# balk
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English balke, from Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr (“partition, ridge of land”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with Dutch balk (“balk”), German Balken (“balk”), Italian balcone (“balcony”).

### Alternative forms

* baulk

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /bɔːk/, /bɔːlk/
* (General American) IPA: /bɔk/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (cot–caught merger) IPA: /bɑk/
* Rhymes: -ɔːk

### Noun

balk (plural balks)
* (agriculture) An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.
** 1647, Tho[mas] Fuller, “Scripture Observations”, in Good Thoughts in Worse Times. […], London: […] W. W. for John Williams […], →OCLC, section XVI (Text improved), page 89:How fruitfull are the ſeeming Barren places of Scripture. Bad Plow-men, which make Balkes of ſuch Ground.
* (archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.
* 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".
* A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
** 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:, "Concealment of Sin"
    a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
* A sudden and obstinate stop.
    Synonym: failure
* (obsolete) An omission.
* (sports) A deceptive motion.
    Synonym: feint
** (baseball) An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.
** (badminton) A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve.
* (billiards) 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.
* (snooker) The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.
* (fishing) The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.

#### Derived terms

* balkish
* balk line
* balky
* baulk end
* bierbalk
* randle-balk

#### Translations
### Verb

balk (third-person singular simple present balks, present participle balking, simple past and past participle balked)
* (archaic) To pass over or by.
* To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
    Synonyms: miss, overlook
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
* (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid.
    Synonyms: avoid, shun, refuse, shirk
** 1641 November 22 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 12 November 1641]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.
** 1612–1626, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in [Contemplations vpon the Principall Passages of the Holy Storie], volume (please specify |volume=II, V, or VI), London, →OCLC:Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
** 1627, Michael Drayton, Nymphidia:Nor doth he any creature balk, / But lays on all he meeteth.
* To stop, check, block; to hinder, impede.
** 1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World‎, London: Chatto & Windus:Balked for the second time, the passion of his grief had found another outlet, was transformed into a passion of agonized rage.
* To stop short and refuse to go on.
    The horse balked.
** 1995, Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures, page 6:I’ve seen cattle that were handled in two identical facilities easily walk through one and balk in the other.
* To refuse suddenly.
** 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 303:Real affection, it seemed, he could not have for me; it had been only fitful passion: that was balked; he would want me no more
* To disappoint; to frustrate.
    Synonyms: frustrate, foil, baffle, thwart
    to balk expectation
** 1821, Lord Byron, “The Two Foscari, an Historical Tragedy”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 195:Well, / I know that none who enter there return / As they have enter'd—many never; but / They shall not balk my entrance.
* To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 12:Her list in strifull termes with him to balke
* To leave or make balks in.
** c. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, →OCLC:But so well halt no man the plough, That he ne balketh other while(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
** c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.
* (sports, intransitive) To make a deceptive motion to deceive another player.
** 2013, Aaron Wisewell, The Baseball Coach:The best advice you can receive regarding balking is to always maintain poise and composure on the mound.

#### Derived terms

* balked landing
* balking
* balkingly
* unbalked

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “balk”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* Blak, blak

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bɑlk/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: balk
* Rhymes: -ɑlk
* Homophone: Balk

### Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch balke, from Old Dutch *balco, from Proto-West Germanic *balkō, from Proto-Germanic *balkô.

#### Noun

balk m (plural balken, diminutive balkje n)
* a beam, solid support
* (mathematics) a cuboid
* a section, icon et cetera in such rectangular shape

##### Derived terms

* balkenbrij
* dakbalk
* draagbalk
* evenwichtsbalk
* staartbalk
* stootbalk
- beam-shaped
* notenbalk
* schuifbalk
* taakbalk
* zoekbalk

##### Related terms

* balkon

##### Descendants

* Afrikaans: balk
* Negerhollands: balk
* → Caribbean Javanese: baleg, balok
* → Javanese: ꦧꦭꦺꦴꦏ꧀ (balok)
** → Indonesian: balok
* → Malay: balak
** > Indonesian: balak (inherited)
* → Papiamentu: balki (from the diminutive)
* → Saramaccan: báíki
* → Sranan Tongo: barki, balk
** → Caribbean Hindustani: barki

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

balk
* inflection of balken:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

## Old Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (10th–15th CE) /baːlʲk/
* IPA: (15th CE) /bɒlʲk/

### Noun

balk m animacy unattested
* Alternative form of balka

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Swedish balker, from Old Norse bialki, bǫlkr, from Proto-Germanic *balkuz, from *balkô (“beam, plank”).

### Noun

balk c
* a wooden or metal beam
* (heraldry) a bend (diagonal band)
* (law) code (major section of legislation)
    brottsbalk
       criminal code
* (slang, vulgar) penis

#### Synonyms

* bjälke

#### Derived terms

* tvärbalk
* ändbalk
* ändtvärbalk

### Further reading

* balk in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
* balk in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

## Woiwurrung
### Noun

balk
* bladder

### References

* ↑ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/The_aborigines_of_Victoria_-_with_notes_relating_to_the_habits_of_the_natives_of_other_parts_of_Australia_and_Tasmania_%28IA_b24885228_0002%29.pdf