walkingn.
/ˈwɔːkɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwɔkɪŋ/, /ˈwɑkɪŋ/ 1. The action or an act of walk v.
a. The action of moving or travelling at a regular and fairly slow pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn so that one of the feet is always on the ground; the action of taking exercise or recreation on foot; (also) a person's gait. Of a horse or other quadruped: the action of moving at a slow pace (as opposed to trotting, cantering, galloping, etc.). Also to go a-walking.Frequently the second element in compounds, as moonwalking, night walking, over-walking, power walking, spacewalking, streetwalking: see the first element.
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the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun]
gangeOE
walkinga1325
ambulation1554
footing1567
sashaying1935
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun]
walkinga1325
spacingc1485
ambulation1554
footing1567
hoofing1652
Shanks' (or Shanks's) mare, ponya1774
pedestrianizing1799
pedestrianism1808
ankle express1887
a1325 (?c1300) Northern Passion (Cambr. Gg.1.1) l. 872 (MED) Heroud..yiede him ageine with walking.
a1425 Rule St. Benet (Lansd.) (1902) 42 (MED) If I sulde make my herdis to labur to mikil in walkyng, þai sal alle die on one day.
c1450 (a1449) Diatorie 18 in Babees Bk. 54 Cleer eir and walking makiþ good digestioun.
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 40v Let him use moderate walkinge or stearing.
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 188/1 Hypæthra ambulatio,..a walking in an open gallerie.
1615 J. Day Festivals 257 Walking is a Motion of the Body going forward from Place to Place, as when the two Disciples walked to Emaus.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. iii. 126 There is no stirre, or walking in the streetes. View more context for this quotation
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd v. iii. Song xxi He's comely in his wauking.
1743 W. Stukeley Abury 57 The ancients conceiv'd it [sc. the motion of a serpent] to be like the walking of the gods.
1791 R. MacCulloch Lect. Prophecies Isaiah ix. 496 Walking is a continued motion, in which one step regularly follows another, until the ground intended is gone over.
1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. II. xxiii. 306 The mode of their walking depends upon the number and kind of their legs.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 195 As thou goest a walking.
1883 C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 115 The surface is very rough and scarcely rideable and much walking will be necessary.
1938 E. Goudge Towers in Mist (1998) x. 225 They walked, or rather trotted, for walking was too staid a word to describe the motion given to their bodies by the lightness of their hearts.
1954 Ballet Ann. 8 65 The ballerina is able to assume..a manner of walking which is æsthetically satisfying.
1990 P. Bromley Countryside Managem. 94 Leisure travel is now as important a facet of countryside recreation as is walking or picnicking.
2004 R. Dawkins Ancestor's Tale (2005) 269 Their mutually imitated style of walking, a mixture of swagger and lumbering roll.
b. A walk or journey on foot; the distance covered at or in a certain time.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > a walk or journey on foot
walkc1405
walking1542
footwalk1599
travel1724
tramp1787
foot tramp1808
foot tour1841
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 7 Yf thou stretch ye walkynges that thou vsest at home, & laye theim on length by the space of fiue or sixe dayes together, yu shalt easyly reach to Olympia.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 30 The circuit of the City is three houres walking.
1795 T. Wilkinson Wandering Patentee III. 136 Sometimes so weary with my walkings at noon, that at night..I have found it a very heavy task, and infinite labour to arrive at the far end of Gray's-Inn Lane.
1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 217 We were about four hours' hard walking on foot from the wagons.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 9/2 His walkings exceed nine times the globe's circumference.
1907 D. W. Rannie Wordsworth & his Circle vii. 158 Dorothy's Journal tells a good deal of John's share in the happy summer life, of the walkings and bathings and fishings that went on.
2000 C. Bollas Hysteria xi. 141 Her walkings were always in the circles of her home, tracing and retracing footsteps.
2. The action or an act of going in procession. Cf. walk v. 12a, walk n.1 7.In later use historical or regional.
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society > travel > [noun] > passage in a continuous stream > procession
processionOE
drightfarea1225
precessiona1400
processionc1400
walking1449
train1489
walk1563
processioning1593
band1611
solemnity1636
proceeding1660
cavalcade1670
parade1673
cortège1679
processionade1762
processional1820
crocodile1891
ram1912
processing1920
paseo1927
croc1948
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > parade or procession
processionOE
precessiona1400
walking1449
pomp1482
solemnity1636
parade1673
promenadea1734
processionade1762
processional1820
march past1832
fly-past1914
paseo1927
1449 in J. C. Tingey Rec. City of Norwich (1910) II. 287 Itis ordeyned..that all tho persones that shall be clad in the cloþing of craftis..shall at all tymes be charged to all walkings, ridyngs to worshipp of the avowe of þe crafte on þe principall day.
1574 E. Hake Touchestone for Time Present sig. C7v Then shee must haue scope, then shee must haue her apparel after the fashion, then..shee must haue walkinges, Feastinges, and watchinges, and al kinde of pleasure that maketh perfect the trade of a Strumpet.
1608 M. Fotherby Use of Crosse in Baptisme 42 in Foure Serm. The vse of the crosse in the primitiue Church, though some-times before washings, feastings, walkings, and other such like actions of common life, yet was alwaies vsed with a kinde of religion, as it were to sanctifie such common actions.
1706 tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. 16th Cent. II. iv. xviii. 268 They shall banish also out of their Churches all sorts of Musick:..all Walkings, Noises and Clamours.
1892 C. M. Yonge Old Woman's Outlook 100 The attraction of ‘walking’ and the gala day were lacking.
1939 F. Thompson Lark Rise xv. 269 At the club walkings there were brass bands and processions of all the club members.
1993 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 106 17 Local amusements, such as ale-wakes, bonfires, and the ceremonial rogationtide walkings or beating the bounds of the parish.
2005 N. Barrineau in T. Hardy Return of Native (new ed.) Notes 396 Members dressed up and processed with banners from house to house to solicit contributions and refreshments. Women's ‘club-walkings’ also occur in Tess of the d'Urbervilles..and Under the Greenwood Tree.
3. figurative. Manner of conducting or behaving oneself. †Also as a count noun (obsolete). Cf. walk v. 7a.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun]
tightc888
workOE
laitsc1225
rule?c1225
guise1303
conditionsc1374
actiona1393
governancea1393
governailc1425
port?a1439
fashion1447
dressa1450
governinga1450
walkingc1450
abearing?1454
deport1474
behaving1482
dealing1484
guidinga1500
demeanoura1513
behaviour?1521
walk?1567
daps1582
courses1592
deportment1601
behave?1615
deportation1616
containment1619
conduct1673
haviour1752
daddyism1984
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 2994 For this skylle, in my walkyng, As she that hath most maistry, I bere thys bowe of yvory.
?1550 J. Bale Apol. agaynste Papyst 35 If chastyte be a perfeccyon, and a walkynge in the lawes and ordynaunces of God wyth~out reproue.
1615 J. Day Festivals 257 The Apostle [sic] to the Philippians makes speciall mention of both these Walkings [sc. a bad or a good course taken].
1668 J. Owen Nature Indwelling-sin xv. 262 The observation of the ways and walkings of others.
a1753 S. Bownas Acct. Life (1756) 63 For his Contentions and disorderly walking, he had been dealt with and advised in a Brotherly and Christian Spirit to repent, but his persisting in the same, had obliged his Friends to disown him.
1854 H. Rogers Ess. (1855) II. 14 That wary walking which all his early life required.
1909 Times 8 May 11/5 Such a condition is manifestly one which calls for wary walking on the part of the Government.
2001 M. B. Weddle Walking in Way Peace iii. xiv. 222 The epistle then defined the offenses that constituted disorderly walking.
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society > trade and finance > money > circulation of money > [noun]
course1457
gang1488
walking1549
current1586
currence1651
currency1699
emission1729
running1788
mobilization1801
monetarization1967
1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 5th Serm. sig. Qiiiv There was walkyng of angeles betwene them.
1613 T. Heywood Brazen Age ii. ii. sig. Iv In Citties, I see trading, walking, bargening, Buying, and selling, goodnesse, badnesse, all things.
5. The action (on the part of a ghost) of appearing. Cf. walk v. 11.
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the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > ghost or phantom > [noun] > appearance of or haunting
apparitionc1522
walking1606
haunting1674
spookery1893
spooking1961
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 151 It is for certain knowen and reputed; that..the keepers of those hortyards were troubled with the walking of spirits and ghosts.
a1659 R. Brownrig 25 Serm. (1664) II. 95 We have heard, in Popery, of the many Walkings and Appearances of the Saints departed.
1727 D. Defoe Ess. Hist. Apparitions x. 200 Spirits..who visit People as well by Night as by Day; this we call Walking, and Apparition.
1890 Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate 1 Sept. The walking of the ghost is not stopped by the clarion notes of a barn yard fowl.
1899 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 26 Sept. 4/3 The report that a ghost has been seen stalking through the park at the regular hour for the walking of ghosts, that is, midnight.
1910 H. T. Stephenson Elizabethan People xii. 321 However carefully he laid his plans he had to accept the likelihood of defeat through the walking of the ghost of his victim.
1955 Folk-lore 66 443 The Christian conception of the soul has influenced the attitude adopted in such matters as its final destiny, the fate of suicides, and the ‘walking’ of ghosts as a reflection of the present divided structure of Tikopia religion.
2004 S. Booth in R. McDonald Shakespeare v. xv. 228 Bernardo..says directly, if vaguely, that the political situation is pertinent to the walking of the ghost.
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the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [noun] > sleepwalking
walking1607
somnambulation1794
sleepwalking1797
somnambulism1797
somnambulency1829
moonwalking1919
the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun] > walking in sleep
walking1607
night walking1621
noctambulation1721
somnambulation1794
sleepwalking1797
somnambulism1797
noctambulism1807
somnambulency1829
somnambulance1885
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster North-ward Hoe iii. sig. E2 I will finde a remedy for this walking [sc. in sleep], if all the Docters in towne can sell it.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) v. i. 11 In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actuall performances, what (at any time) haue you heard her say? View more context for this quotation
7. The condition of a path or road for walking on.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > [noun] > with reference to condition or situation > for walking on
walkinga1628
a1628 J. Preston Life Eternall (1631) i. iv. 66 Now, whence comes this uneven walking, this exorbitance of the wheeles.
