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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use balk in a sentence
"GAR Balks at Southern Flag in Parade," reported The Baltimore Sun.
Star-Spangled Confederates: How Southern Sympathizers Decided Our National Anthem | Jefferson Morley | July 4, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTSlate balks at the idea that Pope Francis will be a revolutionary figure.
After the gender change, Anoosh feels more comfortable with her female identity, but her fiancé balks at marriage.
If an actor balks at the deal, the studios say they will move to another choice immediately.
But if it should be new ground he must go after and press them skilfully, for the flock-mind balks chiefly at the unknown.
Introduction to the Science of Sociology | Robert E. Park
All this work was securely done, with balks of seasoned wood, iron girders, and concreting.
The Old Front Line | John MasefieldTraces of it still exist in the Highlands, and there are well-known remains of its strips and balks also in Wales.
The English Village Community | Frederic SeebohmThe shots or furlongs are divided from one another by broader balks, generally overgrown with bushes.
The English Village Community | Frederic SeebohmThe green tree may have been suggested to his mind by an actual tree growing out of one of the balks.
The English Village Community | Frederic Seebohm
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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