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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



... the vault. It is without inscription, but bears the arms of the Earl of Clancarty. The convent as well as the church is in very tolerable preservation; and Mr. Herbert has taken especial care, as far as he can, to balk the consumer, time, of the remnants of his glorious feast. He has repaired the foundations in some parts and the parapets in others, and so judiciously that the eye is never annoyed by the intrusion of the new among ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors - Vol. II Great Britain And Ireland, Part Two • Francis W. Halsey
... allowed himself to be tamed and was soon quiet. The third, on the other hand, turned out to be one of the worst buckers Roosevelt possessed; and the fourth had a habit which was even worse, for he would balk and throw himself over backward. It struck Roosevelt that there was something about this refractory animal's disposition, to say nothing of his Roman nose, which greatly reminded him of the eminent Democrat, General Ben Butler, and "Ben Butler" became ...
— Roosevelt in the Bad Lands • Hermann Hagedorn
... neither did she balk. She picked a straw, and then shrieked faintly. It was obviously a long ...
— Let'em Breathe Space • Lester del Rey
... went the more certain it was that this new element was going to balk them. It was fog. The horizon was masked by it, and soon the damp feel of it ...
— Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns - Sinking the German U-Boats • Halsey Davidson
... tires of bicycles go pop, Balloons will go and balk, So taking all in all, I think If I ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17) - Fun and Thought for Little Folk • Various


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