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walking

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Etymology tree
Old English wealcende
Middle English walkynge
English walking

    From Middle English walkynge, walkinge, walkinde, walkende, walkand, walkande, from Old English wealcende (attested as Old English wealcendes), from Proto-Germanic *walkandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *walkaną (“to roll, trample, walk”), equivalent to walk +‎ -ing.

    Adjective

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    walking (not comparable)

    1. Incarnate as a human; living.
      Elizabeth knows so many words that they call her the walking dictionary.
      Phil's mother is a walking miracle after surviving that accident.
      • 2020 November 19, Kurran Karbal, Zuzu, “Woke Up” (0:22 from the start), in Adventure Time: Distant Lands - Obsidian (Original Soundtrack), performed by Olivia Olson:
        Honestly / You're a walking, talking, candy tragedy
    2. Able to walk in spite of injury or sickness.
    3. Characterized by or suitable for walking.
      a walking tour
      good walking shoes
    5. (figurative) Heavily characterized by some given quality.
      • 2000, Johnson Publishing Company (publisher), “How To Live With AIDS: A Personal Story By Rae Lewis-Thornton”, in Jet, volume 97, number 10, page 51:
        Today, she is a walking miracle from God. She is vibrant, healthy and happy as she continues to battle AIDS.
    6. (music) Being a style of bass accompaniment or line, common in Baroque music (1600–1750) and 20th century jazz, blues and rockabilly, which creates a feeling of regular quarter note movement, akin to the regular alternation of feet while walking.
      a walking bass, or walking bassline
    Derived terms
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    Translations
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    Verb

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    walking

    1. present participle and gerund of walk

    Etymology 2

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    From Middle English walkyng, walkinge, equivalent to walk +‎ -ing.

    Noun

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    walking (countable and uncountable, plural walkings)

    1. verbal noun of walk.
      After five hours' walking in the heat, I was close to exhaustion.
      • 1878 April 25 – September 24 (date written), Anthony Trollope, Ayala’s Angel […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall […], published 1881, →OCLC:
        Mrs Dosett, aware that daintiness was no longer within the reach of her and hers, did assent to these walkings in Kensington Gardens.
      • 2013 September-October, Rob Dorit, “These 'Bots Are Made for Walking”, in American Scientist‎[1], archived from the original on 30 November 2014:
        Walking seems so simple: Just put one foot in front of the other. Yet every step you take is a precarious act. When you walk, your body’s center of mass is rarely located over one of your feet.
      • 2018 July 17, Autumn Spanne, “Check out these crazy rock formations across the United States”, in CNN‎[2], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 17 December 2025:
        Turnip Rock is located in a portion of eastern Michigan dubbed the Thumb, where 140 miles of coastline and waterfront towns offer a variety of outdoor activities, including biking, walking and kayaking.
    Descendants
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    • → Japanese: ウォーキング
    Translations
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    Derived terms

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    See also

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