Home › Words › W › walkawaywalkawaywalkaway means A small town in the City of Greater Geraldton, Western Australia.EtymologyA corruption of an Aborigine term, wagga wah.nameA small town in the City of Greater Geraldton, Western Australia.nounA case of a person walking away (e.g. an inmate from a facility, a cult member from a community); a person who walks away.e.g.“There had been several walkaways from the juvenile center.”An easy victory; a very unequal contest (also used attributively).e.g.“The upcoming election is unlikely to be a walkaway for the encumbent.”A business termination in which the entrepreneur winds up the business with its obligations met.A property that has been abandoned when the mortgager failed to make their payments, while the mortgagee has abandoned its foreclosure action to avoid the costs associated with ownership.e.g.“Newer construction usually means more empty houses. Foreclosures and walkaways are a lot higher for them than for the developments that date back to the 1970s.” — 2011, Steve Campbell (as Nova), chapter 12, in Gardener Summer:In a negotiation, the terms representing the least a party is willing to accept (also used attributively).e.g.“walkaway price; walkaway point”A vehicle lease under which the lessee is not responsible for the value of the vehicle at the end of the lease period.Intended to be consumed while walking.e.g.“The colorful proceedings are augmented by the presence of vendors who serve steamed, cracked crabs out of cauldrons, along with other walkaway fish specialties.” — 2012, Rosanna Cirigliano and Richard Fremantle, “Fisherman’s Wharf”, in San Francisco, page 37:A kind of sweet pastry containing cream cheese.e.g.“[…] I hang around with her for a few hous and talk and go to Ida’s and get her chocolate shakes or walkaways or magazines.” — 1984, John Fox, chapter 14, in The Boys on the Rock, page 76:A meal break during which food is not provided, and workers are expected to leave the location to eat.The theft of a suitcase at a hotel through distraction, deception, etc.; a person who engages in this type of theft.e.g.“The Walkaway has a hundred variations which all come down to a distraction at the critical time when your luggage has not yet been assigned to the charge of one particular bellman.” — 1954, Stewart Sterling, chapter 3, in I Was a House Detective, pages 25-26:An elevated enclosed passage providing access fore and aft from the bridge of a merchant vessel; any similarly elevated walkway.e.g.“Between the two houses the deck is so low that waves often wash over it, and so there has to be a high bridge called a walkaway or a catwalk.” — 1953, Mary Elting, Ships at Work, pages 37-38:A type of sea shanty.e.g.“A rope or “purchase” thrown over the stern of the ship was held by men on each side of the deck, and as they marched forward scraping the bottom with the rope, they sang the walkaway in unison.” — 1972, Duncan Emrich, chapter 28, in Folklore on the American Land, page 439:A person who forgets to take their change after purchasing a ticket at the circus; the money abandoned in this way.Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).