quadrille or spin a waltz,… hang dancing, ’tis so vulgar.

258 1859.  Habits of Gd. Society, v. 207. I do not attempt to deny that the quadrille, as now walked, is ridiculous.

259 1863.  Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., xiv. 362. He walked his minuet in life, and he danced out of it with a caper.

260   8.  To go away. a. simply or † with away, forth. Formerly often in imperative = ‘begone,’ with a vocative of some term of opprobrium (sometimes retained in indirect narration). Now only colloq., to go away perforce, be turned out; also slang, to die.

261 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., ii. 106. Leif brother, let vs be walkand.

262 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 140 b. Yf than the porter wold come forth sodeynly & all to beet vs, & bydde vs walke forth vnthryftes with sorowe.

263 a. 1529.  Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, iv. 60. Sche praiid yow walke, on Goddes halfe!

264 1529.  More, Dyaloge, I. xiv. 18 b. He bad hym walk faytoure. And made hym be sett openly in ye stokkys.

265 1530.  Palsgr., 770/2. Walke, pyke you hence: tire auant.

266 1530.  Tindale, Pract. Prelates, G v b. The Cardinall bad him walcke a vilayne.

267 1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., II. iv. (1867), 52. Walke drab walke. Nay (quoth she) walke knaue walke.

268 1605.  Chapman, All Fooles, I. B 4 b. I like his learning well, make him your heire, And let your other walke.

269 1607.  Middleton, Mich. Term, II. iii. 169. It stands upon the loss of my credit to-night, if I walk without money.

270 1712.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 26 Dec. Lord Bolingbroke told me I must walk away to-day after dinner, because lord treasurer and he and another were to enter upon business.

271 1858.  Trollope, Dr. Thorne, iv. If the governor were to walk, I think Porlock would content himself with the thirty thousand a-year.

272 1902.  S. E. White, Blazed Trail, xxviii. If I want to discharge a man, he walks without any question.

273   † b.  transf. Of animals: To be stolen. Of a thing: To be got rid of; to be carried off. To let (something) walk: to dismiss from attention. Obs.

274 c. 1440.  Capgrave, Life St. Kath., 672. Lete argumentys walk, þei ar not to our be-houe.

275 1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 141. There horse being tide on a balke, is readie with theefe for to walke.

276 1596.  Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 619/2. When he comes foorth, he will make theyr cowes and garrans to walke, yf he doe noe other mischeif to theyr persons.

277 1611.  Chapman, May-Day, I. ii. Nay, they [sc. houses] shall walke, thats certaine, Ile turne ’em into money.

278   c.  With off: To depart suddenly or abruptly. To walk off with: to carry away as a prize or plunder.

279 1604.  Marston, Malcontent, III. v. E 4 b. I am heauie, walke of, I shall talke in my sleepe, walke of. Exeunt Pages.

280 1705.  Vanbrugh, Mistake, IV. i. Jacin. Have a care he don’t rally, and beat you yet tho’; pray walk off.

281 1836.  Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 107. A green sub. … had walked off with my portmanteau.

282 1840.  Thackeray, Barber Cox, April. I gave Master Baron that day a precious good beating, and walked off with no less than fifteen shillings of his money.

283 1848.  Dickens, Dombey, ii. Mr. Chick … said no more, and walked off.

284 c. 1850.  Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 147. Why dost thou not depart with the rest? Walk off.

285 1888.  ‘J. S. Winter,’ Bootle’s Childr., ix. And then she gave another sniff and walked off to the drawing-room again.

286 1889.  Conan Doyle, Sign of Four, ix. Wait a bit, my friend,… You have important information, and you must not walk off. We shall keep you, whether you like or not, until our friend returns.

287   9.  Of a ghost, spectre, fiend: To be seen walking, to appear. Of a dead person: To ‘come back’ as a ghost. Also † to walk out.

288   For the ghost walks (Theat. Slang), see GHOST sb. 8 b.

289 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22611. Quen sal scine [= chine] þe heuennes open, þaa warlaus all sal walk þan vte.

290 c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., 408 (Add. MS.). All the chambres were take vp, safe oon, in the which was a sperite walkyng.

