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Balk   /bɔk/  /bɑlk/   Listen
noun
Balk  n.  
1.
A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside. "Bad plowmen made balks of such ground."
2.
A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks." "Tubs hanging in the balks."
3.
(Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.
4.
A hindrance or disappointment; a check. "A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker."
5.
A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
6.
(Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. It is illegal and is penalized by allowing the runners on base to advance one base.
Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game.


verb
Balk  v. t.  (past & past part. balked; pres. part. balking)  
1.
To leave or make balks in. (Obs.)
2.
To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. (Obs.) "Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see."
3.
To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. (Obs.)
4.
To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. (Obs. or Obsolescent) "By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns." "Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat." "Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth."
5.
To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, to balk expectation. "They shall not balk my entrance."


Balk  v. i.  
1.
To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. (Obs.) "In strifeful terms with him to balk."
2.
To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks. Note: This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's "Faerie Queene," Book IV., 10, xxv. "Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt, Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt."
3.
(Baseball) To commit a balk (6); of a pitcher.


Balk  v. i.  To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Balk" Quotes from Famous Books



... face, Or put one feature out of place; Nor will you find your fortune sink By what they speak or what they think; Nor can ten hundred thousand lies Make you less virtuous, learn'd, or wise. The most effectual way to balk Their malice, ...
— The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume I (of 2) • Jonathan Swift
... anything below you which reason and your own circumstances require, and never suffer yourself to be deterred by the ill-grounded notions of censure and reproach; but when honesty and conscience prompt you to say or do anything, do it boldly; never balk your resolution or start at ...
— Dickory Cronke - The Dumb Philosopher, or, Great Britain's Wonder • Daniel Defoe
... demoralization amid rank and file as to render the men unreliable in battle. I cannot give a more forcible, though homely, exemplification of the morale of the troops at that period than by comparing the Army to a team which has been allowed to balk at every hill, one portion will make strenuous efforts to advance, whilst the other will refuse to move, and thus paralyze the exertions of the first. Moreover, it will work faultlessly one day and stall the next. No reliance can be placed ...
— Memories - A Record of Personal Experience and Adventure During Four Years of War • Fannie A. (Mrs.) Beers
... Republican convention to be more explicit than it had hitherto ventured to be. As leader after leader arrived who was insistent upon a gold standard, it became increasingly evident to Hanna that he must proceed with caution. If McKinley committed himself to gold, the silver advocates would balk at his candidacy, and perhaps unite on somebody else; if he committed himself to silver, he would lose the eastern leaders. The astute Hanna therefore allowed sentiment in favor of the gold plank to gather force, although holding the discussion as far ...
— The United States Since The Civil War • Charles Ramsdell Lingley
... cannot deny it. It is so much pleasanter to give than to pay, that I can never find heart to balk myself. I am ever surrounded by suitors. Some have lost estates in my cause, others have rendered brilliant services in the field, some have burdened themselves with debts to put their retainers in arms—all ...
— Saint George for England • G. A. Henty


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