balk
or baulk
to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually followed by at): He balked at making the speech.
(of a horse, mule, etc.) to stop short and stubbornly refuse to go on.
Baseball. to commit a balk.
to place an obstacle in the way of; hinder; thwart: a sudden reversal that balked her hopes.
Archaic. to let slip; fail to use: to balk an opportunity.
a check or hindrance; defeat; disappointment.
a strip of land left unplowed.
a crossbeam in the roof of a house that unites and supports the rafters; tie beam.
any heavy timber used for building purposes.
Baseball. an illegal motion by a pitcher while one or more runners are on base, as a pitch in which there is either an insufficient or too long a pause after the windup or stretch, a pretended throw to first or third base or to the batter with one foot on the pitcher's rubber, etc., resulting in a penalty advancing the runner or runners one base.
Billiards. any of the eight panels or compartments lying between the cushions of the table and the balklines.
Obsolete. a miss, slip, or failure: to make a balk.
Idioms about balk
in balk, inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table.
Origin of balk
1Other words for balk
Other words from balk
- balker, noun
- balk·ing·ly, adverb
- un·balked, adjective
- un·balk·ing, adjective
- un·balk·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby balk
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use balk in a sentence
Sidebar: the Electoral College is the balk rule of government.
“Megalodon fossils appear in shallower marine sediments,” balk said.
Shark Week Is Lying Again: Megalodon Is Definitely Extinct | David Shiffman | August 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAlthough my temptation is to balk like a sitcom father—“Whaddya mean these guys are famous for Tweeting?!”
Producers are not likely to want to hire another actor who may balk at the pressure of filming the major project.
Meet Jamie Dornan: ’50 Shades of Grey's' New Christian Grey | Kevin Fallon | October 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTUnlike entitlement cuts, sequester cuts must be renewed every year by Congress, and sooner or later, Congress will likely balk.
Republicans Don’t Really Care About Reducing America’s Debt | Peter Beinart | October 21, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
In the first place the result of my pilgrimage was very doubtful, and in the second you would have done all you could to balk me.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonBut balk her in a whim, and she would pour forth the eloquence of a fish-wife or a lady of easy virtue in a pot-house quarrel.
A Lady of Quality | Frances Hodgson BurnettBoggs looked as though he were going to balk flat, until he saw Hal turn as though to summon a soldier.
Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants | H. Irving HancockBut there was no telling at what moment these fanatic Mexicans would discover what was going on, and balk it all.
Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants | H. Irving HancockI started to call her something or other a hundred times, I guess, and then I'd balk.
Ramsey Milholland | Booth Tarkington
British Dictionary definitions for balk
baulk
/ (bɔːk, bɔːlk) /
(intr usually foll by at) to stop short, esp suddenly or unexpectedly; jib: the horse balked at the jump
(intr foll by at) to turn away abruptly; recoil: he balked at the idea of murder
(tr) to thwart, check, disappoint, or foil: he was balked in his plans
(tr) to avoid deliberately: he balked the question
(tr) to miss unintentionally
a roughly squared heavy timber beam
a timber tie beam of a roof
an unploughed ridge to prevent soil erosion or mark a division on common land
an obstacle; hindrance; disappointment
baseball an illegal motion by a pitcher towards the plate or towards the base when there are runners on base, esp without delivering the ball
Origin of balk
1- See also baulk
Derived forms of balk
- balker or baulker, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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