Balk word meaning and definition

[noun] an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base
[noun] one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof
[noun] something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress
[noun] the area on a billiard table behind the balkline; "a player with ball in hand must play from the balk"
[verb] refuse to comply

\Balk\, 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. i., 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. {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.
\Balk\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Balked} (?); 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 ?nns. --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 ?hwart; as, to balk expectation. They shall not balk my entrance. --Byron.
\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.
\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.

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