1631 tr. J. A. Comenius Porta Linguarum Reserata lviii. §616 Lest the walkings should be all myrie, & dirtie.
1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 21 Jan. (1948) I. 171 It is very ugly walking, a baker's boy broke his thigh yesterday.
1766 Compl. Farmer at Walk From this there may be a communication with the side walks, whereby there may be dry walking all round the garden.
1767 Trial England’s Cicero 37 Supinely laid bodies, belly-upward, which could afford but very quagmiry walking for the devil, or any other.
1844 A. R. Smith Adventures Mr. Ledbury III. xiv. 188 [His] feet were somewhat galled with the hard walking of the previous days.
1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby (E.D.S.) Blathery..‘It's blathery walking.’
1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xlix. 75 Empty heads and tongues a-talking Make the rough road easy walking.
1941 Geogr. Jrnl. 98 82 There may be smoother stretches but rough walking is a certainty.
1990 Country Walking Jan. 58/2 Bear right along level walking.
2003 Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gaz. (Nexis) 28 Sept. f1 Very steep at the top and rough walking in some sections, this is an 11-mile downhill hike that takes most people about 6 hours to complete.
Phrases
P1. walking in (one's) sleep: sleepwalking; = sense 6. Cf. to walk in one's sleep at walk v. Phrases 4.
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1649 C. Hoole Easie Entrance Lat. Tongue ii. 219 A walking in ones sleep, Syphita stricta.
1683 S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Two Disc. Soul of Brutes i. xvi. 95 The Cause of walking in Sleep, seems to consist in this.
a1797 J. B. de Mainauduc Lectures (1798) i. vi. 196 Some of his followers, with as little discernment as judgment, stiled another stage of this nervous affection, Somnambulism, or, Walking in Sleep.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop ii. lxvi. 179 A somnambulastic leave-taking and walking in her sleep.
1976 Daily Rev. (Hayward, Calif.) 11 Nov. 21/3 I have always had a problem of walking in my sleep since I was a little girl.
1981 A. Arkin Sleep-talking xv. 268 Sleeptalking, as well as other sleep phenomena such as bruxism, walking in sleep, dreaming, and the like, purportedly bear the indelible stamp of the lifestyle of the sleeper.
P2. [after Chinese liǎng tiáo tuǐ zǒulù (Mao Zedong 1959; < liǎng tiáo two pieces + tuǐ leg + zǒulù to walk)] walking on (or with) two legs: (in modern China) the complementary use of resources that might otherwise be in opposition, i.e. industry and agriculture, heavy and light industry, centralized and local industry, coastal and interior-based industry, Han and minority nationalities, Party and non-Party members, etc.The policy of ‘walking on two legs’ was introduced by the government of Mao Zedong as part of ‘The Great Leap Forward’ of 1958.
ΚΠ
1959 Times 9 Apr. 13/4 China is now to be a country walking on two legs, according to another slogan, the two legs of industry and agriculture.]
1959 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. 6 Aug. 22/4 ‘Walking with two legs.’ (Equal emphasis on agriculture and industry.)
1964 Kang Chao in D. J. Dwyer China Now (1974) xiii. 252 Another salient feature of the Great Leap movement was a greater emphasis on indigenous methods of production and labour-intensive investment projects. This policy, officially called ‘walking with two legs’, represented a sharp departure from previous development strategy which had stressed only modern production techniques and large-scale investment projects.
1977 China Now June 4/1 Agricultural machinery for production (walking-on-two-legs tractors, tractors, bulldozers, pumps, harvesters, etc.).
1990 Mod. Asian Stud. 24 791 Under the guidance of the ‘walking on two legs’ policy, the Chinese utilized both the resources of the central government and the resources of the local governments.., advanced means of transport and traditional means of transport.
2003 O. Bruun Fengshui in China p. ix Mao had promoted a policy of walking on two legs, advancing Chinese traditional knowledge in several spheres.., and at the same time learning and developing scientific knowledge that had started in the West.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
walking alley n.
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1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Walkinge aley, or place of pleasure in a gardayne with quycke settes, topiarium.
1972 Garden Hist. Soc. Newsletter May 10 The garden side is all lawns with narrow walking alleys and dotted with clumps of bushes, one of which looks suspiciously like bamboos.
2004 Irish Times (Nexis) 15 May (Weekend section) 50 Each block is divided by walking alleys and parking is underground.
walking camp n.
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1608 A. Willet Hexapla in Exodum 784 The measure and distance of their ambulatorie, and walking campe.
1950 C. Porteous Derby 78 With a party of Boy Scouts I had been on a walking camp from Hope into Cheshire.
2000 Financial Times 18 Nov. (Weekend section) p. xx/5 Beaton also plans to open a wildlife walking camp nearby.
walking companion n.
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1786 E. Sheridan Let. in Betsy Sheridan's Jrnl. (1986) iii. 93 I lose my only walking companion.
2004 Deseret News (Salt Lake City) (Nexis) 8 Jan. c3 [To] enjoy the out-of-doors more with my favorite walking companions, our Westies.
walking distance n.
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the world > space > distance > [noun] > limit of distance or reach > which can be walked
walking distance1781
1781 J. Rickman Jrnl. Capt. Cook's Last Voy. Pacific 19 The soil is so sandy and poor, that..there is scarce a shrub or a tree to be seen within any walking distance from the place.
1817 Lady Morgan France i. 14 The chateau..was but at a walking distance.
1999 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 10 June 10/2 He chose to live..in a newly developed suburb within easy walking distance both of the city's largest concert hall and of its new museum of applied and industrial art.
walking exercise n.
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1707 G. Miège Present State Great Brit. i. ix. 187 The House is old, but large and convenient.., and having the Conveniency of..a noble Garden called the Wilderness, for the walking Exercise.
1835 H. Harewood Dict. Sports at Training A horse..requires a great deal of walking exercise and careful feeding.
1999 European Jrnl. Epidemiol. 15 779/1 Walking exercise and antiplatelet therapy..is recommended in case of peripheral arterial disease with non-disabling intermittent claudication.
walking ground n.
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1717 T. Dod in Ladies Diary 8 Charm'd with the sight Of seven and twenty Walnut-Trees around, Fertil, affording Shade to th' walking Ground.
1887 F. T. Marzials Life Charles Dickens iv. 55 But if he would pedestrianize everywhere, London remained the walking ground of his heart.
1923 in F. Siltzer Newmarket App. 269 Horses not completing the full length of a gallop..must at once walk off the gallop to the nearest Walking Ground.
2007 Sevenoaks Chron. (Nexis) 19 Apr. 2 Picturesque Knole Park is a favourite walking ground among Sevenoaks residents.
walking holiday n.
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1864 M. B. Betham-Edwards Dr. Jacob II. viii. 128 He was too fond of his books, and his walking holiday tours, to dream of admiring ladies.
1910 Times 22 Feb. 18/1 The chief charm of a walking holiday.
2001 Adventure Trav. July 99/1 Cargo bags or duffle bags..are a handy piece of kit for anyone going on a portered trek or an organised walking holiday with a tour operator.
walking pace n.
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the world > movement > rate of motion > [noun] > on foot > a walking pace
pacea1393
foot pace1538
walking pace1621
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania ii. 158 She..like to her heart she rul'd her feete, in sad and walking pace.
1766 T. Smollett Trav. France & Italy II. xxxv. 192 The road lay along one continued precipice, and was so difficult, that the beasts never could exceed a walking pace.
1830 G. P. R. James Darnley III. xi. 253 Thus marched on the procession at a walking pace.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. 619 Approaching, disparate, at relaxed walking pace they crossed both the circus before George's church diametrically.
2000 J. Bangsbo & B. Peitersen Soccer Syst. & Strategies ii. 46 Lazy, easy, nonchalant handling of the ball at a walking pace.
walking powers n.
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1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit viii. 99 The thinking powers are exhausted, in the one case, as that the walking powers are exhausted in the other.
1870 Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. 2 230 Owing to a number of almost simultaneous revolutionary attempts breaking out..at great distances from one another, the walking-powers of some of the most reliable companies of infantry were severely taxed.
1966 Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Indiana) 25 Mar. 12/1 Another part of the miracle was his recovery which saw him regain his walking powers.
walking race n.
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1865 Times 16 Mar. 5/6 Two-mile walking race.
1866 Athlete 8 Walking Race, Seven Miles.
1913 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 15 May 10/5 Granville seems to be the favourite for this long distance, as his lengthy spells for the walking races have hardened him up.
1996 Math. Gaz. 80 264 Athletes in walking races travel at up to 4.4 m/s (that is the men's world record speed, for the 10 kilometre walk).
walking tour n.
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1805 Crit. Rev. Apr. 430 He..must tell them of all that the eye could rest on in a walking tour of an hundred miles.
1854 C. M. Yonge Heartsease II. ii. xviii. 48 He was going to take a walking tour in Ireland.
a1881 A. Barratt Physical Metempiric (1883) Pref. p. xix They..frequently went abroad and on walking-tours together.
1990 Atlantic Nov. 64/1 (advt.) Walking tours and trips outside the city provide a look at Korean culture.
b. With the sense ‘adapted for or used in walking’.
walking boot n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > for specific purpose > other
walking boot1854
skating-boot1895
Derby1901
ski boot1907
safari boot1912
bootee1974
1630 J. Makluire Buckler of Bodilie Health 125 His course prickes, in stockkings, garters, roses, russet walking bootes, and gingling long necked spurres, his prentise in a page.
1786 H. Mackenzie Lounger No. 89. ⁋8 Their commentaries on walking boots, riding slippers, clubs, buckles and buttons.
1854 M. Cummins Lamplighter xxx. 217 To change her slippers for thick walking-boots occupied a few minutes only.
1996 Holiday Which? Mar. 101/3 Although you can get by with trainers for many easier rambles, walking boots make the going more comfortable, and safer.
walking cane n.
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1669 J. Childrey Let. 14 Apr. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1968) V. 489 Glasse strucke upon a walking cane strikes fire, as well as a Tobacco pipe upon a Cane.
1727 J. G. Scheuchzer tr. E. Kæmpfer Hist. Japan II. v. x. 492 In the neighbouring country grows that particular sort of reed, or Bambou, which is call'd Fatsiku, whose roots are made use of for walking canes, and imported into Europe by the name of Rottang.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. ii. v. 200 Did I not give the last guinea I had about me for a walking cane yesterday?