291 a. 1513.  Fabyan’s Chron., clxxix. (1533), 105. He also for that the munkes of wynchester says that his father Alurede walkyd, caused hym to be remoued vnto the new abbay.

292 1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 111 b. Sore subiecte to the terrours of buggues, and spyrytes, or goblyns, that walken by night and in places solitarie.

293 1573.  L. Lloyd, Pilgr. Princes, 101. We reade in Lucan how that the soules of Silla and Marius … were alwayes walking and appearing vnto men before they were purged by sacrifice.

294 1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. v. 10. I am thy Father’s Spirit Doom’d for a certaine terme to walke the night.

295 1611.  Tourneur, Ath. Trag., IV. iii. There’s a talke, thou know’st, that the Ghoast of olde Montfarers walks.

296 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Hum. Lieut., III. v. I make your Grace my Executor, and I beseech ye See my poor Will fulfill’d: sure I shall walk else.

297 1727.  De Foe, Hist. Appar., x. 201. Such a courage … would … lay all the devils that ever walked.

298 1801.  Scott, Glenfinlas, xlvi. Alone, I dare not venture there, Where walks, they say, the shrieking ghost.

299 1882.  A. Jessopp, in 19th Cent., Nov., 737. Everybody knows that it’s an awful thing for a dead man to walk.

300 1888.  Stevenson, Black Arrow, Prol. 12. Would ye rob the man before his body? Nay, he would walk!

301   10.  ‘To act in sleep’ (J.); to walk about or perform other actions as a somnambulist. Rare exc. in the full phrase to walk in one’s sleep.

302 1605.  Shaks., Macb., V. i. 3. When was it shee [Lady Macbeth] last walk’d? Ibid., 66. Yet I haue knowne those which haue walkt in their sleep, who haue dyed holily in their beds.

303 1607.  Dekker & Webster, Northw. Hoe, III. E 1 b. My mistris makes her husband belieue that shee walkes in her sleepe.

304 1728.  Chambers’ Cycl., Somnambuli, an Appellation given to People, who walk in their Sleep.

305 1848.  Dickens, Dombey, xxxix. Some uneasy ideas that he must be walking in his sleep, or that he had been troubled with phantoms,… beset the Captain at first.

306   11.  To go on foot in procession; also, to go in a regular circuit or to and fro over a prescribed track in the course of official duty. Also with cognate accus., as in to walk one’s round(s, the round, a round, said esp. of a sentinel.

307 1594–1600.  Min. Archdeaconry Colchester (MS.), 99 b, 19 April 1596. Our perambulacion was not walked through the defalte of our vicar.

308 1596.  Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 679/1. The sheriff of the shire, whose peculiar office it is to walke continuallye up and downe his baly-wick,… to snatch up all those runnagates [etc.]. Ibid. The sherriff may doe therin what he can, and yet the marshall may walke his course besides.

309 1639.  Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 102. Octavian coms accompanyed with his friend Leobell to walke his accustomed round.

310 a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 12 Sept. 1641. I was permitted to walk the round and view the workes.

311 1831.  Scott, Ct. Robt., xviii. If the lovers have agreed, Agelastes, it is probable, walks his round, to prevent intrusion.

312 1863.  Geo. Eliot, Romola, xxii. He … was to walk in procession as Latin secretary.

313   transf. and fig.  1629.  Massinger, Picture, II. i. Dreames and phantasticke visions walke the round About my widdowed bed.

314 1834.  H. Miller, Scenes & Leg., xxiv. (1857), 351. He continued to walk the round of his duties.

315   † b.  Oxford University. (a) Of a proctor or proproctor: To perambulate the streets at night, in the exercise of his function. (b) of the proctors: To march to and fro in the Convocation House, as part of the ceremony of conferring degrees.

316 1530.  in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 77. It was proved that the ij Proctors servaunts walkyd wt other persons as plesyd them, and theyr maisters walkyd not nor noe other for them.

317 1677.  Wood, Life (O.H.S.), II. 384. I [a Proproctor] walk by the authoritie of the vice-chancellour. Ibid., 391. Dr. Nicholas … verie active in walking and hauling taverns.

