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. 2018

Related Words for bilked

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 bilked

Contemporary Examples of bilked

The California governor candidate hit back hard against charges she bilked a Hispanic housekeeper.
Meg Whitman's Latino Trouble
Shushannah Walshe
September 30, 2010

Historical Examples of bilked

Don't tell me you bilked 'em all so 'andily on settin' that 'ouse afire.
The Incendiary
W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy
He said he thought he had been bilked, and that the money would never be turned over.
Satan's Invisible World Displayed or, Despairing Democracy
W. T. Stead
She threw the paint-stained duster into the studio stove, stuck out her tongue at the sleeper, and whispered, "Bilked!"
The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition
Rudyard Kipling
To have a female confidence game played on a man would leave less of a sting than to be bilked by a male.
Peck's Sunshine
George W. Peck
But she is almost twenty; she is amazingly swift behind the bar, and no man has yet bilked her of a penny.
An Ocean Tramp
William McFee

British Dictionary definitions for bilked

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 bilked

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.