Sekirov Dictionary

balk

/bɔːk/

verb 15
noun 13
forms 5

verb15

•
To be unwilling to do something; to refuse to proceed or do or allow something, either in general or only temporarily.
- balked at paying a day's wages for a pencil; he said he would buy her one, but when he saw the price, he balked
•
To stop short and refuse to go on or do something (such as jump).
- The horse balked.
•
To stop, check, block (by or as if by an obstacle); to hinder, impede, thwart.
- My Sport is always balkt, or cut short — I stumble over the Game me I would pursue — — 1733
•
To disappoint, frustrate, or check.
- Nor doth it balk my charity, to find Th' Egyptian bishop of another mind: — 1777
•
To make a balk, a deceptive motion to deceive another player.
- The best advice you can receive regarding balking is to always maintain poise and composure on the mound. — 2013
•
To move fitfully, stopping frequently.
- The horses balked up the canyon, / But we made it with half a load. / Got to the top with panniers. / Went back for the bedding stowed. — 1915
•
To leave or make a balk or balks (ridges) in; to leave a ridge in by leaving partly unploughed.
- But so well halt no man the plough, / That he ne balketh other while — 1857
•
(no longer used) To pass over or by (either by chance or intentionally); to avoid in passing.
- Jericho was in his way from Galilee to Jerusalem: he baulks it not, though it were outwardly cursed. — 1612
•
(no longer used) To omit, miss, or overlook by chance, error, or inadvertance.
- […] you cannot baulk your Road without the hazard of drowning — 1677
•
(no longer used) To miss intentionally; to avoid, ignore, or shun.
- Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. — 1612
(no longer used) To refuse or fail to use (something), either through error or intentionally.
•
(no longer used) To refuse (something).
- And balke your bed for shame. — 1587
•
(no longer used) To let (something) slip; to fail to use or seize or keep (something).
- This was look'd for at your hand, and this as baulkt. — 1602
•
(no longer used) To quibble or bandy words with; engage in opposing, contradicting, or arguing with.
- They do not divide and baulk with God. — 1653
•
(no longer used) To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
- Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. — 1597

noun13

A deceptive motion.
An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.
A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve.
A sudden and obstinate stop.
A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
The area of the table lying behind the line from which the cue ball is initially shot, and from which a ball in hand must be played.
The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.
Beam, crossbeam; squared timber; a tie beam of a house, stretching from wall to wall, especially when laid so as to form a loft, "the balks".
•
An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.
- How fruitfull are the seeming Barren places of Scripture. Bad Plow-men, which make Balkes of such Ground. — 1647
The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.
The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.
(dialect, UK) A small brass ornament fixed at the top of a wand.
(no longer used) An omission.

forms

balked · balking · balketh · balks · balkest

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