1996 Japan Times 29 Apr. 4/2 Bespectacled and holding a walking cane in his right hand, Fahd remained sitting with the car's door open.
walking dress n.
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1752 H. Fielding Amelia I. vi. ix. 342 Amelia..presently equipped herself in her walking Dress, and..made all possible Haste to Mrs. Bennet's Lodgings.
1882 Cent. Mag. Jan. 328/1 French bonnets and elaborately trimmed walking-dresses are replacing the trailing skirt and the graceful feminine shawl.
1909 H. G. Wells Ann Veronica iii. 72 She was in one of her old walking-dresses.
2005 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 23 Sept. (Neighbor section) 1 Lyons.., wearing a retro hat and an afternoon walking dress, once de rigueur for Sunday afternoon jaunts, will greet visitors.
walking hat n.
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1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London II. iii. 83 For..walking-hats, and hunting-hats, there was not a superior shop in London.
1873 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 9 Nov. A dagger of cast steel, thrust under the hat-band, or through the bow that fastens down a long plume, is the ornament of the fashionable English walking hats of this season.
2006 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 5 Jan. g4/1 My favorite hat, a fedora-style walking hat in wool houndstooth, was $85.
walking pole n.
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1772 J. W. Baker Exper. in Agric. 1771 60 In walking over the field, backwards and forwards, I could not find a spot to put down the point of my walking pole, without putting it upon grass (clover) of the most amazing luxuriance.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. ix. 100 We..carried nothing except..a walking-pole.
1995 Times 2 Sept. 10/2 (heading) Let a walking pole take the strain.
walking rod n.
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1582 in Bible (Rheims) Mark vi. (annot.) And for the contrariety that seemeth here and in S. Matthew, vnderstand that there he forbiddeth them to carie rod or staffe to defend them selues, here he permitteth a walking rod or staffe to leane and stay vpon.
c1750 Heir of Linne xxii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1894) V. ix. 17/1 Wi walking rod intill his hand, He walked the castle roun.
2002 Africa News (Nexis) 26 May Items sold at Jungle Junk include..flat sole sandals, T-shirts, walking rods.., hats and a lot more African art and crafts designs.
walking shoe n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > for specific purpose > other
walking shoe1694
training shoe1837
tackiec1902
moccasin1929
trainer shoe1944
trainer1968
bootee1974
cross-trainer1987
1694 W. Hope Swordman's Vade-Mecum 67 To wear plates of leed betwixt..the soles of their ordinary walking shoes, that so they may feel themselves as it were lighter, and cleevrer [sic], when they put on their light dancing shoes.
1756 F. Greville & F. Greville Maxims, Characters, & Refl. 130 His dress was adapted to his character, extravagant and minutely exact..from head to foot, from his scratch comb'd down to his eyes, to his walking shoe (not pump).
1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities i. vi. 27 It is a young lady's walking-shoe.
1911 C. E. Van Loan Big League ii. 61 Biff rose from his corner and hit Moose under the ear with a heavy walking shoe.
2006 Toledo (Ohio) Blade (Nexis) 19 Feb. i.11 We..take along sturdy, waterproofed walking shoes, a reliably rain-resistant windbreaker, and two collapsible umbrellas.
walking shorts n.
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1937 Sunday San Antonio (Texas) Light 21 Feb. ii. 3/3 Around dawn the walking delegation swung out down the Leon Springs road, wearing walking shorts..and locomoting with that semi-trucking effect employed by walkers.
1993 Toronto Life July 77/2 Lacoste shirts and walking shorts, plenty of flat American accents.
walking suit n.
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1607 T. Middleton Michaelmas Terme ii. sig. D2 The Drapers haruest, for footcloaths, riding suts [sic], walking suits, chamber gownes, and hall gownes.
1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xi. 102 The knapsacks, the rough walking suits, and the stout walking shoes which we had ordered.
1908 ‘O. Henry’ Voice of City 233 It was Rosalie, in..gray walking suit, and tan oxfords with lavender overgaiters.
2003 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 8 July e1 A stylish lightweight walking suit in fine wool or pure silk looks smart and cool.
walking toilette n. now historical
ΚΠ
1839 Bentley's Misc. 45 494 Dash handed Flora in, who was dressed in her walking toilette, and looked sweetly pretty.
1921 Times 7 Nov. 13/5 The ‘Fashion of To-day’, designed by our Paris artist.., is an afternoon walking toilette of black velvet skirt with Russian tunic of lacquer red and silver lamé edged with squirrel fur.
2001 T. Tierney High Victorian Fashions: Paper Dolls 15/2 Young lady's fall walking toilette... Plaid wool pardessus (overcoat) is worn over a dress of the same fabric.
walking weather n.
ΚΠ
a1680 Earl of Rochester in Poems on Affairs of State (1697) 165 Amongst your Ladies, and his Chitts, At Cards and Council here he sits: Yet minds not how they play at either, Nor cares not when 'tis walking weather.
1761 T. Arnold Bailey's Compl. Eng. Dict. (German ed.) II. 405/2 Spazierwetter, Walking Weather.
1824 C. Lamb Lett. (1935) II. 462 We will expect finer walking-weather.
2000 Saga Mag. Feb. 50/1 It sprinkled a little but for the most part the weather was cool and dry, great walking weather.
c. Designating a farm implement which is operated by a person walking behind or alongside.
walking cultivator n.
ΚΠ
1866 Prairie Farmer 22 Sept. 181/3 In the culture of broom corn or other crops that must have extra attention, the walking cultivator is of great value.
1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 417 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV Field No. 3..[was] cultivated but once, when about a foot high, with a five-toothed walking cultivator.
2003 Countryside & Small Stock Jrnl. (Nexis) 1 May 49 For cultivating use a narrow tiller, or a narrow walking cultivator.
walking plough n.
ΚΠ
1867 Davenport (Iowa) Daily Gaz. 10 Jan. 1/4 (advt.) Keithsburg champion corn plow, the best walking plow in use.
1995 Beaver (Winnipeg) Aug.–Sept. 4/2 We planted Manitoba maple and Caragana seedlings upright in trenches made with the old walking plough.
C2. † walking go n. colloquial Obsolete rare a walking match.† walking hymn n. Obsolete a processional hymn.† walking-matching n. Obsolete participation in walking matches.Apparently an isolated use.
walking beam n. Mechanics a beam which oscillates about a central pivot and has one end driven by an engine and the other communicating reciprocating motion to a crank, rod, etc.; = beam n.1 11; cf. working beam n. at working n. Compounds 3.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun] > parts of > levers
working beam1744
beam1759
lever1759
side lever1804
lever-beam1824
walking beam1824
sway-beam1839
grasshopper-beam?1865
1824 Glasgow Mechanics' Mag. 21 Aug. 86/1 It has been estimated that an engine whose cylinder is 54 inches in diameter, requires a walking-beam of three tons and a half, moving with a velocity of three feet in a second.
1925 Amer. Mercury Dec. 399/1 To see the two halves of the immense steel walking beam chuff-chuffing up and down.
2005 Washington Post (Nexis) 18 June (Travel section) 5 A 32-pounder struck the walking beam, knocking the engine out of line and causing it to vibrate badly.
walking cast n. an orthopaedic cast designed to allow a patient with a fractured leg to walk on the immobilized limb while it heals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical supports > [noun] > plaster-cast
plaster cast1883
plaster1892
walking cast1896
cast1934
1896 9th Ann. Rep. (Methodist Episcopal Hosp. Brooklyn, N.Y.) 120 Ten days later a walking cast was applied.
1953 N. Cassady Let. 1 June (2005) 377 I got a bone chip still unassimilated in my healing foot..and tho I have a walking cast on now I can't walk because it's ill-fitting.
2005 Independent 8 July 40/3 The pupil is in a wheelchair with his leg outstretched in a soft plaster and we fear he could be injured further if he returns to school before a walking cast is put on.
walking chair n. a chair for use by an infant, disabled person, etc., when learning to walk or for support during walking.
ΚΠ
1849 Sci. Amer. 28 Apr. 252/1 It can be transformed in a moment from a cradle to a seat with castors on it, by which the child can by its own power, use it as a walking chair.
1912 Lancet 6 Jan. 25/1 The patient was now commencing to walk with the aid of a walking chair.
1958 Nursing (St. John Ambulance Assoc.) xiv. 189 Many patients partially paralysed can be taught to walk again. For such patients walking chairs and tripod sticks are a tremendous help, giving them a feeling of assurance.
2002 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 26 Jan. An appeal fund..has already paid for..a weight machine and walking chair which Craig uses as part of his regular exercise routines.
walking day n. now historical a day (usually at Whitsun) on which Sunday School children walk in procession; cf. walk n.1 7a.
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society > leisure > social event > festive occasion > specific festivities > [noun] > other festivities
hoppingc1330
hocking1406
church ale1448
bid-alec1462
kirk-ale1543
maids' ale1547
quaff-tide1582
help-ale1587
clerk-ale1627
Chinese New Year1704
Rasa-yatra1767
spring festival1788
souling1813
gooding1818
walking day1826
yatra1827
triacontaëterid1839
pwe1842
Thomasing1847
hocking-ale1854
Mary-ale1857
Oktoberfest1859
Marymass1866
club-walking1874
Lag b'Omer1874
full moon festival1876
beerfest1877
Tanabata1880
Moon Festival1892
bierfest1908
sausage fest1908
Zar1931
rara1941
mas'1956
molimo1960
Kwanzaa1970
1826 Mirror of Months in W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 784 That particular Thursday in this month [sc. June], which is known all over the world of charity-schools by the name of ‘walking day’.
1906 Church Family Newsp. 29 June 458/2 Warrington to-day observes its old-time festival known as ‘Walking Day’. All the principal streets of the town..will be given over entirely to the children attending the Sunday-schools.
2004 K. Long Bad Mother's Handbk. (2005) viii. 206 So at Field Days, Walkin' Days they're called now, I used to have to go at t' back o' t' line even though the only time I ever missed church was when I broke my arm.
walking disease n. Veterinary Medicine liver disease caused by pyrrolizidine alkaloid poisoning, esp. in horses (in which aimless wandering is often a prominent symptom).
ΚΠ
1929 L. Van Es et al. in Univ. Nebraska Agric. Exper. Station Res. Bull. July 8 Affected horses are inclined..to walk either in a circle or in a straight line without any sense of direction or intent; hence the name ‘walking disease’.
