Middle English Dictionary Entry
walk(e n.
Entry Info
| Forms | walk(e n. Also (early) walc. |
| Etymology | From walken v.(1); for sense (a) also cp. OE wealc-, walc- (as in wealc-spinl), gewealc & ON (cp. OI vā̆lk). |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. iwealc n.
1.
(a) Tossing, rolling [last quot.]; also, strife; ~ and win;
(b) the act of traveling or walking; maken ~, to go on a march;
(c) a journey, an excursion; a stroll;
(d) a path, walkway;
(e) as term of association: a ~ of snites, a flock of snipes.
Associated quotations
a
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)204 : Þar aros walc [Otho: wale] & win & wiðer-heppes feola.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)1272 : Þa heora fader wes dæd, þe sunen duden vuelne ræd; Bi-tweonen heom aræs walc & win.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)3103 : We habbeð ihaued…moni hunger & moni þurst, moni walc, moni wind bi wilde þisse watere.
b
- a1300 Bestiary (Arun 292)511 : A tre he sekeð to fuligewis…& leneð him…ðer bi ðanne he is of walke weri.
- (a1460) Vegetius(2) (Pmb-C 243)594 : An olde vsage it was To make walk thryes in euery mone, And tho they wente a chiualerys paas x myle outward, the men of armys, none Vnharneysed, the footmen euerychone Bowed, tacled, darted, jacked, saladed, Vitaile eke born withal.
c
- (c1385) Chaucer CT.Kn.(Manly-Rickert)A.1069 : Emelye the shene Was in hir walk and romed vp and doun.
- a1400 Cursor (Frf 14)8795 : We soȝt þe forest in al our walke for to seke a maister balke.
- a1425(c1385) Chaucer TC (Benson-Robinson)1.190 : In his walk ful faste he gan to wayten If knyght or squyer of his compaignie Gan for to syke.
- c1450 Treat.Fish.(Yale 171)143/13 : The angleer…schall angul And ȝet at þe leste he schall haue hys holsom walke & mery at hys own ease, and also mony a sweyt eayr of dyuers erbis & flowres.
- c1475 Guy(1) (Cai 107/176)11011 : This gentyll Gye, of whome I talke, Thorough all the world hath he hys walke.
d
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)5.113 : Couetyse…was…In A toren Tabart of twelue Wynter Age; But ȝif a lous couþe lepe, I con hit not I-leue Heo scholde wandre on þat walk, hit was so þred-bare.
- a1425(?a1400) RRose (Htrn 409)2505 : Thus shalt thou…gete enchesoun to goone ageyne Vnto thi walke or to thi place Where thou biheelde hir fleshly face.
- a1500(?a1390) Mirk Fest.(GoughETop 4)55/13 : Þe vnycorn…[is] soo feers þat þer may no hunter take hym…But þus he woll spye wher hys walk ys, and þer he settyþe a woman þat ys clene mayden.
e
- a1450 Terms Assoc.(1) (Rwl D.328)603 : A falle of Wodekokys, a Walke of snytes, a congregacione of plouerys.