318 1906.  J. Wells, Oxf. Degree Cerem., 8. Within living memory it was necessary for each ‘grace’ to be taken separately, and the Proctors ‘walked’ for each candidate. Ibid., 9. It is currently believed that the Proctors walk in order to give any Oxford tradesman the opportunity of ‘plucking’ their gown and protesting against the degree of a defaulting candidate.

319   12.  Walk into —. (Colloquial or slang.) a. In phrase to walk into (a person’s) affections, to win the love of (a person) at once and without effort. Sometimes used jocularly for b or c.

320 1858.  in K. Young, Delhi 1857, App. 328. Major Erskine was fearful that the jolly 50th would have walked into the affections of the Madrassees, and then all would have gone a regular smash.

321   b.  To make a vigorous attack upon.

322 1794.  Ld. Hood, 14 July, in Nicolas, Disp. & Lett. Nelson (1845), I. 438, note. From your rapid firing last night I flattered myself it was intended to walk into the Mozelle as this night.

323 1852.  C. B. Mansfield, Paraguay, etc. (1856), 20. Some small spermaceti whales, which came in for a lark (luckily for them, after the American and French vessels had left, who would assuredly have walked into them).

324 1853.  ‘C. Bede,’ Verdant Green, I. xi. His claret had been repeatedly tapped, his bread-basket walked into, his day-lights darkened.

325   transf.  1840.  Cockton, Val. Vox, xiii. The carver walked into the pie and bounteously helped each man, woman, and child, to a share.

326 1846.  De Quincey, Syst. Heavens (1862), III. 185. A call was heard for Lord Rosse! and immediately his telescope walked into Orion; destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, created immeasurable worlds.

327   c.  To assail with invective or reproof.

328 1859.  Lang, Wand. India, 399. His Excellency ‘walked into’ the President, and recommended him to study some catechism of the Law of Courts Martial.

329 1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., ix. He walks into us all as if it were our faults.

330   d.  To eat or drink heartily of, to ‘make a hole in.’

331 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxii. I wish you could ha’ seen the shepherd walkin’ into the ham and muffins.

332 1849.  Alb. Smith, Pottleton Legacy, xxvi. 280. Look at that little fellow—how he is walking into the raised pie, and how ill he will be to-morrow!

333 1850.  Smedley, F. Fairlegh, xiv. I must walk into old Coleman’s champagne before I make a fresh start.

334 1871.  M. Collins, Marq. & Merch., III. iii. 78. He … with most voracious swallow Walks into my mutton chops.

335   e.  To make large inroads on (one’s stock of money).

336 1859.  H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xv. ‘And you’ve got her money?’ ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘but I’ve been walking into it.’

337   III.  trans. To perambulate, traverse: = walk over, upon, etc.

338   † 13.  To travel over (a country, etc.). Cf. 2. Obs.

339 a. 1400–50.  Wars Alex., 519. Sire, þer sall borne be a barne of þi blithe lady, þat driȝtyn eiter þi day has destaned to regne, þe quilke sall walke all þe werd & wyn it him selfe.

340   14.  Of fame, etc.: To pervade (a country). Cf. 3 b. Obs. exc. as transferred use of 17.

341 c. 1350.  St. John, 43, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 35. Þe word of him welk al þe land.

342 1806.  Wordsw., Char. Happy Warrior, 77. Whether praise of him must walk the earth For ever, and to noble deeds give birth, Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame.

343   15.  To go over or traverse on foot.

344 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3155. He welk þat fell ner dais thre To sek þe sted quar he wald be.

345 1576.  Gascoigne, Kenelworth Castle, Wks. 1910, II. 108. Beware (I say) least whiles we walke these woods,… Some harmfull hart entrap your harmlesse moodes.

346 1749.  Johnson, Van. Hum. Wishes, 38/6. The needy Traveller … Walks the wild Heath.

347 1763.  P. Collinson, in Darlington, Memorials (1849), 257. They [Indians] were notoriously … cheated out of their land in your province [Penn.], by a man’s walking a tract of ground in one day, that was to be purchased of them.

