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Definitions for Balk

[1] to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually followed 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.
[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.
[6] 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.
[13] in balk , inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table.
[14] (intr usually foll by at ) to stop short, esp suddenly or unexpectedly; jib the horse balked at the jump
[15] (intr foll by at ) to turn away abruptly; recoil he balked at the idea of murder
[16] (tr) to thwart, check, disappoint, or foil he was balked in his plans
[17] (tr) to avoid deliberately he balked the question
[18] (tr) to miss unintentionally
[19] a roughly squared heavy timber beam
[20] a timber tie beam of a roof
[21] an unploughed ridge to prevent soil erosion or mark a division on common land
[22] an obstacle; hindrance; disappointment
[23] baseball an illegal motion by a pitcher towards the plate or towards the base when there are runners on base, esp without delivering the ball

Words related to Balk

hesitate, refuse, resist, recoil, flinch, disappoint, stall, dodge, cramp, shy, desist, evade, demur, crimp, shirk, hinder, baffle, bar, obstruct, prevent

Words nearby Balk

balinese, balinese cat, baliol, balisage, balistraria, balk, balkan, balkan frame, balkan mountains, balkan peninsula, balkan states

Origin of Balk

before 900; Middle English; Old English balca covering, beam, ridge; cognate with Old Norse bǫlkr bar, partition, Dutch balk, Old Saxon balko, German Balken, Old Norse bjalki beam, Old English bolca plank; perhaps akin to Latin sufflāmen, Slovene blazína, Lithuanian balžíenas beam. See balcony

Other words from Balk

balk·er , noun
balk·ing·ly , adverb
un·balked , adjective
un·balk·ing , adjective
un·balk·ing·ly , adverb

Word origin for Balk

Old English balca ; related to Old Norse bálkr partition, Old High German balco beam

Synonyms for Balk

flinch, hesitate, recoil, refuse, resist, turn down, cramp, crimp, demur, desist, dodge, evade, shirk, shy, shrink from, upset apple cart