1996 L. D. Lewis Feeding & Care of Horse (ed. 2) xviii. 313/1 Nervous signs due to liver damage are often the first clinical indication of PA poisoning, and may include drowsiness, head pressing, blindness, aimless wandering or ‘walking disease’, frequent yawning, and incessant licking of objects.
walking frame n. a free-standing metal frame used as a walking aid by a person who holds or leans on handles at the top; cf. walker n.1 11b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical supports > [noun] > walking-frame
walking frame1899
walker1941
frame1947
Zimmer1951
1899 A. Church & F. Peterson Nervous & Mental Dis. v. iv. 420 In advanced cases [of tabes dorsalis] that have to rely on crutches, a tall ‘walking-frame’ or roller-crutch, such as is used for children, may be employed [while doing exercises].
1937 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 37 811/2 Anatomical models, notebooks, a walking frame, and oxygen tents were on display.
1961 J. O. Wale Tidy's Massage & Remedial Exercises (ed. 10) x. 202 The patient may begin with walking frames or rails.
1979 D. Cook Winter Doves ii. ii. 49 Her child..was bouncing up and down in a walking frame.
1983 S. Radley Blood on Happy Highway v. 39 Osteo-arthritis in her hips made it difficult for May to get about now, even with a walking frame.
1994 P. Baker Blood Posse iv. 48 She stood supported by a walking frame, her jaw hanging and her eyes pleading to know what was going on.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > racing on foot > [noun] > walking race
walking match1751
walking go1802
walk1882
race walking1893
walkathon1930
1802 Sporting Mag. 19 199 Your provincial news must take in all the bye races, cock matches, walking-goes, and every thing that's worth knowing.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > church music > hymn > kinds of hymn > processional > [noun]
walking hymn1605
prosodion1696
prosode1777
processional1868
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > religious or devotional > [noun] > hymn or song of praise > types of hymn
Ambrosiana1225
walking hymn1605
antelucano1647
recessional1867
processional1868
office hymn1875
1605 E. Sandys Relation State of Relig. sig. R3 The Gallicane..in many ceremonies differs much from the Romane Church, as (to omit sundrie other) in the priests Lotions at the Masse, and in their walking hymmes at Vespers.
1629 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 179 Theyr walking hymns at solemne Matins and Vespers.
walking leg n. Zoology (in various arthropods, esp. crustaceans) a limb used for walking.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > [noun] > member of > parts of > leg
walking leg1820
podite1878
1820 T. M. Harris Nat. Hist. Bible p. xxx Those winged insects, which, besides four walking legs, have also two longer, springing legs.
1909 W. T. Calman in E. R. Lankester Treat. Zool. VII. xv. 271 The first pair of legs..are commonly referred to as the chelipeds, and the following four pairs are distinguished as walking-legs.
2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life ii. xi. 324 In mygalomorphs, the pedipalps are large and serve as additional walking legs.
walking machine n. (a) a machine which assists a person in walking; (b) a machine which is able to walk and is controlled by a person.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > other specific machines > [noun]
reeler1598
driver1659
rubber1747
heading machine1795
bruiser1809
finisher1835
stripper1835
physionotype1836
rotary1836
tetraspaston1842
netting-machine1846
speeder1847
dresser1855
spacer1857
starcher1862
bronzing liquid, machine1865
finishing machine1869
grader1869
brain machine1872
peanut roaster1872
bending machine1874
screw-machine1876
tire-upsetting-machine1877
buncher?1881
flax-breaker1889
oscillator1889
fluoroscope1893
fluorometer1897
mucker1916
spray dryer1921
paver1926
teabagger1940
burster1950
icemaker1953
laminator1958
slipform (concrete) paver1958
extruder1959
Zamboni1965
manipulator1968
wave machine1968
pipelayer1969
walking machine1971
1971 Sci. News 21 Aug. 118/2 Manipulators, walking machines, artificial limbs and man amplifiers—cybernetic machines that perform as appendages of man.
1973 Britannica Yearbk. Sci. & Future 1972 102 A four-legged ‘walking machine’ mimics and amplifies the movements of its human operator.
1999 Body & Soc. 5 117 A six-legged, pneumatically powered walking machine has been constructed for the body... The body actuates the walking machine by moving its arms.
2006 Chron. Higher Educ. (Nexis) 24 Mar. 64 The cylinder is full of compressed air, and..the whole get-up, a semiautomatic, exoskeletal walking machine, is propelling Mr. Reed.
walking match n. a walking race.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > racing on foot > [noun] > walking race
walking match1751
walking go1802
walk1882
race walking1893
walkathon1930
1751 J. Hill Inspector i. 5 We imagine that the losing a Heart at a Ridotto, may be as important an Article, as the picking a Pocket at Hockley in the Hole; or the Contest of two Belles for a Lover at Ranelagh, as a Walking-match in the Artillery Ground.
1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad App. f 626 No information about prize fights.., horse races, walking-matches..or other sporting matters.
1938 Logansport (Indiana) Pharos Tribune 25 Feb. 4/5 Omer Miller, the walkist, is discouraged at the prospects of raising the $300 purse for his proposed walking match.
2004 Journal (Newcastle) (Nexis) 23 Sept. 3 On his release in 1813, he returned to selling books but found walking matches more lucrative, winning 100 guineas for a race in the London area in 1814.
ΚΠ
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxii. 216 Ever since I took to bird-catching and walking-matching.
walking mate n. one's companion in walking; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun] > one who > walking companion
walking mate1565
1565 T. Stapleton Disc. Doctr. Protestants in tr. F. Staphylus Apol. f. 209 He falleth often in to open contradictions: sayeng one thinge as truthe and conscience taught him, and then saieng an other thinge, as pride, malice and enuy moued him, the walking mates of heresy.
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. L4 Not the poorest walking-mate, or thred-bare cut-purse in a countrey, that can well be without them [sc. almanacks], be it but to know the Faires & Markets when they fall.
1600 S. Rowlands Letting of Humors Blood v. 70 Rashnesse is his continuall walking mate.
1710 E. Ward Nuptial Dialogues & Deb. II. 340 A walking-Mate to pleasure Woman's Pride..A Rogue, a Vassal, by my Stars misled To the dark Drudg'ry of a nuptial Bed.
1899 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 66/2 She and the botanist of the party, my ‘walking mate’, who, I am proud to say, is similarly distinguished, often laugh together about their generic namesakes.
2005 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 26 Nov. (Weekend section) 16 My walking mate and I took four-and-a-half days.., and got very sore feet.
walking meditation n. (originally) any period of contemplation or reflection engaged in while walking; (later, chiefly in Zen Buddhism) meditation practised while walking, esp. between periods of sitting meditation; (also) an instance of this.Cf. sitting meditation n., kinhin n.In early use perhaps not a fixed collocation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [noun] > act(s) of
thinkingsa1225
meditationa1393
contemplationa1400
musing?a1430
reverie1477
musea1500
rumination1622
walking meditation1756
reckon1902
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > contemplation or meditation > [noun] > in Buddhism
vipassana1688
zazen1727
samatha1863
sitting meditation1906
sitting1913
sesshin1922
kinhin1954
walking meditation1961
1756 H. Innes Short Ess. Revival of Prayer in Medit. & Reasonings 215 Let fields, orchards, and gardens witness the spirituality of our walking meditations.
1891 A. A. Day Mysterious Beggar xxix. 424 We find the doctor engaged in a walking meditation.
1961 R. Kita & K. Nagaya in W. A. Briggs Anthology of Zen i. 60 A long period of sitting in meditation is followed by ‘walking meditation’. This is to walk quietly in single file around the meditation hall.
2011 Irish Times (Nexis) 6 Aug. 14 The group then performed a walking meditation focusing on breathing and walking silently down the mountain.
walking orders n. U.S. colloquial = walking papers n.
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society > occupation and work > lack of work > [noun] > dismissal or discharge > notice of
walking papers1825
walking ticket1829
walking orders1835
pink slip1904
1835 Col. Crockett's Tour 170 He got his walking orders, and Taney was taken into his place.
1949 Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) 7 Jan. 1/1 Manager Raymond Smith..was given his walking orders by his board of governors late Thursday afternoon.
1997 Las Vegas Rev.-Jrnl. (Nexis) 23 Nov. 1 a Several other executives were given walking orders.
walking papers n. originally and chiefly U.S. colloquial a notice of dismissal; cf. marching order n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > lack of work > [noun] > dismissal or discharge > notice of
walking papers1825
walking ticket1829
walking orders1835
pink slip1904
1825 S. Woodworth Forest Rose i. iv. 18 As for the bumpkin, her lover, he must take his walking papers.
1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist i. 21 You'll get your walking papers [sc. discharge from a school infirmary] in the morning when the doctor comes.
2007 F. Michaels Marriage Game 24 Three weeks after the honeymoon, he gave me my walking papers courtesy of the Prizzi law firm.
walking party n. a party formed for an excursion on foot.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > one going on foot > for exercise or recreation > group of
walking party1766
1766 J. Gomeldon Medley xxviii. 195 We of the walking Party, on our Return Home, met Lady Betty in the Hall, preparing to join us, and we all repaired to the Dining-room.
1800 C. Powys Passages from Diaries Mrs. Powys (1899) 337 After our repast the ladies made walking parties to different places in the forest.
1983 E. Webster Venetian Spy-glass iii. 36 In the tourist season you see walking parties every day.
2007 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 9 May 7 Rescuers stressed it is always advisable for each member of a walking party to have a map in case they become separated.
walking path n. = footway n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path
walking path?a1425
footpatha1450
footwaya1450
foot roada1560
foot passage1614
footstep1620
foot track1672
footwalk1701
foot pavement1743
?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 16 (MED) The aleyes of ȝoure orcherd ben ful longe and brode, whereynne ben maad walkynge paþis, whiche schulen lede ȝou truly to what fruyt where ȝou lust to feede ȝou.
1767 J. Smeaton Reports (1812) I. 191 The walking path may be set with Aberdeen granite.
1886 Harper's Mag. May 832/2 This space contains..part of the celebrated riding path called Rotten Row, three walking paths, and some flower beds.
