Balk

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /bɔːk/
• Rhymes: -ɔːk
• US IPA: /bÉ”(ː)k/
• cot-caught IPA: /bÉ‘(ː)k/

From Middle English balke, Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr ("partition, ridge of land"),

Online Etymology Dictionary|balk

from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with German Balken ("balk"), Italian balcone ("balcony").

Alternative forms

• baulk

Full definition of balk

Noun

1. ridge, an unplowed strip of land
• FullerBad ploughmen made balks of such ground.
2. beam, crossbeam
3. A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
• Southa balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
4. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
5. (sports) deceptive motion; feint
1. (baseball) an illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner
2. (badminton) motion used to deceive an opponent during a serve

Verb

1. (archaic) To pass over or by.
2. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
3. (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
• EvelynBy reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.
• Bishop HallSick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
• DraytonNor doth he any creature balk,
  But lays on all he meeteth.
4. To stop, check, block.
5. To stop short and refuse to go on.The horse balked.
6. To refuse suddenly.
7. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart.to balk expectation
• ByronThey shall not balk my entrance.
8. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
• SpenserIn strifeful terms with him to balk.
9. To leave or make balks in.
10. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
• ShakespeareTen thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
  Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.

Probably from Dutch balken ("to bray, bawl").

Verb

1. To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.