- seal with oakum - 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. - To copy, as a drawing, by rubbing the back of it with red
or black chalk, and then passing a blunt style or needle over the
lines, so as to leave a tracing on the paper or other thing against
which it is laid or held. - A sharp-pointed piece of iron or steel projecting downward on
the shoe of a horse or an ox, to prevent the animal from slipping; --
called also calker, calkin. - An instrument with sharp points, worn on the sole of a shoe
or boot, to prevent slipping. - To furnish with calks, to prevent slipping on ice; as, to
calk the shoes of a horse or an ox.