balk

UK: /ˈbɔːk/ US: /bɔk/ ,(bôk)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

balk /bɔk/  v. 

1. to stop abruptly and refuse to go on: [no obj]:
   The horse balked when the rider tried to force him over the wall.
   [ ~ + at + verb-ing]:
   He went along with the robbery but balked at committing murder.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

balk  (bôk), v.i. 

1. to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually fol. by at):
   He balked at making the speech.
2. (of a horse, mule, etc.) to stop short and stubbornly refuse to go on.
3. Sport [Baseball.] to commit a balk.

v.t. 

4. to place an obstacle in the way of;
   hinder;
   thwart:
   a sudden reversal that balked her hopes.
5. [Archaic.] to let slip;
   fail to use:
   to balk an opportunity.

n. 

6. a check or hindrance;
   defeat;
   disappointment.
7. a strip of land left unplowed.
8. Building a crossbeam in the roof of a house that unites and supports the rafters;
   tie beam.
9. Building any heavy timber used for building purposes.
10. Sport [Baseball.] an illegal motion by a pitcher while one or more runners are on base, as a pitch in which there is either an insufficient or too long a pause after the windup or stretch, a pretended throw to first or third base or to the batter with one foot on the pitcher's rubber, etc., resulting in a penalty advancing the runner or runners one base.
11. Games [Billiards.] any of the eight panels or compartments lying between the cushions of the table and the balklines.
12. [Obs.] a miss, slip, or failure:
    to make a balk.
13. Games, Idioms in balk, inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table.

Also, baulk. 

• bef. 900; Middle English; Old English balca covering, beam, ridge; cognate with Old Norse bǫlkr bar, partition, Dutch balk, Old Saxon balko, German Balken, Old Norse bjalki beam, Old English bolca plank; perh. akin to Latin sufflāmen, Slovene blazína, Lithuanian balžíenas beam. See balcony

balk′er, n. 
balk′ing•ly, adv. 
Synonyms

• 4. check, retard, obstruct, impede, prevent.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

balk, baulk / bɔːk bɔːlk/ verb

1. (intransitive) usually followed by at: to stop short, esp suddenly or unexpectedly; jib: the horse balked at the jump
2. (intransitive) followed by at: to turn away abruptly; recoil: he balked at the idea of murder
3. (transitive) to thwart, check, disappoint, or foil: he was balked in his plans

noun

1. a roughly squared heavy timber beam
2. a timber tie beam of a roof
3. an unploughed ridge to prevent soil erosion or mark a division on common land
4. an obstacle; hindrance; disappointment
5. an illegal motion by a pitcher towards the plate or towards the base when there are runners on base, esp without delivering the ball

See also baulkEtymology: Old English balca; related to Old Norse bálkr partition, Old High German balco beam

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

baulk /bɔk/   v., n. [Chiefly Brit.]

1. balk.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

baulk  (bôk), v.i., v.t., n. 

1. balk.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

baulk / bɔːk (usually for sense 1) bɔːlk/ noun

1. Also (US): balk the space, usually 29 inches deep, between the baulk line and the bottom cushion
2. a strip of earth left between excavation trenches for the study of the complete stratigraphy of a site

verb , noun

1. a variant spelling of balk