CALK • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Calk

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verb

Calk v. t. (past & past part. calked; pres. part. calking)

To drive tarred oakum into the seams between the planks of (a ship, boat, etc.), to prevent leaking. The calking is completed by smearing the seams with melted pitch.

To make an indentation in the edge of a metal plate, as along a seam in a steam boiler or an iron ship, to force the edge of the upper plate hard against the lower and so fill the crevice.

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Etymology of 'Calk'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Calk" Quotes from Famous Books

... but really it could not be helped: information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter. Sometimes it has seemed to me that I would give worlds if I could retain my facts; but it cannot be. The more I calk up the sources, and the tighter I get, the more I leak wisdom. Therefore, I can only claim indulgence at the hands ...

— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... [43] purchased to calk the vessels [going to New Spain?] and other ships will amount to two hundred and ...

— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XIV., 1606-1609 • Various

Words linked to "Calk" : render, injure, caulk, calkin, provide, wound, cleat, animal husbandry, supply