Forms: (5 kakun), 6 calkyn, 7 cawkin, 7– calkin, calking. [Possibly going back to a ME. *calkain, a. OF. calcain heel:—L. calcāneum heel; but the earliest form kakun agrees with the Du. kalkoen, MDu. calcoen ‘ungula,’ f. L. calx.]
1. The turned-down ends of a horse-shoe that raise the horse’s heels from the ground; also a turned edge under the front of the shoe; applied esp. to these parts when sharpened in a frost.
1445. Bokenham, Female Saints (1683), 223. Tweyn hors … Of wych the toon hym greuously boot, And wyth hys kakun the tother hym smoot.
1587. Holinshed, Scot. Chron., U iij b. Causyng a smyth to shoe three horses for him contrarily, with the calkyns forward.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 413. Little grauell stones getting betwixt the hooue, or calking, or spunge of the [horse’s] shooe.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. xcvii. 387. Let your [horse-]shooes behinde haue a cawkin on the out-side.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., I. s.v. Bleymes, Calkings spoil the Feet of a Horse.
1868. Regul. & Ord. Army, ¶ 1214. The calkins of the hind shoes are to be removed, as these are not needed on board.
2. The irons nailed on the heels and soles of strong shoes or clogs to make them wear longer.
1832. Southey, Lett. (1856), IV. 314. The price of men’s clogs is five shillings…. This price includes calking, i. e. the iron-work.
