balk

or baulk

[ bawk ]

/ bɔk /

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See synonyms for: balk / balked / balking on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

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.

verb (used with object)

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.

noun

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.

OTHER WORDS FOR balk

4 check, retard, obstruct, impede, prevent.

See synonyms for balk on Thesaurus.com

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Idioms about balk

in balk, inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table.

Origin of balk

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English balca “covering, beam, ridge”; cognate with Old Norse bǫlkr “bar, partition,” Dutch balk, Old Saxon balko, German Balken, Old Norse bjalki “beam,” Old English bolca “plank”; perhaps akin to Latin sufflāmen, Slovenian blazína, Lithuanian balžíenas “beam.” See balcony

OTHER WORDS FROM balk

balker, nounbalk·ing·ly, adverbun·balked, adjectiveun·balk·ing, adjective

un·balk·ing·ly, adverb

Words nearby balk

Balinese, Balinese cat, Baliol, balisage, balistraria, balk, Balkan, Balkan frame, balkanization, Balkanize, Balkan Mountains

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use balk in a sentence

Sidebar: the Electoral College is the balk rule of government.
Baseball’s Problem Is Politics’ Problem|Doug McIntyre|November 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Megalodon fossils appear in shallower marine sediments,” Balk said.
Shark Week Is Lying Again: Megalodon Is Definitely Extinct|David Shiffman|August 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Although my temptation is to balk like a sitcom father—“Whaddya mean these guys are famous for Tweeting?!”
My Weird Inside Look at Teen Twitter|Sam Wilkinson|May 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

Unlike 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|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 Atherton
But 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 Burnett
Boggs 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 Hancock
But 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 Hancock
I 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

balk

baulk

/ (bɔːk, bɔːlk) /

verb

(intr usually foll by at) to stop short, esp suddenly or unexpectedly; jibthe horse balked at the jump

(intr foll by at) to turn away abruptly; recoilhe balked at the idea of murder

(tr) to thwart, check, disappoint, or foilhe was balked in his plans

(tr) to avoid deliberatelyhe balked the question

(tr) to miss unintentionally

noun

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

Derived forms of balk

balker or baulker, noun

Word Origin for balk

Old English balca; related to Old Norse bálkr partition, Old High German balco beam

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

balk

or baulk

OTHER WORDS FOR balk

Idioms about balk

Origin of balk

OTHER WORDS FROM balk

Words nearby balk

Words related to balk

How to use balk in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for balk

baulk

Derived forms of balk

Word Origin for balk