walker English · revision 5395

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1300}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈwɔː.kə/, US /ˈwɑː.kɚ/, /ˈwɔː.kɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|enm|walken|-er|alt1=walken|alt2=-er]], an agent noun from the verb [[walk]].^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ One who fulls cloth, by walking on it: about 1300 in Etymonline, and as a surname from the early 13th century.^(Etymonline) The OED's first quotation, of a person who walks in some manner, is from 1362.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A traveller or wanderer is from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline) and sometimes a prowler, as in ''nightwalker'' (mid-15th century).^(Etymonline) One who goes on foot, a pedestrian, is from the 1570s, 1578 in the OED,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and in slang a foot or leg from the 1610s.^(Etymonline) A competitor in walking races is from 1778,^(OED 1989) a person who exercises dogs from 1930,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and a frame to help a person walk from 1941.^(Etymonline) In late 20th-century American slang a walker is a man who escorts women at fashionable social events.^(SOED 2002)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a fuller of cloth.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1362 – one who walks.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1578 – a pedestrian.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1778 – a racing walker.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1930 – a dog walker.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1941 – a walking frame.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who walks, especially for exercise or in a race.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A frame used to support a person who has difficulty walking, or a baby learning to walk.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A shoe designed for comfortable walking.^(AHD)

+ # ''(US, slang)'' A man who escorts a woman to social events.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nightwalker]]

+ * [[ropewalker]]

+ * [[trackwalker]]

+ * [[wirewalker]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[walk]]

+ * [[fuller]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Walker!'' or ''Hookey Walker!'' was a slang retort of disbelief in London street speech of the early and mid-19th century, of unknown origin; it appears in Dickens's A Christmas Carol.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) The surname Walker, recorded from the early 13th century, comes from the fuller's trade.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}