balk

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See also: Balk

English

Etymology 1

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(deprecated template usage) From Middle English balke, from Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr (“partition, ridge of land”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with Dutch balk (“balk”), German Balken (“balk”), Italian balcone (“balcony”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

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  • 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; squared timber; a tie beam of a house, stretching from wall to wall, especially when laid so as to form a loft, "the balks".
  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. (obsolete) An omission.
  7. (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.
  8. (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.
  9. (snooker) The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.
  10. (fishing) The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.
Derived terms
Translations

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.
    Synonyms: miss, overlook
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid.
    Synonyms: avoid, shun, refuse, 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.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  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.
    Synonyms: frustrate, foil, baffle, 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

Etymology 2

Probably from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “balk”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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
Descendants
  • Afrikaans: balk

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

balk

  1. (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of balken
  2. (deprecated template usage) imperative of balken

Swedish

Noun

balk c

  1. a wooden or metal 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

Derived terms

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