bilk

[bilk]

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verb (used with object)

to defraud; cheat: He bilked the government of almost a million dollars.
to evade payment of (a debt).
to frustrate: a career bilked by poor health.

to escape from; elude: to bilk one's pursuers.

noun

a cheat; swindler.
a trick; fraud; deceit.

Origin of bilk

First recorded in 1625–35; of obscure origin

Related formsbilk·er, noun

Synonyms for bilk

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1. swindle, trick, dupe, fleece, rook.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bilk

fleece, con, deceive, defraud, swindle, overreach, do, rook, thwart, beat, ruin, snow, frustrate, trick, foil, gyp, disappoint, circumvent, bamboozle, flimflam

Examples from the Web for bilk

Contemporary Examples of bilk

The lawsuit alleged that Danone used these claims to bilk consumers out of more than $100 million.
Your Probiotic Is Probably B.S.
Carrie Arnold
June 25, 2014
"He told me Andrew had tried to bilk $50 million out of Mrs. Mellon," said Toben.
Witness Testifies He Took Rielle Hunter to an Airport in the Dead of Night
Diane Dimond
May 8, 2012
Con artists routinely hack into accounts to impersonate people and bilk money from strangers.
Catfish's Photo Fraud Victim
Gina Piccalo
October 4, 2010

Historical Examples of bilk

The whole meeting, in fact, was what is vulgarly called a bilk.
Merry-Garden and Other Stories
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
He's expecting a cablegram—this duffer, this scrub, this bilk!
The American Claimant
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
We observe that a new planet has been discovered at Bilk, in Germany.
The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862
Various
"I shan't, sir; you only wants to bilk master, and bolt," replied the waiter.
Mornings at Bow Street
John Wight
This gaffer contrived to 'bilk' all the turnpikes in the kingdom.
The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims
Andrew Steinmetz

British Dictionary definitions for bilk

bilk

verb (tr)

to balk; thwart
(often foll by of) to cheat or deceive, esp to avoid making payment to
to escape from; elude
cribbage to play a card that hinders (one's opponent) from scoring in his or her crib

noun

a swindle or cheat
a person who swindles or cheats

Derived Formsbilker, noun

Word Origin for bilk

C17: perhaps variant of balk

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

Word Origin and History for bilk

1650s, from or along with the noun (1630s), first used as a cribbage term; as a verb, "to spoil (someone's) score." Origin obscure, it was believed in 17c. to be "a word signifying nothing;" perhaps it s a thinned form of balk "to hinder." Meaning "to defraud" is first recorded 1670s. Related: Bilked; bilking.