/ · 1894 Brewer’s · L · Long Chalk (A) or Long Chalks
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He beat me by a long chalk or by long chalks. By a good deal; by many marks. The allusion is to the game of dominoes, where the notation is made by chalk on a table.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.