walker

See also: Walker

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːkə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔkɚ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑkɚ/
• Homophone: waulker
• Hyphenation: walk‧er
• Rhymes: -ɔːkə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English walkere (“one who walks, traveller”), equivalent to walk +‎ -er.

Noun

walker (plural walkers)

1. The agent noun of to walk: a person who walks or a thing which walks, especially a pedestrian or a participant in a walking race.
   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 118:

     I would ask for the pleasure of your company, Mr. Knightley, but I am a very slow walker, and my pace would be tedious to you; and, besides, you have another long walk before you, to Donwell Abbey.

   • 2005, Carlo De Vito, 10 Secrets My Dog Taught Me: Life Lessons from a Man's Best Friend, page 88:

     We hired a walker for the dogs during the day.

2. A walking frame or baby walker.

   Hyponyms: walking frame, baby walker, Zimmer frame

3. (often in the plural) A shoe designed for comfortable walking. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
4. (fiction) A zombie.
   • 1980, Gary Brandner, chapter 17, in Walkers (fiction; paperback), Fawcett Publications, →ISBN:

     Dead people, walkers, as you call them, are somehow, and for some reason, attacking.

5. A male escort who accompanies a woman to an event.
   • 1980 December 29, New York, volume 14, number 1, page 26:

     He's really just a 'walker' for old ladies!" Walkers, now, are a special breed of pilot fish — entertaining male escorts.

   • 1981, Spare rib: Volumes 108-119:

     Women at the top — Lady Di and Nancy Reagan in particular — apparently have 'walkers' — men to escort them on public and private occasions providing a respectable cover, while the male who is their sexual partner is off on more pressing business.

   • 1984, Clemens David Heymann, Poor little rich girl: the life and legend of Barbara Hutton:

     In the vernacular of the trade, he was what is commonly known as "a walker" — an entertaining male escort who is usually sexually unthreatening […]

   • 2007, The Walker (film about a male escort)
6. A gressorial bird.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
7. (law) A forester.
8. (science fiction) A kind of military robot or mecha with legs for locomotion.
   • 2011, Dave Wolverton, The Courtship of Princess Leia: Star Wars Legends, page 144:

     Two of the walkers circled the pillars. Their searchlights played through the trees, then turned back to Leia and the others.

   • 2019, Joe Meno, BrickJournal #60, page 37:

     It also takes a good amount of inspiration from Metal Gear Solid 4's biomechanical designs, namely the Gekko walkers and their synthetic musculature.

9. (cricket) A batsman or batswoman who directly walks off the field when out without waiting for the umpire's decision.
10. (Philippines) A prostitute, streetwalker.
    • 2019 June 22, Charisse Ursal, “Social media lures young people to engage in sex for money”, in Philippine Daily Inquirer‎:

      A single mother of three, Rachel is what Facebook users call as ^[sic] “walker,” or an online sex worker. Using a dummy account, she posts her sexy photos and informs page visitors that she’s available for sex in exchange for money.

Usage notes

The meaning 'zombie' is used especially in reference to The Walking Dead; in that series, the term 'walker' is usually used, rather than 'zombie'.

Synonyms

• walking frame
• rollator
• (British) Zimmer frame, zimmer frame

Derived terms

• baby walker
• bear walker
• CAM walker
• dogwalker
• fieldwalker
• fire walker
• floor-walker
• highwire walker
• high-wire walker
• jaywalker
• jay-walker
• line walker
• mall walker
• planeswalker
• race walker
• random walker
• shop-walker
• skinwalker
• slackrope walker
• stiltwalker
• tightrope walker
• wing walker

 

Descendants

• → Irish: válcaeir
• → Persian: واکر (vâker)

Translations

person who walks

Arabic: مَاشٍ m (māšin) Bulgarian: пешеходец (bg) m (pešehodec) Czech: chodec (cs) m Dutch: wandelaar (nl) Estonian: kõndija, käija Finnish: kävelijä (fi) French: marcheur (fr) m Georgian: მავალი (mavali), მოსიარულე (mosiarule) Greek: πεζοπόρος (el) m or f (pezopóros), περιπατητής (el) m (peripatitís) Indonesian: pejalan (id), pejalan kaki (id) Irish: válcaeir m Italian: camminatore m Malay: pejalan (ms) Middle English: walkere Norman: marcheux m (Jersey) Polish: piechur (pl) m, chodziarz (pl) m Portuguese: andarilho (pt), caminhante (pt) Russian: ходо́к (ru) m (xodók), пешехо́д (ru) m (pešexód) (pedestrian) Scottish Gaelic: coisiche m Sinhalese: sprehajalec, sprehajalka Spanish: caminante (es) m Swedish: gående (sv) c, fotgängare (sv) c, vandrare (sv) c, gångare (sv) c (especially in walking races)

walking frame

Bulgarian: проходилка f (prohodilka) French: déambulateur (fr) m Hungarian: járókeret Icelandic: göngugrind (is) f Italian: deambulatore m Norwegian: Bokmål: rullator (no) m Persian: واکر (vâker) Portuguese: andador m Spanish: andador (es) m, andadera f Swedish: rollator (sv) c

shoe designed for comfortable walking

Finnish: kävelykenkä Swedish: gångsko c

Etymology 2

Noun

walker (plural walkers)

1. Alternative form of waulker

Derived terms

• walker's earth

Further reading

• walker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• walker (mobility) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• rewalk

Cebuano

Etymology

From English walker, from Middle English walkere, from Old English wealcere.

Noun

walker

1. (slang) a prostitute

Manx

Etymology

From walk (“waulk, full, tuck”) +‎ -er.

Noun

walker m (genitive singular walker, plural walkeryn)

1. tucker

   Synonym: walkeyder

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

walker

1. Alternative form of walkere (“traveller”)

Etymology 2

Noun

walker

1. Alternative form of walkere (“fuller”)