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bilk

  [bilk]
Use bilk in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to defraud; cheat: He bilked the government of almost a million dollars.
2. to evade payment of (a debt).
3. to frustrate: a career bilked by poor health.
4. to escape from; elude: to bilk one's pursuers.
–noun
5. a cheat; swindler.
6. a trick; fraud; deceit.
Origin:
1625–35; of obscure orig.

Related forms:
bilker, noun

Synonyms:
1. swindle, trick, dupe, fleece, rook.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bilk
bilk   (bĭlk)   
tr.v.   bilked, bilk·ing, bilks
    1. To defraud, cheat, or swindle: made millions bilking wealthy clients on art sales.
    2. To evade payment of: bilk one's debts.
  2. To thwart or frustrate: "Fate . . . may be to a certain extent bilked" (Thomas Carlyle).
  3. To elude.
n.  
  1. One who cheats.
  2. Obsolete A hoax or swindle.

[Perhaps alteration of balk.]
bilk'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Bilk

Bilk\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bilked; p. pr. & vb. n. Bilking.] [Origin unknown. Cf. Balk.] To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by nonfulfillment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to; as, to bilk a creditor. --Thackeray.

Bilk

Bilk\, n. 1. A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk.

2. A cheat; a trick; a hoax. --Hudibras.

3. Nonsense; vain words. --B. Jonson.

4. A person who tricks a creditor; an untrustworthy, tricky person. --Marryat.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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bilk  (v.)
1651, from the noun (1633), first used as a cribbage term. Origin obscure, it was believed in 17c. to be "a word signifying nothing," perhaps of Arab origin; but it is rather perhaps a thinned form of balk. Meaning "to defraud" is first recorded 1672.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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