baulk
Britishnoun
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Also (US): balk. billiards
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the space, usually 29 inches deep, between the baulk line and the bottom cushion
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(in baulk-line games) one of the spaces between the cushions and the baulk lines
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inside one of these spaces
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archaeol a strip of earth left between excavation trenches for the study of the complete stratigraphy of a site
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croquet either of two lines ( A baulk and B baulk ) at diagonally opposite ends of the court, from which the ball is struck into play
verb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Despite hand-wringing over the risk that travellers will baulk at paying higher fares, the ongoing war did not appear to ruffle feathers at the International Air Transport Association's annual conference in Rio, which ends Monday.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Quite a few prospective members baulk at the ID check and don't proceed onto the site.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
When he became leader, Mr Beattie said the party may have to "shrink to grow", meaning some of his more conservative members may baulk at the changes.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2022
Many players in her situation would baulk at thinking of a grand final against Williams as just “another match”.
From The Guardian • Sep. 7, 2018
Just as over-scrupulous historians refuse to use the words ‘revolution’, ‘science’ and ‘scientist’ when writing about the seventeenth century, they baulk at using Butterfield’s other word, ‘modern’, because it, too, seems to them inherently anachronistic.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
