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balk
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
balk
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Their strategies to balk the enemy had failed.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And last month, he balked at submitting to an examination by government-appointed psychiatrists.
▪ And then only because he, Verisof, had balked at further appeasement.
▪ As it was he balked, both forefeet thrust stiffly in front of him, jarring me to the bone.
▪ At first, officials in both countries balked.
▪ He balked slightly at that, then he tucked the tenners down his gauntlet and handed it over.
▪ Industry executives balked for years at the idea of program ratings, fearing a loss of advertising dollars.
▪ People may well balk at this and never return to your site again.
▪ They are likely to balk at antiabortion legislation.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Balk

Balk \Balk\, v. i. [Prob. from D. balken to bray, bawl.] To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

Balk

Balk \Balk\, v. i.

  1. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.]

    In strifeful terms with him to balk.
    --Spenser.

  2. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.

    Note: This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's ``Fa["e]rie Queene,'' Book IV., 10, xxv.

    Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt, Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt.

  3. (Baseball) to commit a balk[6]; -- of a pitcher.

Balk

Balk \Balk\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Balked (b[add]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Balking.] [From Balk a beam; orig. to put a balk or beam in one's way, in order to stop or hinder. Cf., for sense 2, AS. on balcan legan to lay in heaps.]

  1. To leave or make balks in. [Obs.]
    --Gower.

  2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.]

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

  3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.]

  4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent]

    By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns.
    --Evelyn.

    Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
    --Bp. Hall.

    Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth.
    --Drayton.

  5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, to balk expectation.

    They shall not balk my entrance.
    --Byron.

Balk

Balk \Balk\ (b[add]k), n. [AS. balca beam, ridge; akin to Icel. b[=a]lkr partition, bj[=a]lki beam, OS. balko, G. balken; cf. Gael. balc ridge of earth between two furrows. Cf. Balcony, Balk, v. t., 3d Bulk.]

  1. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.

    Bad plowmen made balks of such ground.
    --Fuller.

  2. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called ``the balks.''

    Tubs hanging in the balks.
    --Chaucer.

  3. (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.

  4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

    A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker.
    --South.

  5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.

  6. (Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. It is illegal and is penalized by allowing the runners on base to advance one base.

    Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
balk

Old English balca "ridge, bank," from or influenced by Old Norse balkr "ridge of land," especially between two plowed furrows, both from Proto-Germanic *balkon- (cognates: Old Saxon balko, Danish bjelke, Old Frisian balka, Old High German balcho, German Balken "beam, rafter"), from PIE *bhelg- "beam, plank" (cognates: Latin fulcire "to prop up, support," fulcrum "bedpost;" Lithuanian balziena "cross-bar;" and possibly Greek phalanx "trunk, log, line of battle"). Modern senses are figurative, representing the balk as a hindrance or obstruction (see balk (v.)). Baseball sense is first attested 1845.

balk

late 14c., "to leave an unplowed ridge when plowing," from balk (n.). Extended meaning "to omit, intentionally neglect" is mid-15c. Most modern senses are figurative, from the notion of a balk in the fields as a hindrance or obstruction: sense of "stop short" (as a horse confronted with an obstacle) is late 15c.; that of "to refuse" is 1580s. Related: Balked; balking.

Wiktionary
balk

Etymology 1 alt. 1 An uncultivated ridge formed in the http://en.wikipedi

  1. org/wiki/Open%20field%20system, caused by the action of ploughing. 2 (lb en archaeology) the wall of earth at the edge of an excavation 3 beam, crossbeam 4 A hindrance or disappointment; a check. 5 A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. 6 (context sports English) deceptive motion; feint 7 # (context baseball English) an illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner 8 # (context badminton English) motion used to deceive an opponent during a serve n. 1 An uncultivated ridge formed in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%20field%20system, caused by the action of ploughing. 2 (lb en archaeology) the wall of earth at the edge of an excavation 3 beam, crossbeam 4 A hindrance or disappointment; a check. 5 A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. 6 (context sports English) deceptive motion; feint 7 # (context baseball English) an illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner 8 # (context badminton English) motion used to deceive an opponent during a serve v

  2. 1 (context archaic English) To pass over or by. 2 To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. 3 (context obsolete English) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. 4 To stop, check, block. 5 To stop short and refuse to go on. 6 To refuse suddenly. 7 To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart. 8 To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. 9 To leave or make balks in. 10 To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. Etymology 2

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

WordNet
balk

  1. n. the area on a billiard table behind the balkline; "a player with ball in hand must play from the balk" [syn: baulk]

  2. something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress [syn: hindrance, deterrent, impediment, baulk, check, handicap]

  3. one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof [syn: rafter, baulk]

  4. an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base

  5. v. refuse to comply [syn: resist, baulk, jib]

Wikipedia
Balk

In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. Most of these violations involve a pitcher pretending to pitch when he has no intention of doing so. In games played under the Official Baseball Rules, a balk results in a dead ball or delayed dead ball. In certain other circumstances, a balk may be wholly or partially disregarded. Under other rule sets, notably in the United States under the National Federation of High Schools (Fed or Federation) Baseball Rules, a balk results in an immediate dead ball. In the event a balk is enforced, the pitch is generally (but not always) nullified, each runner is awarded one base, and the batter (generally) remains at bat, and with the previous count. The balk rule in Major League Baseball was introduced in 1898.

Balk (disambiguation)

A balk is an illegal motion by a baseball pitcher.

It may also refer to:

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.