bilk

American  

[bilk] / bɪlk /

verb (used with object)

• bilks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bilked,
  past participle,  past
• bilking
  present participle

1. to defraud; cheat.

   He bilked the government of almost a million dollars.

   Synonyms:

   rook, fleece, dupe, trick, swindle

2. to evade payment of (a debt).

3. to frustrate.

   a career bilked by poor health.

4. to escape from; elude.

   to bilk one's pursuers.

---

noun

1. a cheat; swindler.

2. a trick; fraud; deceit.

bilk British  

/ bɪlk /

verb

1. to balk; thwart

2. (often foll by of) to cheat or deceive, esp to avoid making payment to

3. to escape from; elude

4. cribbage to play a card that hinders (one's opponent) from scoring in his or her crib

---

noun

1. a swindle or cheat

2. a person who swindles or cheats

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bilker
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• bilking
  present
• bilked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bilk
  simple
• bilks
  simple
• have bilked
  perfect
• has bilked
  perfect
• am bilking
  progressive
• are bilking
  progressive
• is bilking
  progressive
• have been bilking
  perfect progressive
• has been bilking
  perfect progressive

Past

• bilked
  simple
• had bilked
  perfect
• was bilking
  progressive
• were bilking
  progressive
• had been bilking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bilk
  simple
• will have bilked
  perfect
• will be bilking
  progressive
• will have been bilking
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bilk bilks bilked bilking

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 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 ● Jun. 2, 2026

State subsidies are paid directly to child-care providers, which could enable fraudsters to set up fly-by-night day care to bilk the government.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

Adopted his cousin, one time, but made the house so hot for him that the lad ran off to sea, and since then had had nothing to do with the old bilk.

From The Stillwater Tragedy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

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 thwarts and bilks the inward MUST?

From The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell by James Russell Lowell

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

You larn that go off of they there Frenchy bilks?

From Ulysses by James Joyce

Federal prosecutors say dozens of people bilked taxpayers by setting up scam social-services companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 7, 2025

The indictment does not name the California politician whose campaign fund the trio allegedly bilked.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025

The best proof of this wholesomeness is that Masayoshi Son, who lost billions on WeWork, said after the fact that he still loved and respected the founder who had bilked him.

From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2023

Others fell for the ruse and were bilked out of a few hundred dollars.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2023

I went to Mason's, and found him wondering who had bilked his telephone.

From Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

New York tabloids dubbed Bloom the “Wall Street Whiz Kid” in the 1980s after he was charged in federal court with bilking nearly 140 people, including his own grandmother, out of a combined $15 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026

The fraudulent enterprises didn’t provide legitimate public services, though they did employ people—in the service of bilking the government.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 4, 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 2023, he admitted committing federal securities fraud for bilking investors, including friends stemming from that same case, served four months in jail and was ordered to pay restitution.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

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

Related Words

• con
• deceive
• defraud
• fleece
• swindle