bilk
Americanverb (used with object)
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bilks,
present (3rd person singular)
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bilked,
past participle, past
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bilking
present participle
verb
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to balk; thwart
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(often foll by of) to cheat or deceive, esp to avoid making payment to
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to escape from; elude
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cribbage to play a card that hinders (one's opponent) from scoring in his or her crib
noun
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a swindle or cheat
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a person who swindles or cheats
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bilksimple
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bilkssimple
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have bilkedperfect
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has bilkedperfect
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am bilkingprogressive
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are bilkingprogressive
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is bilkingprogressive
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have been bilkingperfect progressive
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has been bilkingperfect progressive
Past
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bilkedsimple
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had bilkedperfect
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was bilkingprogressive
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were bilkingprogressive
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had been bilkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bilk
First recorded in 1625–35; of obscure origin
Explanation
Ever paid a restaurant bill only to discover they charged you for stuff you never had? What they did was bilk you — cheat you out of money that was justly yours. Shady companies are forever bilking their investors. To bilk someone is slightly different from plain robbing them, though the effect is the same; it implies a non-violent, subtle and devious method masquerading as legitimate. Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi scheme king, was a classic bilker. On a more enjoyable note, one of the greatest bilkers in TV history was the appropriately named Sergeant Bilko, played by the comedian Phil Silvers. His eternal card games, promotions and get-rich-quick schemes were all designed to part some poor sucker from their cash. Watch and learn from the master.
Vocabulary lists containing bilk
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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.
See Examples For:
People signed up their pets, used aliases and played games with mailing addresses to bilk the company out of new releases for less than the cost of a penny.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
Under the tax code’s current wording, the IRS said it doesn’t matter if it’s the taxpayer who is trying to bilk the IRS or if it’s a third party like an accountant.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
Sanberg pleaded guilty in October to the federal charges of conspiring to bilk investors out of $248 million for portraying the now-defunct Aspiration as a “socially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products” firm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
The numbers out of Minnesota are staggering: Three separate plots to bilk welfare programs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
A bilk," said the grocery man, as he watched the boy, "is a fellow that plays a man for candy, or money, or anything, and don't intend to return an equivalent.
From The Grocery Man And Peck's Bad Boy Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa, No. 2 - 1883 by George W. (George Wilbur) Peck
She soon falls prey to a shady scheme that bilks her out of a large sum of money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2021
Attempting to escape her, Sally encounters another nightmare creature, who bilks her of much of her small stash of money with a sob story that’s clearly bogus.
From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2017
Who is it will not dare himself to trust?Who is it hath not strength to stand alone?Who is it thwarts and bilks the inward MUST?He and his works, like sand from earth are blown.
From William Lloyd Garrison The Abolitionist by Archibald Henry Grimké
She makes you her servant; and when pay-day comes round, she bilks you: that is what you mean.
From Heartbreak House by Bernard Shaw
While villany the scourge of justice bilks, Howl on, ye ruffians!
From The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan
In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission has taken enforcement action against several operations that it said bilked consumers out of millions of dollars with the lure of effortless money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
California rejects the criticism but last week announced a major investigation of providers that officials said bilked taxpayers out of more than $260 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
In charges unrelated to Butina’s work, Erickson was sentenced to seven years in prison for schemes in which he bilked investors in fraudulent real estate developments and at eldercare homes.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2024
Prosecutors say he bilked insurance companies out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
So, when he bilked at poker, not a sucker drew a gun On the man who 'd worked with Dana on the Noo York Sun.
From A Little Book of Western Verse by Eugene Field
Tom Girardi is currently serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison after he was convicted of wire fraud for bilking his personal-injury clients in 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Prosecutors last fall brought charges against a 28-year-old Minnesotan woman in a similar scheme that included bilking the government for meals and transportation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 2026
Not the cancer part, or the charity bilking, but if the recipes weren’t good, the app wouldn’t have been such a hit, right?
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2025
In April, he admitted committing federal securities fraud for bilking investors including friends stemming from that same case, and was ordered in May to pay restitution.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
There were only a few vendors, and all were engaged in harried negotiations with rebels, lean and sullen and above all bored, jostling and shoving and bilking as a way to pass the time.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
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.
