balk
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: agriculture
archaeology
ball-games
baseball
billiards
business
fishing
games
history
hobbies
human-sciences
lifestyle
sciences
snooker
sports
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: balks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: baulk
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: balks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: balking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: balked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: balked
pos: verb
tags: past
form: baulk
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.
pos: noun
examples: How fruitfull are the ſeeming Barren places of Scripture. Bad Plow-men, which make Balkes of ſuch Ground.
gloss: The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.
pos: noun
gloss: 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".
pos: noun
gloss: A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
pos: noun
examples: , "Concealment of Sin"
a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
gloss: A sudden and obstinate stop.
pos: noun
gloss: An omission.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
gloss: A deceptive motion.
pos: noun
gloss: A deceptive motion.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.
pos: noun
gloss: The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.
pos: noun
gloss: To be unwilling to do something; to refuse to proceed or do or allow something, either in general or only temporarily.
pos: verb
examples: 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
Carla balked for a moment, but when the badge and identification was produced, she acquiesced immediately. "Of course, Director, what can I do for you?"
gloss: To stop short and refuse to go on or do something (such as jump).
pos: verb
tags: especially
examples: The horse balked.
"Her horse balked at the jump and threw her," said Michael.
I’ve seen cattle that were handled in two identical facilities easily walk through one and balk in the other.
gloss: To move fitfully, stopping frequently.
pos: verb
examples: 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.
[…] balked up the hills, then careened and slid on the downside, threatening to overturn.
[…] thin road, gunning madly past the old rusty trucks balking up the mountain to Boulem while Badra drifted in and out of consciousness in the back.
gloss: To leave or make a balk or balks (ridges) in; to leave a ridge in by leaving partly unploughed.
pos: verb
examples: But so well halt no man the plough, / That he ne balketh other while
[…] balking up the field.
[…] balking up the rows and running the water down from the balks;
gloss: To stop, check, block (by or as if by an obstacle); to hinder, impede, thwart.
pos: verb
examples: My Sport is always balkt, or cut short — I stumble over the Game me I would pursue —
[…] the sturdy cavalier was not to be balked in his purpose; […]
Balked for the second time, the passion of his grief had found another outlet, was transformed into a passion of agonized rage.
an incipient accretion of rotundity recently balked his entrance to a boiler wherein his expert scrutiny was imperatively demanded,
[…] had neither been balked nor been frightened by this overwhelming man.
gloss: To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.
gloss: To pass over or by (either by chance or intentionally); to avoid in passing.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: Jericho was in his way from Galilee to Jerusalem: he baulks it not, though it were outwardly cursed.
I hope you will not balk Totteridge, if I am here.
Going to Lord Carendon ... baulking the Secretary.
gloss: To pass over or by (either by chance or intentionally); to avoid in passing.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: […] you cannot baulk your Road without the hazard of drowning
gloss: To pass over or by (either by chance or intentionally); to avoid in passing.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
Nor doth he any creature balk, / But lays on all he meeteth.
By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns.
I'le call ye to Accompt, and if ye bauke me, then / I ranſake ye out, and make ye underſtand / The ſharp-nail'd language of Quiſquilla's hand.
Thou must not balke the way of Religion
The spying of motes in our brother's eye, and baulking of beams in our own.
I may not balk two pregnant testimonies of the Fathers
gloss: To refuse or fail to use (something), either through error or intentionally.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: And balke your bed for shame.
A bait you cannot balk Sir.
If the stalk grow big, cattell wil balk it.
I never ... balked an invitation
such an age as ours balks no expense
gloss: To refuse or fail to use (something), either through error or intentionally.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: to balk an opportunity
This was look'd for at your hand, and this as baulkt.
If I balk'd this opportunity.
gloss: To disappoint, frustrate, or check.
pos: verb
examples: to balk expectation
Nor doth it balk my charity, to find Th' Egyptian bishop of another mind:
[…] balk yourself of the pleasure of bullying and making her unhappy.
Well, / I know that none who enter there return / As they have enter'd—many never; but / They shall not balk my entrance.
gloss: To quibble or bandy words with; engage in opposing, contradicting, or arguing with.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
possibly
examples: Her list in strifull termes with him to balke
They do not divide and baulk with God.
gloss: To make a balk, a deceptive motion to deceive another player.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The best advice you can receive regarding balking is to always maintain poise and composure on the mound.
Derived words: balkish
balk line
balky
baulk end
bierbalk
randle-balk
balked landing
balking
balkingly
unbalked
Translations:
lang: Breton
word: erv
lang: Bulgarian
word: неизорана ивица земя
lang: Finnish
word: piennar
lang: French
word: raie
lang: German
word: Rain
lang: German
word: Feldrain
lang: German
word: Feldrand
lang: German
word: Furchenrücken
lang: Ancient Greek
word: σφῦρα
roman: sphûra
lang: Italian
word: porca
lang: Manx
word: immyr vane
lang: Polish
word: miedza
lang: Romanian
word: hat
lang: Romanian
word: hotar
lang: Lower Sorbian
word: mjaza
lang: Bulgarian
word: финт
roman: fint
lang: Bulgarian
word: лъжливо движение
lang: Finnish
word: harhautus
lang: French
word: balk
lang: French
word: feinte irrégulière
lang: Romanian
word: fentă
lang: Spanish
word: finta
lang: Hungarian
word: kikerül
lang: Hungarian
word: elhalad (mellette)
lang: Hungarian
word: elmegy (mellette)