Walked

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /wɔːkt/

Definitions

1. To shift one's body from place to place by sequentially placing one foot in front of the other while upright and balancing
2. To advance in a forward direction on foot, typically at a steady, measured pace while coordinating body movement
3. To move along a surface by placing one foot after the other in a rhythmic manner while maintaining balance and a controlled pace

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "walked" is that its root once meant something close to rolling or tumbling. The verb "walk" comes from Old English "wealcan," which meant to roll, toss, or turn, and could describe a cloth being churned or a body rolling about. The sense of moving on foot developed out of this rolling and turning idea, and the word has Germanic relatives with the same general motion. Dutch "zwalken" still means to walk around, while German "walken" once meant to full cloth, that is, to thicken it by beating and soaking it. "Walked" is simply the past tense and past participle of "walk," so its story is the story of that verb. Its close cousin in English is "waulk," a doublet that survives mainly in the sense of fulling cloth, showing how one ancient root split into two English words with different uses.

Synonyms: strolled, ambled, sauntered, hiked, trudged

Antonyms: ran, sprinted, jogged, dashed, flew