calking


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