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

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

How to use balk in a sentence

They made an odd procession as they marched out of the hall, under the sullen eyes of the baulked cut-throats and their mistress.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
The reckless sergeant, enraged at being so often baulked by the farmer, had let his horse go too far.
Hunted and Harried|R.M. Ballantyne
Might we not expect indignant remonstrances from Philippe at thus being baulked of the booty he had toiled so long to gain?
Secret Societies And Subversive Movements|Nesta H. Webster
Fairies, however, when bent upon mischief, are not always baulked so easily.
The Science of Fairy Tales|Edwin Sidney Hartland

Half-way he was baulked by a hedge, high and thick, which was new to him, but he found a way through a gap.
Edmund Dulacs Fairy-Book|Edmund Dulac

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 related to balk

How to use balk in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for balk

baulk

Derived forms of balk

Word Origin for balk