caulk

1 of 3

verb

ˈkȯk 

variants or calk

caulked or calked; caulking or calking; caulks or calks

transitive verb

: to stop up and make tight against leakage (something, such as a boat or its seams, the cracks in a window frame, or the joints of a pipe)

caulker noun

caulk

2 of 3

noun (1)

variants or calk or less commonly caulking or calking

ˈkȯ-kiŋ 

: material used to caulk

caulk

3 of 3

noun (2)

variant spelling of calk entry 2, calk entry 3

: a cleat on the shoe of a horse to prevent slipping

also : a similar device worn on the sole of a shoe

Examples of caulk in a Sentence

Verb

He carefully caulked the area around the windows.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Replace leaky seals and caulk any gaps indoors. —Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 13 Mar. 2026

Instead, consider installing a door sweep, applying weatherstripping to the window frame, or caulking gaps around the window seams. —Gemma Johnstone, The Spruce, 27 Feb. 2026

Noun

If your home is older, the caulk around your windows and door frames has been baking in the sun and freezing through winters for years. —Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2026

More recently, Indigenous peoples such as the Chumash and the Yokuts used asphalt to make face paint, game pieces, glue, and waterproofing caulk for boats and baskets. —Jeffrey Marlow, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English caulken, from Anglo-French cauker, calcher, chalcher to trample, from Latin calcare, from calc-, calx heel

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

1954, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for caulk

• balk
• baulk
• bloc
• bock
• broch
• brock
• calk
• chalk
• chock
• clock
• cock
• croc

Kids Definition

caulk

verb

variants or calk

ˈkȯk

: to fill up a crack, seam, or joint so as to make it watertight

caulker noun