balk

See also: Balk

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English balke, 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^(key): /bɔːk/, /bɔːlk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɔk/
• (cot–caught merger, Northern Cities Vowel Shift) IPA^(key): /bɑk/
• Rhymes: -ɔːk

Noun

balk (plural balks)

1. An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.
   • Fuller

     Bad ploughmen made balks of such ground.

2. (archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.
3. Beam, crossbeam.
4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
   • South

     a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker

5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
6. (sports) A deceptive motion; a feint.
   1. (baseball) An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.
   2. (badminton) A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve.
7. (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.
8. (snooker) The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.
9. (fishing) The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.

Derived terms

• baulk line
• baulk end

Translations

an unplowed strip of land

• Bulgarian: неизорана ивица земя
• Finnish: kyntämätön sarka, raja (fi)
• German: Rain (de) m
• Manx: immyr vane f

• Romanian: hat (ro) n, hotar (ro) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mjaza f

beam

• Bulgarian: греда (bg) (greda)
• Dutch: balk (nl) m
• Finnish: palkki (fi), parru (fi)
• German: Balken (de) m

• Norwegian: bjelke (no) m
• Romanian: grindă (ro) f, lonjeron (ro) n
• Russian: ба́лка (ru) f (bálka)
• Spanish: viga (es)

hindrance

• Bulgarian: , спънка (bg) (spǎnka), пречка (bg) (prečka)
• Finnish: este (fi)

• Romanian: obstacol (ro) n, piedică (ro) f

(sports) deceptive motion; feint

• Bulgarian: финт (fint), лъжливо движение
• Finnish: harhautus (fi)

• Romanian: fentă (ro) f

Verb

balk (third-person singular simple present balks, present participle balking, simple past and past participle balked)

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.
   • Evelyn

     By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.

   • Bishop Hall

     Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.

   • Drayton

     Nor 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.
   • Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre:

     Real affection, it seemed, he could not have for me; it had only been fitful passion: that was balked; he would want me no more.

7. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart.

   to balk expectation

   • Byron

     They shall not balk my entrance.

8. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
   • Spenser

     In strifeful terms with him to balk.

9. To leave or make balks in.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

10. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
    • Shakespeare

      Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.

Translations

to stop, check, block

• Bulgarian: преча (bg) (preča), спъвам (bg) (spǎvam), затруднявам (bg) (zatrudnjavam)
• Finnish: estää (fi)

• German: verhindern (de), stoppen (de), blockieren (de), behindern (de), vereiteln (de), Einhalt gebieten, durchkreuzen
• Italian: ostacolare (it)

to stop short and refuse to go on

• Bulgarian: запирам се (zapiram se)
• Finnish: seisahtua (fi), tehdä tenä
• French: regimber (fr)
• German: verweigern (de), stoppen (de), scheuen (de), stocken (de)

• Italian: tirarsi indietro
• Occitan: reguitnar (oc)
• Serbo-Croatian: ustuknuti (sh)

to refuse suddenly

• Bulgarian: пропускам (bg) (propuskam), отказвам (bg) (otkazvam)
• Finnish: tehdä tenä, kieltäytyä (fi)
• French: regimber (fr)

• German: sich sperren, zurückweisen (de)
• Serbo-Croatian: ustuknuti (sh)

Etymology 2

Probably from Dutch balken (“to bray, bawl”).

Verb

balk (third-person singular simple present balks, present participle balking, simple past and past participle balked)

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

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for balk in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑlk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: balk
• Rhymes: -ɑlk

Etymology 1

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

Noun

balk m (plural balken, diminutive balkje n)

1. beam, support
2. (mathematics) cuboid

Derived terms

• balkenbrij
• draagbalk
• notenbalk
• staartbalk
• taakbalk
• zoekbalk

Related terms

• balkon

Descendants

• Afrikaans: balk

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

balk

1. first-person singular present indicative of balken
2. imperative of balken

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Swedish

Noun

balk c

1. a wooden beam
2. (heraldry) a bend (diagonal band)

Declension

Declension of balk
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	balk	balken	balker	balkerna
Genitive	balks	balkens	balkers	balkernas

Synonyms

• bjälke