2002 Philadelphia Inquirer 29 Dec. m6/2 There's no road from the humble airport at Congo Town, not even a rough walking path.
walking place n. a place in which to walk; a walk, an ambulatory.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > ambulatory
walking placec1384
deambulatory1430
peramble1440
ambulatory1483
deambulatoura1522
walk1530
perambulatory1636
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Macc. xiv. 48 Thei saiden hem for to putte this wrytyng in brasen tablis, and to putte hem in the walkyng place of holy thingus, in solempne place.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 514 Walkynge place, deambulatorium.
1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence Adelphi iv. ii, in Terence in Eng. 304 Come backe againe into the walking place I told you of [L. in porticum rursum redi].
1682 G. Wheler Journey into Greece v. 367 The chief Walking-place in the whole Town: whither they went not only to take the Air, but to converse with Men of Learning, to hear the News [etc.].
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 12 A long kind of Galleries, or Walking-places.
1841 Times 14 May 7/5 On coming out from the register.., you arrive at the winter promenade, or walking place.
2002 Oxoniensia 66 5 The church developed..until it attained a T-shape with a choir, a ‘walking place’, a nave, a north aisle [etc.].
walking pneumonia n. Medicine pneumonia, typically of mycoplasmal or chlamydial origin, that is not severe enough to confine a patient to bed; an instance or case of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorder of respiratory organs > [noun] > disorders of lungs > pneumonia > types of pneumonia
typho-pneumonia1854
broncho-pneumonia1858
walking pneumonia1888
virus pneumonia1936
pneumocystis pneumonia1956
PCP1975
Legion disease1976
legionnaires' disease1976
1888 Eclectic Med. Jrnl. 48 546 The author describes an interesting case in which pneumonia appeared to follow an injury, though the autopsy rendered it doubtful whether it was not an instance of ‘walking pneumonia’, similar to walking typhoid.
1943 D. O'Hara Air-borne Infection 78 It is a phenomenon common to other disorders also, as for example ‘walking typhoids’ and ‘walking pneumonias’, but with tuberculosis it causes more damage.
2003 Today's Parent Mar. 46/2 In older kids, mycoplasma and chlamydia pneumoniae..cause what's often called ‘walking pneumonia’, so named because your child may feel droopy and suffer through coughing fits, but he won't be sick enough to stay in bed.
walking possession n. Law an incident in the process of the enforcement of debt or other legal obligation under which a creditor (usually with a court order entitling seizure) allows goods to remain in the debtor's physical possession provided they are not moved.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > general proceedings > legal seizure or recovery of property > [noun] > seizing lands or goods > attachment of person or property for debt > seizure of goods > nominal
walking possession1892
1892 Times 20 Jan. 13/5 The possession man was called, and..found the things had been removed. He added that it was arranged that there should be a ‘walking’ possession.
1995 Independent on Sunday 5 Nov. (Business section) 19/2 If the bailiffs either seize or take walking possession of goods, they should give the debtor a copy of an agreement listing the items affected.
2003 F. M. Tolmie Corporate & Personal Insolvency Law (ed. 2) v. 45 The landlord may take walking possession of the goods by leaving them in the tenant's possession on the tenant undertaking not to disturb or dispose of them.
walking rapier n. now historical a light rapier worn when travelling or walking out (see to walk out 4 at walk v. Phrasal verbs 1).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > side arms > sword > [noun] > rapier
bird spitc1450
rapier1503
tuck1508
Spanish sword?1533
walking rapier?1620
single rapier1709
flamberg1885
?1620 S. Rowlands Paire of Spy-knaues sig. B3v Bid him trim vp my walking Rapier neat.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth II. iv. 72 Soldiers..get out of fashion in peace time, and satin sleeves and walking rapiers bear the bell.
1859 G. J. Whyte-Melville Holmby House iv, in Littell's Living Age 2 Apr. 24/1 He bustled about.., vainly regretting certain splendid apparel and a beautiful Toledo walking-rapier which the rebels had eased them of.
1915 F. M. Gregg Founding of Nation II. 180 The light shone full upon my gay cloak, my walking rapier in its black case and bright basket hilt.
walking sword n. now historical a light sword with a straight, single-edged blade (double-edged towards the point), worn when travelling or walking out (see to walk out 4 at walk v. Phrasal verbs 1).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > side arms > sword > [noun] > other types of sword
heading sword1513
tonsword?1578
dancing rapier1594
fox1599
back-sword1611
acinaces1653
sahaguna1668
walking sword1677
diego1709
wakizashi1727
kleywang1783
pedang1817
sundang1852
tachi1948
1677 London Gaz. No. 1198/4 A small Coûteau walking Sword.
1740 J. Stewart Information for Sir J. Stewart 8 None of them had any kind of Arms with them, not so much as a walking Sword, having no Apprehension that they were to meet with any Violence.
1889 R. L. Stevenson Master of Ballantrae x. 254 The Master, well dressed and with an elegant walking-sword, bowed to the company in a handsome manner.
1969 J. Henderson Sword Collecting viii. 64 There would be a light walking-sword, with the handsomest hilt he could afford, to wear throughout the day.
2005 F. Baker in D. Link & J. Nagley Words about Mozart v. 103 Don Giovanni might have worn an elegant dress sword or, given his life of perpetual movement, much more probably a walking sword.
walking ticket n. colloquial (originally U.S.) = walking papers n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > lack of work > [noun] > dismissal or discharge > notice of
walking papers1825
walking ticket1829
walking orders1835
pink slip1904
1829 in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 124 I heard..she had given Henry a walking ticket.
1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. x. 124 Every soul about the place except Mr. M'Intyre and Mr. Falkland seemed to have got a cheque and a walking-ticket at the same time.
1970 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 24 May 7/2 If a man spat on the floor, he'd get warned. If he did it again he'd get his walking ticket.
2004 B. Steil Forgive our Trespasses ii. 7 He hated to give him his walking ticket, but farming depends on help during the busy seasons.
C3.
a. With following adverb, forming nouns of action corresponding to phrasal verbs, as walking about, walking around, walking in, walking together, etc. See also walking out n.
ΚΠ
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 514 Walkynge abowte, or goynge, deambulacio, spaciatus.
1549 H. Latimer 6th Serm. before Edward VI (Arb.) 169 They hard hym quietly, with out any shouelynge of feete or walkynge vp and downe.
1684 J. Bunyan Holy Life 124 How far this is from walking together as heirs of the grace of life, is easie to be determined.
a1780 J. Harris Philol. Inq. (1781) iii. iii. 267 The System..of Aristotle..was called Peripatetic, from the manner in which he taught; from his walking about, at the time, when he disserted.
1857 C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace I. xix. 309 Their ‘walking together’ was recognised.
1882 R. Reid Let. 18 Aug. in E. J. Reid Judge Richard Reid (1886) xi. 143 After dinner the walking around in the parlor again.
1931 E. O'Neill Homecoming i, in Mourning becomes Electra (1932) 40 Hope you don't mind my walking in on you without ceremony.
b.
walking-around money n. U.S. (a) cash carried to meet minor expenses, spending money; (b) money paid to political workers for expenses incurred while canvassing for votes, etc.
ΚΠ
1917 Boston Evening Globe 28 June 6/7 Men thus qualified [to serve as barbers and tailors] can pick up a bit of ‘walk around’ money on the side after they're enlisted through Capt. Ralph Bradley,..enlistment officer.]
1927 Waterloo (Iowa) Evening Courier 5 Sept. 4/3 They now have 'outside men' who distribute cards of admission... They receive a commission on what is spent, in addition to what Broadway calls 'walking around' or expense money.
1930 Amarillo (Texas) Globe 14 May 4/3 With no attempt at secrecy, the ladies..slip a sheaf of bills under the table [to the men] for ‘walking-around money’.
1961 Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times 25 Feb. 8 m Some agents have pocketed as much as $300 a week out of union funds for what they call ‘walking around’ money. This is supposed to cover their petty, incidental expenses.
1994 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 29 Oct. b5/2 It's flushing, walking around money—we know how the votes are turned out.
2005 Wall St. Jrnl. 8 July (Central ed.) c4/5 In movies, Wall Streeters are always peeling $100 bills from the rolls of walking-around money they keep in pocket or purse.
walking on n. the action of playing a stage role with few or no words to say (frequently attributive); cf. to walk on at walk v. Phrasal verbs 1, walk-on n. 1.
ΚΠ
1934 H. L. Beales & R. S. Lambert Mem. Unemployed 158 A week's work at a small theatre with Lena Ashwell's company, taking a walking-on part dressed as a Roman soldier.
1982 P. D. James Skull beneath Skin vii. 67 She would have had at least a walking-on part in all the plays.
walking up n. the action of walking up game birds; cf. walk v. 19, walk-up n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fowling > [noun] > causing bird to rise
springing1616
walking up1893
walk-up1972
1893 A. J. Stuart-Wortley Partridge 150 Walking up, or shooting partridges over dogs, is..the finest training of all for a young shooter.
1971 Country Life 12 Aug. 396/3 Visiting sportsmen are paying £70 a day for driven grouse and £25 a day for walking up.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
walkingadj.
/ˈwɔːkɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwɔkɪŋ/, /ˈwɑkɪŋ/ 1. Of water, waves, the sea, etc.: rolling, tossing, surging. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 221 Fluctus, wealcyndo ea.
OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 305 Feruentis oceani : wealcendre sæ.
lOE St. Giles (Corpus Cambr. 303) (1980) 99 Þa geseah he an scip ut on þære sæ swa swiðe torfigende fram þan wealcendum sæs yðum, þæt ealle þa men wendon þæt heora scip tobrocen wære.
II. That moves about.† 3. Of a disease, ulcer, etc.: spreading within or on the surface of the body, or between persons. Obsolete.
2.
a. Moving about from place to place; travelling, itinerant (in later use, chiefly of a merchant). Now only with implication of sense 5.In quot. c1390: given to roaming about.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective]
walkingc1390
arrant1550
ambulatory1604
itinerating1611
itinerary1617
stray1620
strolling1621
itineral1627
itineratea1628
perambulatory1650
peregrinatory1773
obambulatory1855
perambulant1865
perambulating1926
c1390 MS Vernon Homilies in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1877) 57 307 Heo ne mihte wel reste in hous, heo was so walkynge and so fous.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 17478 (MED) In þat tyme out of Inde Of walkynge men were comen þre.
c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 4 It is thing wel sittinge to eche walkinge pilgrime.
