Umpire's call

Usage examples of balk.

He must make his stand here and balk the encroaching patrol if he could.

We had not reached our planned coasting velocity when the engines went down, so the balk line must be reset.

Bhatterji will have the engines wrapped in duct tape long before we come anywhere near the balk line.

So, even though braking would not be required until the ship reached the balk line ten days hence, Gorgas ordered the Flip when they reached the median of the grand secant and hosted the traditional meal that very evening.

If three engines are all we have, the balk line passed fourteen days ago.

As the ship approached the balk line, sudden new tasks were discovered, squeezed from the vacuum like so many pips from an orange.

Awake and by his side, Henry might balk at what needed to be done, especially if Henry was right in believing his other friend was still alive, hiding out in the mind the alien now controlled.

But the excited Carolinians would not wait, because they feared that the arrival of reinforcements might balk them of their easy prey.

I wonder if the queen would balk at giving a child access to her communicator.

Taverik wanted to balk, shout to his father for help, sit down and refuse to move-but somehow his stiff knees bent and he stumbled, half-supported out the door.

Great balks of timber were being thrust out and now, in the shelter of these, hundreds of men and women from the Citadel were streaming to help.

Less inured to tough setbacks, too riled to accept the wormwood of defeat, the senior enchantress paced the shed in mincing steps and balked tension.

His pursuit had bogged down in the farmlands, their zealous chase balked by timber fences, sheepfolds, and occupied bull pens.

It balked, then resumed its belabored pace through the deepening snowdrifts.

Her porcelain-fair features flushed to rage when discussion touched upon Arithon, or else chilled to an ice-sculpture mask of balked hatred as she choked on the rags of her shame.