348 1871.  Simpson, Recit., 9. Hundreds of diggers daily then were walking Melbourne town with their pockets filled with gold.

349 1868.  Browning, Ring & Bk., X. 360. When man walks the garden of this world For his own solace.

350   b.  in contrast with ride.

351 1864.  Good Words, 516/2. Devonshire, to be properly seen, should be walked.

352   c.  Of a stallion: To travel over (a tract of country) serving mares.

353 1898.  Daily News, 9 March, 4/4. The judging yesterday began with stallions that are to walk the Eastern and Midland counties.

354   16.  To walk on or along (a road). To walk the street(s: see STREET sb. 2 f.

355 1530.  Palsgr., 770/2. In dede you walke the stretes.

356 1577.  Grange, Golden Aphrod., etc., P j. They onely walke the streates, to see and to be seene.

357 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 10. All … take delight With many rather for to go astray … Than with a few to walke the narrow way.

358   b.  in contrast with ride.

359 1883.  C. Howard, Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3), 3. The very steep ascent of Chatham Hill, which most riders will walk. Ibid., 134. A very bad hill leading down into Rickmansworth, which is best walked.

360   17.  To walk about upon (a surface, the ground, the sea, etc.). So Naut., of an officer, to walk the deck, the quarter-deck.

361   To walk the plank: see PLANK sb. 6.

362 1634.  Milton, Lycidas, 173. Through the dear might of him, that walk’d the waves. Ibid. (1667), P. L., V. 200. Yee that in Waters glide, and yee that walk The Earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep. Ibid., VII. 503. Aire, Water, Earth, By Fowl, Fish, Beast, was flown, was swum, was walkt.

363 1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 7. It must be a great Change of Weather indeed, when he deigns to walk the Quarter-Deck.

364 1814.  Scott, Lord of Isles, IV. xvi. Edward, who walk’d the deck apart.

365 1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, vi. He was … walking the deck.

366 1849.  Aytoun, Poems, Heart of Bruce, v. The good Lord Douglas walk’d the deck.

367 1872.  M. Collins, Two Plunges for Pearl, III. 71. He walked the moorland as if it were his native earth.

368 1885.  R. L. & F. Stevenson, Dynamiter, xiii. 197. He continued to walk the pavements.

369   transf.  1813.  Byron, Corsair, I. iii. She [the ship] walks the waters like a thing of life.

370 a. 1861.  T. Winthrop, Life in Open Air (1863), 3. At five P.M. we found ourselves … on board the Isaac Newton, a great, ugly, three-tiered box that walks the North River.

371   18.  To walk along (a line); to perambulate (a boundary). Cf. 11.

372   To walk the chalk (slang): to walk along a chalked line (as a proof of being sober). To walk one’s chalks (slang): see CHALK sb. 6 b.

373 1602–5.  Min. Archdeaconry Colchester (MS.), 104, 1604. They did not walke the bounds of ther parishe.

374 1823.  ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, s.v., ‘To walk the chalk’—a military manœuvre to discover which is drunkest.

375 1835.  York Gaz., 4 Aug., 1/4. Walk a crack, or you must walk your chalk before the Mayor.

376 1842.  Punch, II. 20. Ere death her charms should fix, Gladly I’d walk my chalks or cut my sticks.

377 1876.  Farrar, Marlb. Serm., xxiii. 226. You cannot walk the dim borderland between vice and virtue without knowing it.

378   † 19.  To attend, frequent (the exchange, a market). Obs.

379 1634.  Peacham, Compl. Gentl., i. (1906), 15. In Venice likewise, every Mechanique is a Magnifico, though his magnificence walketh the Market but with a Chequin.

380 1649.  W. Bullock, Virginia, 43. Let him then enquire of the principallest straights and Spanish Merchants, walking the Exchange.

381 1750.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 182, ¶ 6. To walk the exchange with a face of importance.

382   b.  To walk the hospitals or a hospital: to receive regular clinical instruction and assist in surgical work.

383 1781.  G. White, Lett. to S. Barker, 26 Nov. I have not yet heard—whether he will walk the hospitals in town.

