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balk

or baulk

[ bawk ]
/ bɔk /
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See synonyms for: balk / balked / balking on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)
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
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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 bÇ«lkr “bar, partition,” Dutch balk, Old Saxon balko, German Balken, Old Norse bjalki “beam,” Old English bolca “plank”; perhaps akin to Latin sufflāmen, Slovenian blazĂ­na, Lithuanian balĆŸĂ­enas “beam.” See balcony

OTHER WORDS FROM balk

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

How to use balk in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for balk

balk

baulk

/ (bɔːk, bɔːlk) /

verb
noun
See also baulk

Derived forms of balk

balker or baulker, noun

Word Origin for balk

Old English balca; related to Old Norse bĂĄlkr 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
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