subs. and verb (nautical).—1. Sleep; to sleep. In substantive form it sometimes appears as CAULKING. TO CAULK formerly meant ‘to pick out a soft plank,’ i.e., to lie down on deck; to sleep with one’s clothes on. [Cf., BUNDLING.]
1836. MARRYAT, Mr. Midshipman Easy, xix. 113. ‘But its no go with old Smallsole, if I want a bit of CAULK.’
1851. Chambers’s Papers for the People, No. 52, p. 30. Sleeping upon deck is called, I know not why, ‘CALKING.’
2. Verb.—To cease; to shut up; i.e., to stop one’s talk or leave off talking. [This usage is obviously derived from the legitimate meaning of the word, to stop up crevices and seams.] For synonyms, see STOW IT.
3. (common).—To copulate; to do the ‘act of kind.’ For synonyms, see RIDE.