384 1807.  Picture of Lond. (ed. 8), 235. The combined method of walking the hospitals and attending lectures. Ibid. (1823), (ed. 22), 211. A number of young men, who walk the hospital, as it is termed.

385 1887.  Ruskin, Præterita, II. 333. He became … a … medical student, came up to London to walk the hospitals.

386   20.  Shooting. To start (game-birds) by beating walk up the ground with pointers or setters. Usually to walk up.

387 1873.  G. S. Baden-Powell, New Homes, 255. A good dog for putting them [sc. quail] up would be very valuable, but [etc.]…. Walking up quail, even with the help of a chain, is equally unsatisfactory.

388 1900.  G. C. Brodrick, Mem. & Impressions, 8. Year in and year out they lived at home,… walking up their own game with the aid of pointers.

389 1913.  Times, 12 Sept., 12/6. Now voices are raised in favour of a return … to the use of pointers and setters, in conjunction with the system of walking-up the birds. Ibid. Walked or driven, moreover, the partridge gives more enjoyment to many keen shots than all the pheasants in a beat.

390   IV.  Causative uses.

391   21.  To lead, drive or ride (a horse) at a walk; to exercise (a horse, a dog) by causing it to walk. Also with out.

392 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, V. ix. 176. A man armed walkynge his hors easyly by a wodes syde.

393 1562.  Child-Marriages (1897), 82. This deponent scarslie rested walkinge the horses at the doore, half or quarter of an howre, when one callid hym in to his Mistris.

394 1601.  W. Percy, Cuckqueanes & Cuckolds Errants, IV. ii. (Roxb.), 48. Sirrha Rooke, take my Nagge, and see you walk him faire and soft to Colchester.

395 1615.  G. Markham, Country Contentm., I. vii. 103. Touching ayring or walking of grey-hounds … it must dewlie be done euerie morning before sunne-rise, [etc.].

396 1681.  T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 32 (1713), I. 206. Let’s walk them a little; for they have run Heats, and must be rubb’d down well.

397 1833.  T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., I. vii. As he walked his cob [he was riding] back from the fields.

398 1835.  H. Harewood, Dict. Sports, s.v. Training, Taking care that he [the horse] is walked for some time afterward, that he may become rather cool before he returns to the stable.

399 1866.  Kingsley, Herew., xvii. You may walk your bloodhound over his grave to-morrow without finding him.

400 1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, vi. We had walked the horses nearly to the end of the pleasant stretch of beechwood.

401 1903.  A. E. T. Watson, Hunting, in Encycl. Brit., XXIX. 365/2. The kennel huntsman is generally called the ‘feeder.’ It is his business to look after the pack which is not hunting, to walk them out, to prepare the food for the hunting pack.

402   transf.  1583.  Melbancke, Philotimus, S j. If you be chafed you shal be walked, if you be hot you may be cooled.

403   22.  To cause or induce (a person to walk); to conduct on a walk. Also with advs., off, out, etc. † Walk your body (Sc.) = take yourself off, begone (obs.).

404 1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Gt. Eater of Kent, Wks. I. 144. Now Gentlemen, as I haue walked you amongst the Trees, and thorow the Wood, I pray set downe, and take a taste or two more of this Banquet.

405 1667.  Pepys, Diary, 14 July. Then I carried them to see my cozen Pepys’s house…; and then I walked them to the wood hard by.

406 1717.  Berkeley, in Fraser, Life (1871), 547. He walked us round the town.

407 c. 1730.  Ramsay, To Æolus, 11. Pray wauk your body, if you please, Gae gowl and tooly on the seas.

408 1818.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 448. He walked me backwards and forwards before the President’s door for half an hour.

409 1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, lvii. She slaved, toiled … for old Sedley, walked him out sedulously into Kensington Gardens.

410 1883.  Miss Yonge, Armourer’s Prent., ii. Stephen and Ambrose found themselves walked out of the cloister of St. Grimbald, and the gates shut behind them.

411 1912.  J. S. Fletcher, in Throne, 7 Aug., 224/2. He soon drew me out of the office to walk me off in the direction of Gray’s Inn Road.

412   b.  To force to walk (by holding the arms or pushing before one). Also, to help to walk.