1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) Peddelars Frenche sig. Eiiiiv A walking Morte.
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes 268/3 Peripatétici, a sect of walking philosophers, where of Aristotle was chiefe.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iv. xv. 421 Townes they [sc. the Tartars] plant none nor standing villages, but haue walking houses built vpon wheeles, like a Shepheards Cottage.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler vii. 149 I call that [bait] a ledger which is fix'd, or made to rest in one certaine place..and..I call that a walking bait, which you take with you, and have ever in motion. View more context for this quotation
1720 C. Shadwell Hasty Wedding iii. i I am what they call a Walking-Merchant, one that gets my Living by the Sweat of my Brows.
1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom II. lii. 143 A walking physician was considered as an obscure pedlar, trudging from street to street, with his pack of knowledge on his shoulders.
1887 Trenton (New Jersey) Times 9 Aug. I would rather buy from a walking merchant than from any one else.
1939 Daily Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) 8 Mar. 4/7 Nobody seems to think the giant pretzels should be protected from dust, fingers of prospective purchasers, or soiled hands of the walking merchant.
2000 M. De La Cadena Indigenous Mestizos vi. 296 Their ritual performance as llameros has to represent their veneration, as walking merchants, of the Lord of Coyllur Rit'i.
b. Leading a wandering life; vagrant, strolling.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective] > with no fixed aim or wandering > as a way of life
wanderingc1400
walking1491
vagrant1546
unsettled1593
Scenite1600
irresianta1657
nomad1798
nomadical1801
seatless1807
nomadic1818
nomade1819
semi-nomadic1843
nomad-pastoral1880
semi-nomad1948
1491 Deed 11 Nov. (P.R.O.: E 40/7494) Ye seid Robert ordend yer j. bedd for poor walkyng pepull to be harborowd yerin.
1592 Goudhurst Parish Reg. (M.S.) Buried a poore old walking man.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall ii. f. 131v Wideslades sonne led a walking life with his harpe, to Gentlemens houses.
1628 Lydd Parish Reg. (MS.) John, the sonne of a walkinge woman, christened.
1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew ii. sig. G1 See, in their rags, then, dauncing for your sports, Our Clapper Dugeons and their walking Morts.
1883 J. T. Smith Mendicant Wanderers London 17 The following plate of a walking beggar, attended by a boy, was taken from a drawing made in West Smithfield.
1951 J. Kerouac On the Road: Orig. Scroll (2007) 208 He was just a semi-respectable walking hobo..hitting Red Cross offices and sometimes bumming on Main Street corners for a dime.
1984 R. Wilkinson Amer. Tough i. 19 The unemployed drifters in the 1880s depression, who ‘rode the rods’ under freight cars and affected to despise ‘walking bums’, combined skill and nerve with all-weather staying power.
1997 V. A. Conley Ecopolitics 171 The writings of Marguerite Duras that evoke walking beggar women.
c. That has a roving commission; that goes about from place to place. Now rare.This sense survives chiefly in fixed expressions: see walking boss n., walking delegate n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective] > in connection with employment > having a roving commission
walking1591
errant1638
roving1826
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth xv. f. 57 The other is called the Voiauoda gulauoy, or the walking Captaine, that hath alowed him 1000. good horsemen of principall choyse, to range and spie abroad.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 59 The King told him he would have no walking Master Workman.
1958 B. Behan Borstal Boy iii. 271 And, of course, every walking foreman was called Nimrod, even by painters who had never read the book, nor any other book, either.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > [adjective] > spreading or invasive
runninga1382
walkinga1398
erratic1547
accessive1575
errant1621
vagrant1656
metastatic1822
ambulant1828
aggressive1851
proliferous1874
proliferative1888
metastasizing1906
invasive1926
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 93 If þe fumosite oþir wind is..resolued of ventosite alone, þan it hatte dolor deambulatiuus, ‘wandringe & walkinge’.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 79 (MED) A walkynge vlcus [margin vlcus ambulatiuum] is þat walkiþ hidirward & þidirward, & neþeles he profoundiþ nouȝt depe into þe ground.
1657 A. B. tr. J. Buxtorf Jewish Synagogue xxxiii. 303 (side note) The plague is a very walking disease.
4. Of a ghost: that ‘walks’ or appears.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > ghost or phantom > [adjective] > that appears or haunts
blakeberyedc1405
walking?1550
night-walking1822
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [adjective] > vision or apparition
walking?1550
visional1588
visionary1648
spectrological1802
eidolic1881
?1550 J. Bale Apol. agaynste Papyst f. lxix Some tyme these mysteryes were hydden by the terrour of walkyng spretes, but now they are knowne wale ynough.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. ix. f. 45 A remedye ageynst walkyng sprites.
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster North-ward Hoe iii. sig. E Was there euer any walking spirit, like to my wife?
1675 E. Settle Love & Revenge ii. ii. 15 The world has much mistaken been, to say That walking Spirits love the Night, not Day.
1709 W. Penn in Mem. Hist. Soc. Pennsylvania (1872) X. 354 I have my old order of..1685..ratified and confirmed, which has laid those walking ghosts.
1799 T. S. Whalley Castle Montval ii. ii. 19 When the rumour once had reach'd his ear, Of midnight noises and a walking ghost, He gave strict charge that no domestic more, Or passing guest, should sleep within that wing.
1803 H. K. White Clifton Grove in Poet. Wks. (1830) 6 The slumbering Night rolls on her velvet car; The church bell tolls, deep sounding down the glade, The solemn hour for walking spectres made.
1869 G. H. Boker Königsmark iv. 120 Deal gently with him—that is all. No blood—Remember that—no butchery, to fill Our crazy palace with fresh walking ghosts.
1913 Science 9 May 712/1 It seems probable that the belief in walking spirits was nourished by real noises coming from an adjoining house.
2007 Times Educ. Suppl. (Nexis) 27 July 29 The cemetery outside her bedroom window inspires fear of walking ghosts and restless spirits.
5.
a. That travels or goes about on foot: (a) (of an inanimate object, in figurative contexts) that moves as though walking on foot; (b) (of a person or animal) that travels on foot by moving the legs alternately at a pace slower than running. See also walking doll n., walking wounded n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [adjective]
walkinga1600
ambling1600
ambulant1619
gressive1668
sashaying1935
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > acrobatic performance > [adjective] > rope-walking or dancing
funambulatorya1670
funambulousa1682
walking1730
rope-dancing1767
funambulic1833
schoenobatic1862
equilibristic1882
a1600 T. Deloney Strange Hist. (1602) i. sig. A.3 Then marched they to hem him in, each on a bow in hand. So that vnto the conquerers sight.., They seemd to be a walking groue, or els a mouing wood.
1613 S. Rowlands More Knaues Yet? sig. E4v The Norman Prince..In great amazement on a suddaine stood, To see (as seem'd to him) a walking wood, For Kentish-men came marching all with bowes, To offer peace.
1635 E. Grimeston tr. Hist. Imperiall Estate Grand Seigneurs x. 151 The Ocean must bee vast and great, which doth breed such great Whales, liuing and walking Mountaines.
1646 J. Howell Let. 2 Jan. in Epistolae Ho-Elianae II. xl. 332 A kind of Epitaph, I made of my self this Morning, as I was lolling a Bed. Here lies intomb'd a walking Thing, [etc.].
1667 R. Baxter Reasons Christian Relig. ii. viii. 353 These Beasts, or living walking images of the Devil.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 292 Oft from the Rocks a dreadful Prospect [I] see, Of the huge Cyclops, like a walking Tree.
a1718 R. Cumberland tr. Sanchoniathon Phonician Hist. (1720) ii. vi. 474 Their statues were made rather like their Mummies, preserv'd dead bodies, than like walking men.
1730 A. Gordon tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres 321 The walking Elephants on Ropes.
1837 F. Chamier Walsingham I. xii. 267 The captain of a walking regiment has too many boots to buy, to take a wife.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany iv. 42 A walking Englishman was, no doubt, a curiosity.
1912 I. E. Boyd When Mother lets us cut out Pictures 55 Look at the pictures of walking children. See what the artist has thought of when he has drawn walking children.
1948 G. Greene Heart of Matter ii. i. i. 117 We were told to prepare for nine stretcher cases and four walking ones.
1987 P. R. van Meeren & A. Barneveld in G. Bergmann et al. Biomech. 159 Quantitative determination of skin movement over the underlying skeletal structures during normal locomotion of the walking horse.
2005 T. Kaczynski Unabomber Manifesto xvii. 56 A walking man formerly could go where he pleased, go at his own pace without observing any traffic regulations.
b. Of a bird: that habitually walks. Cf. walker n.1 6b.† walking tyrant n. Obsolete (Swainson's name for) a South American tyrant flycatcher, Machetornis rixosa.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > [noun] > family Tyrannidae (tyrant-bird) > member of genus Platyrhynchus > types of
loggerhead1657
walking tyrant1823
water-chat1834
silver-bill1883
1823 tr. C. Malte-Brun Universal Geogr. IV. 11 Among the walking birds, or those which have no true wings, that of Africa is the largest and most perfect.
1826 W. Swainson in Q. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts Jan. 279 Tyrannus ambulans. Sp. Nov. Walking Tyrant... The power of locomotion, in the more characteristic examples of this family, is principally confined to the wing, but in the bird before us, this faculty is equally divided between the wings and the legs.
1870 Amer. Naturalist 4 330 Jerdon assigned it [sc. the genus Menura] a position intermediate between the Walking Birds,—including the common fowl and the Pigeons and Doves,—and the higher Land Birds.
1915 Condor 17 179 (heading) A walking eagle from Rancho la Brea.
1938 Sci. Monthly May 441/1 Swimming, wading, perching and walking birds.
6. That goes about in the form of a living creature. Frequently in figurative or similative expressions. [Compare Eunapius Vitae Sophistarum, Λογγῖνος βιβλιοθήκη τις ἦν ἔμψυχος καὶ περιπατοῦν μουσεῖον ‘Longinus was a living library, and a research institute on legs’.]
a. Referring to a person hardly distinguishable from a corpse except by the power of movement, as walking corpse, walking dead, walking death's head, walking sepulchre, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [noun] > those appearing dead
walking dead1980
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [noun] > one who
phlegmatic?1541
drumble1568
log1579
phlegmatist1599
lethargy1634
mooner1842
slowie1901
Oblomov1903
walking dead1980
1608 G. Chapman Trag. Duke of Byron v, in Conspiracie Duke of Byron sig. Q4v A walking sepulcher, or household thiefe.
1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. xii. 401 Wherever these walking Corpes, (these Carkases) were to be seen.
