caulk

also calk (kôk)

v. caulked, caulk·ing, caulks also calked or calk·ing or calks

v.tr.

1. To make watertight or airtight by filling or sealing: caulk a pipe joint; caulked the cracks between the boards with mud.

2. Nautical To make (a boat) watertight by packing seams with a waterproof material, such as oakum or pitch.

v.intr.

To apply caulking: caulked all around the window frame.

Caulking.

[Middle English cauken, to press, from Old North French cauquer, from Latin calcāre, to tread, from calx, heel.]

caulk′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Following the housewarming, which was accomplished by means of seal-oil and a wick made from cotton calking, came the hunting for our winter's meat and the building of the second hut.

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Twenty feet away a weary-faced sailor was calking the deck.

The carpenter was engaged constantly in attempting to locate such places, and, when he succeeded, in calking them tighter and tighter.

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There I was im- mediately set to calking, and very soon learned the art of using my mallet and irons.

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representative sample of 7,054 adolescents, in which Calking et al.

Schizotypal traits and psychotic-like experiences during adolescence: an update/Rasgos esquizotipicos y experiencias psicoticas atenuadas en la adolescencia: una actualizacion

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