Dictionary

bechalk en · VERB

Etymology

From be- + chalk.

Meanings

1. (archaic) To cover with chalk, or whiten as if with chalk.
   • ...but there must be luxury in the glare of lustres to a man who has drudged at his desk by the light of a tallow candle, and how much handsomer must a floor appear to him when splendidly bechalked by a capital designer, than when besprinkled with a watering pot by a slipshod apprenticel 1856, Richard Cumberland, Memoirs of Richard Cumberland:
   • Not only do blue or red bills in windows indicate committee rooms, but the politically-minded town-youth expresses his sympathies or antipathies on the' mouldering walls of ancient colleges, which are bechalked with exhortations to vote for Hall or Fyife. 1885, The Mason College Magazine - Volumes 3-4, page 132:
   • Let fear give worse intelligence through your eyes, Make pale your lips, and so bechalk your cheeks That he shall stare as wild! 1840, George Darley, Thomas À Becket: A Dramatic Chronicle, in Five Acts, page 51:

Forms