1766 S. R. Scott Hist. Sir George Ellison II. iii. ix. 99 No young person spoke to me; the men saw no attractions in a walking corpse; and the young women were obliged, in regard to their reputations, to avoid me.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 54 Looking like a moving and walking corpse, while yet an inhabitant of this world.
1855 W. B. Wood Personal Recoll. Stage xviii. 362 This walking skeleton was inclosed in a close-fitting, elastic black silk suit, rendering his figure perfectly and painfully distinct.
1980 J. Gardner Garden of Weapons iii. iii. 247 You look terrible. Like the walking dead.
1998 S. Gilmartin Ancestry & Narr. 19th C. Brit. Lit. vii. 237 Hardy's imaginative fascination with the grave did not always require a woman to be old to imagine her a walking death's-head.
b. Referring to a person who has great stores of knowledge at his or her command, as walking dictionary, walking encyclopaedia, walking library, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > large amount of knowledge > [noun] > possession of > one who has or claims
polyhistor1588
omniscian1593
walking dictionary1609
polymathist1621
polymath1624
callent1637
polyhistorian1669
at-all1672
omniscient1710
universalist1713
dictionary1734
know-all1800
Crichton1807
pantologist1840
pansophist1864
encyclopaedist1871
know-it-all1873
omniscientist1932
pointy-head1969
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > learned person, scholar > [noun]
uþwitec888
larewc900
learnerc900
witec900
wise manOE
leredc1154
masterc1225
readera1387
artificer1449
man of science1482
rabbi1527
rabbin1531
worthy1567
artsmanc1574
philologer1588
artist1592
virtuoso1613
sophist1614
fulla1616
scholastica1633
philologist1638
gnostic1641
scholarian1647
pundit1661
scientman1661
savant1719
ollamh1723
maulvi1776
pandect1791
Sabora1797
erudit1800
mallam1829
Gelehrter1836
erudite1865
walking encyclopaedia1868
Einstein1942
1609 G. Chapman Euthymiae Raptus sig. C3 Let a Scholler, all earths volumes carrie, He will be but a walking dictionarie: A meere articulate Clocke, that doth but speake By others arts.
1686 J. Dunton Misc. Lett. (MS Rawl. D. 71) 91 I darken his Merit, if I call him less than a Walking Library.
1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 337 Mathew Slade..was..a stiff Enemy to the Socinians, and a walking Library.
1724 A. Behn Sir Patient Fancy ii. i, in Plays (ed. 3) IV. 25 The intolerable Lady, Madam Romance, that walking Library of profane Books is come to visit me.
1750 M. Clancy Memoirs I. 38 Mr. Dodwell.., a walking Library.
1835 E. Bulwer-Lytton Gipsy v Heaven deliver me from the proximity of a walking dictionary of technical terms!
1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. xii. 181 Meg..considered him a walking encyclopaedia of useful knowledge.
1908 A. S. Green Making of Irel. (1972) ii. xii. 441 The Jesuit Stephen White of Clonmel, a most renowned professor, nicknamed a Polyhistor and a Walking Library.
1978 Rugby World Apr. 28/3 Some other members of the Irish [rugby] squad..are walking encyclopaedias on English soccer in particular.
2003 E. M. Katz I can't believe I'm buying this Bk. 49 I understand that not everyone is a Rhodes scholar, a walking dictionary, or an English professor, but honestly, people, [etc.].
c. Referring to a person who (or thing which) embodies the characteristics of an inanimate or non-material thing, an emotion, etc., as walking disaster, walking misery, walking smile, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > [adjective] > of human form
two-legged1560
manlike1590
walkinga1616
hominiform1678
human-like1748
anthropomorphous1753
anthropomorphic1827
anthropoid1835
personified1851
bimanal1859
anthropoidal1865
humanoid1914
hominoid1950
android-
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) v. v. 23 Life's but a walking Shadow, a poore Player, That struts and frets his houre vpon the Stage, And then is heard no more. View more context for this quotation
1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Maides Trag. iii. sig. F1v Alas! I am nothing but a multitude of walking griefes.
a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Captaine ii. ii, in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Gg3v/1 [His body is] a trunke-seller, to send wines downe in, Or a long walking-bottle.
1652 J. Shirley Brothers iii. 36 in Six New Playes (1653) You will be sir dishonour'd to be seen With such a walking misery.
1731 H. Fielding Welsh Opera ii. vi. 36 A scolding Wife is a walking Base-viol out of Tune.
1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes to Royal Academicians (ed. 5) 10 Our little old black Bantam Cock— Whose soul..With so much acrimony overflows, As makes him..A walking Thumb-bottle of Aqua-fortis.
1855 C. M. Charles Arvon II. vii. ii. 58 He was a walking wonder—charged to the full with danger and mystery.
1907 C. McEvoy Gentlemen of Road 5 Caroline. Shut it, yer makes me 'ead ake. Bill. You walking misery!
1940 F. Scott Fitzgerald Lett. (1963) 92 Before you see all those walking neuroses you can spend a day with the Taylors who have always liked you so much.
1980 E. Blishen Nest of Teachers i. v. 24 He was entirely charming—a walking smile, and nothing fake about it.
2001 Cosmopolitan Dec. 192/2 I told Craig Kilborn that college guys are ‘walking diseases’. I meant that college guys are spreading diseases rampantly.
2006 C. Hamlett Screenwriting for Teens lii. 104 Bakshi is a walking disaster on the backlot of a movie where he's cast as an extra.
7. Theatre. Designating an actor playing a small part with little or no speaking. Cf. walk-on adj. 1. Now historical.Earliest and chiefly in walking gentleman n. (a) at Compounds; also frequently in walking lady.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor playing specific type of part > with little or nothing to say
property boy1685
supernumerary1755
walking gentleman1769
walking lady1769
figurant1775
statist1807
showgirl?1836
super1838
walker-on1876
property child1885
supe1885
walk-on1923
spear-carrier1960
1769 Cambr. Mag. June 202/1 Friendly is a walking gentleman ill-deserving Mr. Sowdon's sensible, manly performance.
1785 S. J. Pratt Art of Rising on Stage in Misc. I. 134 The paste-board crown, and canvass cloud:..The heroes habits, whole, and torn, And ermine, walking dukes, have worn.
1790 Monthly Rev. Feb. 223 The other characters.., like the walking ladies and gentlemen of the stage, serve to fill up the scene without having any material business in the piece.
1870 T. A. Brown Hist. Amer. Stage 54/1 In California she played all lines of business, from walking ladies to heavy, and juvenile leading.
1938 Times 10 Nov. 14/2 It is not one of those ‘all star’ affairs in which many of the stars play walking ladies and gentlemen who would..be as well or better played by actors accustomed to remain ‘down stage’.
Compounds
walking bass n. Music (now esp. Jazz) a bass part, often consisting of broken octaves, that goes up and down the scale in steps or small intervals, often with a sustained or legato sound.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > [noun] > part in harmony or counterpoint > bass parts
bourdonc1400
burden1594
bassus1605
thoroughbass1632
bass1666
ground bass1685
continuo1724
continued bass1728
figured bass1786
walking bass1825
basso ostinato1876
bass line1894
bottom1936
bottom line1963
basso continuo-
1825 London Mag. Oct. 269 A chorus of Handel followed.., ‘Let none despair’; it is upon a fine walking bass, and the voices burst in upon it with an expression of confidence truly admirable.
1917 H. F. Jones Samuel Butler I. xvi. 285 It was like Handel's music—a diatonic melody harmonised with common chords over a walking bass.
1939 W. Hobson Amer. Jazz Music 51 String bass, more often plucked or slapped than bowed, usually playing two or four bass notes per bar on a ‘walking’ (melodic) bass.
1952 B. Ulanov Hist. Jazz in Amer. iv. 29 If you listen carefully to the Ellington recording of ‘C Jam Blues’, you will hear a definitive example of the walking bass—1234/1234/1234, over and over again.
1995 Wire Jan. 56/1 There is a gently cheerful, loping 6/8 tune..; something sinister, funky and bluesy on a grooving, walking bass; and the occasional bit of anarchic free improvisation.
walking beat n. Music (esp. Jazz) a beat in 4/4 time suggestive of the rhythm of walking, in jazz esp. as created by the walking bass (see walking bass n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > proportion of notes or rhythm > [noun] > action of putting into rhythm > types of rhythm
swing1829
sprung rhythm1877
dance-rhythm1880
ragtime1896
slow drag1901
rumba1912
polymetre1922
cross-rhythm1926
tangana1926
counter-rhythm1927
ride1935
walking beat1935
ricky-tick1937
rock1937
shuffle rhythm1940
isorhythm1954
shuffle beat1955
tango rhythm1966
makossa1973
1935 F. G. Carnochan & H. C. Adamson Empire of Snakes 69 The sound came from the road that led through the thick brush..and boomed in the slow tempo of a walking beat.
1952 Mademoiselle Dec. 118 And that's the basic jazz beat, that walking beat.
1994 K. Barrs Music Wks. 43 Ask half the group to clap the walking beat, and the rest to clap the running beat, while singing the song.
walking boss n. U.S. a person whose job is to supervise a number of work crews, thus often walking between them; cf. sense 2c.
ΚΠ
1868 Tioga County (Pa.) Agitator 22 July 1/7 I roomed with Mark Lede, a walking boss.
1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail iii. 25 I think M. & D. is rather full up just now... I'm walkin'-boss there.
2003 New Yorker 1 Sept. 95/2 Over the years, Ryan had risen from mucker to foreman, or ‘walking boss’.
walking bus n. a supervised group of children walking between school and home, and joining or leaving the group at designated points.
ΚΠ
1993 D. Engwicht Reclaiming our Cities & Towns v. 144 To increase the profile of the Walking Bus, a coloured line can be painted on the side of the road to indicate where it runs.
1997 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 28 May 9 ‘The walking bus’ concept, where children travel in larger groups with parental supervision.