413   To walk (a person) Spanish: see SPANISH C.

414 1809.  R. K. Porter, Russ. & Swed. (1813), II. 21. The poor wretch, attended by the police, had been walked through the streets; in order to shew him to the populace.

415 1848.  Dickens, Dombey, xii. Mr. Feeder himself held a glass of water to his [the boy’s] lips, and the butler walked him up and down several times between his own chair and the sideboard. Ibid. (1853), Bleak Ho., xxii. Thirdly, Mr. Bucket has to take Jo by the arm a little above the elbow, and walk him on before him.

416 1918.  F. Hackett, Ireland, viii. 230. Good bewildered people who never knew they were deemed blameworthy until they were walked out to the guillotine.

417   23.  a. To take charge of (a puppy) ‘at walk’ (see WALK sb. 13). b. To keep (a game-cock) in a ‘walk.’

418   a.  1845.  Youatt, Dog, iii. 75. Whelps walked, or taken care of, at butchers’ houses … are apt to be heavy-shouldered and throaty.

419 1887.  Field, 19 Feb., 229/1. The practice of walking puppies is not quite so prevalent as it used to be.

420 1907.  Times, 3 Oct., 4/4. Defendant … said he had walked puppies for the Southwold Hunt for 25 years.

421   b.  1854.  Poultry Chron., I. 474. Formerly when cock-fighting was more practised, every farm-yard walked a game cock or two.

422 1889.  Archæol. Æliana, N.S. XIII. 314. ‘Walking a cock’ was the feeding and tending of a game cock.

423   24.  With a thing as obj.

424   † a.  To send round (drink). Cf. 3 d. Obs.

425 1581.  A. Hall, Iliad, I. 14. A seemely sight it was to see the seamen plye their teeth, Wherewith the Cups apace they walke.

426   b.  Cribbage. (See quots.)

427 1803.  Sporting Mag., XXI. 326. Walking the pegs—at cribbage, means either your adversary putting his own pegs forward, or those of your’s back.

428 1865.  Hotten’s Slang Dict., ‘Walking the pegs,’ a method of cheating at the game of cribbage by a species of legerdemain, the sharper either moving his own pegs forward, or those of his antagonist backward, according to the state of the game.

429   c.  Bell-ringing. (See quot.)

430 1671.  [Stedman], Tintinalogia, 53. All changes are to be Rang either by walking them (as the term is) or else Whole-pulls, or Half-pulls. By walking them, is meant, that the bells go round, four, six, eight times or more, in one change, which is commonly used by young Practisers.

431   V.  25. The verb-stem in combination: walk-around (a) Colonial, a kind of rotary mill turned by oxen; (b) U.S., among negroes, a dance in which the performers go round in a large circle; a song or piece of music to accompany such a dance; walk-away, a race in which the winner ‘walks away’ from his competitors, i.e., leaves them far behind; walk-on Theat., a part in which the performer merely comes on and goes off the stage with little or no speaking; walk-out, a strike of workmen; † walk-street, one who walks the streets. Also WALK-OVER.

432 1886.  Official Catal. Colonial & Ind. Exhib. (ed. 2), 462. Their sugar plots are confined to one or two small green pieces in Tortola, worked by a *‘walk-around’ or cattle-mill.

433 1888.  B. Matthews, Pen & Ink, 153. ‘Dixie’ was composed in 1859, by Mr. Dan D. Emmett, as a ‘walk-around’ for Bryant’s minstrels.

434 1883.  Daily News, 16 July, 3/6. The final heat was of course a *walk away for Thames, who won by three lengths.

435 1902.  Daily Chron., 1 Sept., 3/7. The actress, too, frequently is glad to accept 12s. a week for a *walk-on with half a dozen words.

436 1907.  H. Wyndham, Flare of Footlights, v. The part just now is a walk-on, with an understudy of one of the principals.

437 1919.  New Solidarity (Chicago) 18 Jan., 1/1. The date … contemplated as the day for a general strike, or *walk-out.

438 1611.  Cotgr., Bateur de pavez, an idle or continuall *walke-street … a lasciuious, or vnthrifty, night-walker.

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