▪ I. caulking, vbl. n.
(ˈkɔːkɪŋ)
[f. caulk v.]
1. The action of the verb caulk. Also fig.
| 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (1841) 70 To the Spanyard for kalkyng iijd. 1577 Eden & Willes Hist. Trav. 224 b, Lycour..lyke vnto pytche..very commodious for the calkyng of shyppes. 1692 in Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. i. xvi. 76 Caulking, is driving of Ockham, Span-hair, and the like into all the seams of the Ship, to keep out Water. 1884 Law Times 10 May 26/2 Repairs of caulking. |
2. attrib. and in comb., as caulking-chisel, a chisel for closing the seams between iron plates; caulking-iron, an instrument resembling a chisel used for driving the oakum into the seams of ships; caulking-mallet, a mallet for driving this.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 13 A calking Iron and a Mallet. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. cxlvi, Their left-hand does the calking-iron guide. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1861) V. 75 [Peter the Great] wielded with his own hand the caulking iron and the mallet. 1879 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 41 Docks, timber yards, calking basins, and ship⁓builders' yards. |
▪ II. caulking
see also cauking.