2003 Christian Sci. Monitor (Electronic ed.) 21 Oct. 15 The walking bus's popularity has spread more slowly in the US than abroad.
walking catfish n. any of several catfishes which can propel themselves over land for short distances using their pectoral fins for support; esp. Clarias batrachus (family Clariidae), native to South-East Asia and introduced in Florida and elsewhere.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Siluriformes (catfish) > [noun] > member of family Clariidae (walking catfish)
walking catfish1873
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxvi. 544 Walking catfish... The lake contains a species of ‘catfish with legs’ which are found in other alkaline lakes in this region. I give the name as used there, but think them a species of siredons.
1952 Daily Rev. (Hayward, Calif.) 5 Nov. 7/2 Another subspecies is the famous ‘walking catfish’ of Africa.
1984 USA Today 6 Apr. 3 b/1 Walking catfish were imported from Thailand to Florida in 1960 by a fish farmer who sold them to aquarium owners to keep their tanks clean.
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes v. 56/2 The walking catfish uses a different strategy when confronted with drought conditions. It ‘walks away’ to find another pond, using a side-to-side lurching action.
walking delegate n. (in sense 2c) a trade-union official with a roving commission who visits sick members, interviews employers, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > those involved in labour relations > [noun] > member of trade union > shop steward
shop steward1854
union representative1873
walking delegate1889
steward1943
union rep1948
1889 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Feb. 227 I had no experience of strikes, and ‘the walking delegate’ was not yet stepping westward.
1892 W. D. Howells Mercy 131 He must be a walking-delegate, and..had probably come on mischief from some of the workpeople in her father's employ.
a1910 ‘M. Twain’ What is Man? (1917) 198 Fridolin..started a labor-union, the first one in history. In Germany and Switzerland.., the peasantry speak of him affectionately as the first walking delegate.
1967 A. A. Sloan & F. Witney Labor Rel. ii. 46 The union sent a ‘Walking delegate’ to..ensure that the wages and conditions of the contract were being honored.
walking doll n. a mechanically operated doll that can be made to move its legs.
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society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [noun] > walking or talking doll
walking doll1856
talking doll1925
walkie-talkie doll1943
1818 T. G. Fessenden Ladies Monitor 69 See Fanny Flytrap glitter at a ball, A brisk automaton, a walking doll.]
1856 Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Oct. 262/1 The introduction of gutta-percha has given a new element; and crying dolls, walking dolls, and talking dolls, make grandmothers feel that they lived a century too early.
1886 C. M. Yonge Chantry House II. xvi. 158 A Chinese walking doll was sent..for the amusement of Miss Winslow's school children.
1990 Asian Theatre Jrnl. 7 120 Aling Petrona..hurls the walking doll Mila sent from abroad.
walking dragline n. Mining a large machine for excavating land, supported and propelled by movable feet.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > mining equipment > [noun] > other mining equipment
dial1681
stick1708
motty1797
nail1839
spiking crib or curb1839
spile1841
bull1849
dag1863
ore bin1867
monitor1873
Billy Fairplay1876
snibble1883
brattice-cloth1885
breaker1885
steam point1895
picking belt1900
self-rescuer1924
rock duster1930
walking dragline1930
1930 Brownsville (Texas) Herald 28 Dec. (Delta Orchards section) 7/3 Three large walking dragline machines are at work constructing the intake canal towards the Rio Grande.
1975 Audubon Mar. 81/3 The great walking draglines, with booms as long as 200 feet and buckets of up to 13-cubic-yard capacity, extend the broad gash farther across the rolling prairie.
2005 New Yorker 10 Oct. 68/3 The walking draglines gnawing at the overburden needed tall rigid masts to help support their four-chord booms.
walking epidural n. a combination of a low-dose epidural anaesthetic with a spinal narcotic, intended to produce pain relief to a woman during childbirth while affording the subject some lower-body muscular control.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > anaesthetic > [noun] > local > spinal
spinal1938
epidural1970
walking epidural1995
1995 Western Jrnl. Med. 162 55/1 The use of the combined spinal-epidural technique has been particularly helpful for patients in early labor or for those seeking a more natural delivery—that is, some analgesia but full or greater motor control. This technique has even permitted women to ambulate during labor and is commonly referred to as a ‘walking epidural’.
2008 Times (Nexis) 27 Mar. (Features section) 8 Modern low-dose ‘walking epidurals’ allow women to remain active while retaining the muscle strength to push out the baby.
walking funeral n. now historical a funeral in which the coffin, propelled on a bier, is escorted on foot (as opposed to being transported on a horse-drawn hearse).
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the world > life > death > obsequies > [noun] > a funeral > type of
out-funeral1637
walking funeral1772
1772 G. Wright Sylvan Lett. vii, in Rural Christian 118 As..we are not far from the church, it was a walking funeral.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge ix. 285 I wish I may only have a walking funeral, and never be buried decent with a mourning-coach and feathers.
1948 F. Thompson Still glides Stream i. 9 At least one walking funeral had passed that way.
1983 L. Taylor Mourning Dress i. 40 Even amongst the poor there were grades of funerals. The grandest involved the use of a horse-drawn hearse, but much more common was a ‘walking funeral’ where the coffin was wheeled on its hearse.
walking gentleman n. (a) Theatre a male actor playing a small part with little or no speaking (cf. sense 7) (historical); †(b) a man who has either no need or no desire for an occupation (obsolete).
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor playing specific type of part > with little or nothing to say
property boy1685
supernumerary1755
walking gentleman1769
walking lady1769
figurant1775
statist1807
showgirl?1836
super1838
walker-on1876
property child1885
supe1885
walk-on1923
spear-carrier1960
1769Walking gentleman [see sense 7].
1794 C. Mathews Let. 14 June in A. Mathews Mem. C. Mathews (1838) I. v. 86 And asked me if I would like to play walking gentleman.
1804 M. Edgeworth Rosanna v, in Pop. Tales II. 148 Soft Simon had reduced himself to the lowest class of Stalkos, or walking gentlemen, as they are termed; men who have nothing to do, and no fortune to support them, but who style themselves esquire.
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xvi. 263 A d——d cake-house, the resort of walking gentlemen of all descriptions, poets, players, painters, musicians.
1827 J. Barrington Personal Sketches Own Times I. 62 Nothing..could induce me to remain a walking gentleman: and so, every occupation that I could think of having its peculiar disqualification, I remained..in a state of great uncertainty.
1867 G. Smith Three Eng. Statesmen (1882) 130 George III. tried unconstitutional monarchy, first by Lord Bute, a walking-gentleman, and failed.
1927 Times 29 Sept. 15/6 Where Mary enters none but she can hold the centre of the stage. The rest—princes, potentates, powers—become mere walking gentlemen and supernumeraries.
1994 H. Williams Dock Leaves 59 They let the first Walking Gentleman go after only one warning just for lying down between the Acts.
walking orchid n. rare the heath spotted orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids
standengussa1400
standelworta1500
gandergoose?1550
adder's grass1551
ragwort1552
cuckoo orchis1578
fool's ballocks1578
Palma Christi1578
standergrass1578
fool's stones1597
fox-stones1597
goat's stones1597
goat stones1597
testicles1597
dead man's finger1604
long purples1604
dead man's thumb1652
man orchis1670
monkey orchisa1678
meadow orchis1753
military orchis1784
male orchis1785
ram's horn1832
lady orchis1846
dead man's hand1853
scorpion plant1866
phalaenopsid1880
walking orchid1910
soldier orchid1934
1910 Friar Park, Henley, Guide (ed. 3) 244 Orchis maculata. The Walking Orchid. This Orchid, like several other species, seeks new pastures every year.
walking sickness n. now rare an illness in which the sufferer is not bedridden and is still capable of carrying out some normal activities.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > types > [noun] > non-confining disease
walking sickness1820
1820 Caledonian Mercury 5 Aug. 3/5 The Statements are required to specify... The quantum and duration of sickness,..distinguishing bedfast sickness, walking sickness, or any other description recognized by the Society.
1837 J. R. McCulloch Statist. Acct. Brit. Empire II. v. iv. 574 In other chronic diseases.., the patient can attend partially to his business: he is in possession of half his faculties... This is walking sickness.
1914 Times 26 Feb. 11/4 There is less of what the doctors call walking sickness since the Insurance Act has been in force.
walking whale n. any of various extinct animals thought to form an intermediate between terrestrial mammals and modern whales, with the ability to walk; (now) esp. Ambulocetus natans, an amphibious quadruped of the Eocene epoch, known from fossil remains discovered in Pakistan.
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1981 Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.) 29 Jan. 6/4 Phillip D. Gingerich..found a skull and several teeth..and came to the conclusion they belonged to an ancient walking whale.
1994 New Scientist 22 Jan. 9/2 Palaeontologists from the US and Pakistan have discovered a 50-million-year-ol fossil whale with legs. Ambulocetus, the walking whale, had short, stocky hind legs and large feet.
2006 PLoS Computational Biol. (online journal, accessed 22 Apr. 2008) 2 1499/2 Paleontologists discovered more fossils of ancient walking whales. In 2001 Phil Gingerich..described a skeleton of the seal-like species Rodhocetus.
walking wounded n. (with plural agreement) casualties who are able to walk despite their injuries; also in extended use.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > sick person > [noun] > needing conveyance > not
walking wounded1864
up-patient1952
the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun] > power of > casualties who are able to walk
walking wounded1864
1864 U.S. Sanitary Comm. Bull. 1 June 452/2 A mingled crowd of army wagons and ambulances, stragglers and walking wounded, has passed.., forming a spectacle beyond description.
1898 H. F. Keenan Conflict with Spain ii. iv. 348 I passed a good many of the walking wounded... The men were..bravely and uncomplainingly plodding along through the mud.
1917 Times 4 May 9/2 Special arrangements are being made for the accommodation of walking wounded and their nurses.
1965 Economist 4 Dec. 1072/2 Governor Rockefeller..has been one of the political walking-wounded since his unpopular remarriage in 1963.
1972 Guardian 23 Dec. 8/1 There are many less conspicuous casualties, the walking wounded of the affluent society.
1982 B. Beaumont Thanks to Rugby xiv. 177 We had the distinct advantage of training..with the full attendance of thirty players, less the walking wounded.
2003 T. G. Veenema Disaster Nursing iv. 95/2 In the military, the practice of triage is to sort the wounded into three groups, the walking wounded, the seriously wounded, and the fatally wounded.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1325
adj.OE