/bɔk/ Show Spelled[bawk]
–verb (used without object)1.to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually fol. by at): He balked at making the speech.
2.(of a horse, mule, etc.) to stop short and stubbornly refuse to go on.
3.Baseball. to commit a balk.
–verb (used with object)4.to place an obstacle in the way of; hinder; thwart: a sudden reversal that balked her hopes.
5.Archaic. to let slip; fail to use: to balk an opportunity.
–noun6.a check or hindrance; defeat; disappointment.
7.a strip of land left unplowed.
8.a crossbeam in the roof of a house that unites and supports the rafters; tie beam.
9.any heavy timber used for building purposes.
10.Baseball. an illegal motion by a pitcher while one or more runners are on base, as a pitch in which there is either an insufficient or too long a pause after the windup or stretch, a pretended throw to first or third base or to the batter with one foot on the pitcher's rubber, etc., resulting in a penalty advancing the runner or runners one base.
11.Billiards. any of the eight panels or compartments lying between the cushions of the table and the balklines.
12.Obsolete. a miss, slip, or failure: to make a balk.
—Idiom13.in balk, inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table.
***Origin: ***
bef. 900; ME; OE balca covering, beam, ridge; c. ON bǫlkr bar, partition, D balk, OS balko, G Balken, ON bjalki beam, OE bolca plank; perh. akin to L sufflāmen, Slovene blazína, Lith balžíenas beam. See balcony
balk/baulk
/bɔk/ Show Spelled[bawk]
–verb (used without object)1.to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually fol. by at): He balked at making the speech.
2.(of a horse, mule, etc.) to stop short and stubbornly refuse to go on.
3.Baseball. to commit a balk.
–verb (used with object)4.to place an obstacle in the way of; hinder; thwart: a sudden reversal that balked her hopes.
5.Archaic. to let slip; fail to use: to balk an opportunity.
–noun6.a check or hindrance; defeat; disappointment.
7.a strip of land left unplowed.
8.a crossbeam in the roof of a house that unites and supports the rafters; tie beam.
9.any heavy timber used for building purposes.
10.Baseball. an illegal motion by a pitcher while one or more runners are on base, as a pitch in which there is either an insufficient or too long a pause after the windup or stretch, a pretended throw to first or third base or to the batter with one foot on the pitcher's rubber, etc., resulting in a penalty advancing the runner or runners one base.
11.Billiards. any of the eight panels or compartments lying between the cushions of the table and the balklines.
12.Obsolete. a miss, slip, or failure: to make a balk.
—Idiom13.in balk, inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table.
Also, baulk.
***Origin: ***
bef. 900; ME; OE balca covering, beam, ridge; c. ON bǫlkr bar, partition, D balk, OS balko, G Balken, ON bjalki beam, OE bolca plank; perh. akin to L sufflāmen, Slovene blazína, Lith balžíenas beam. See balcony
—Related formsbalker, noun
balk·ing·ly, adverb
un·balked, adjective
un·balk·ing, adjective
un·balk·ing·ly, adverb
—Synonyms