balk
English
Etymology 1
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
- baulk
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɔːk/, /bɔːlk/
Audio (UK) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /bɔk/
- (cot–caught merger, Inland Northern American) IPA(key): /bɑk/
- Rhymes: -ɔːk
Noun
balk (plural balks)
- (agriculture) An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.
- 1645, Thomas Fuller, Good Thoughts in Bad Times:
- Bad ploughmen, which made balks of such ground.
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- (archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.
- 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".
- A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, OCLC 21766567:, "Concealment of Sin"
- a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
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- A sudden and obstinate stop.
- Synonym: failure
- (obsolete) An omission.
- (sports) A deceptive motion.
- Synonym: feint
- (baseball) An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.
- (badminton) A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve.
- (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.
- (snooker) The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.
- (fishing) The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.
Derived terms
- baulk end
- baulk line
- randle-balk
Translations
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Verb
balk (third-person singular simple present balks, present participle balking, simple past and past participle balked)
- (archaic) To pass over or by.
- To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
- Synonyms: miss, overlook
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid.
- Synonyms: avoid, shun, refuse, shirk
- 1641 November 22 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 12 November 1641]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], volume I, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, OCLC 976971842:
- By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.
- 1612–1626, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in [Contemplations vpon the Principall Passages of the Holy Storie], volume (please specify |volume=II, V, or VI), London, OCLC 54134621:
- Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
- 1627, Michael Drayton, Nymphidia
- Nor doth he any creature balk, / But lays on all he meeteth.
- To stop, check, block.
- 1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Chatto & Windus:
- Balked for the second time, the passion of his grief had found another outlet, was transformed into a passion of agonized rage.
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- To stop short and refuse to go on.
- The horse balked.
- 1995, Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures, page 6:
- I’ve seen cattle that were handled in two identical facilities easily walk through one and balk in the other.
- To refuse suddenly.
- 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], OCLC 3163777, page 303:
- Real affection, it seemed, he could not have for me; it had been only fitful passion: that was balked; he would want me no more
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- To disappoint; to frustrate.
- Synonyms: frustrate, foil, baffle, thwart
- to balk expectation
- 1821, Lord Byron, The Two Foscari
- They shall not balk my entrance.
- To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 12:
- Her list in strifull termes with him to balke
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- To leave or make balks in.
- c. 1386–1390, John Gower, Reinhold Pauli, editor, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, OCLC 827099568:
- But so well halt no man the plough,
That he ne balketh other while- (please add an English translation of this quote)
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- To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.
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- (sports, intransitive) To make a deceptive motion to deceive another player.
- 2013, Aaron Wisewell, The Baseball Coach
- The best advice you can receive regarding balking is to always maintain poise and composure on the mound.
- 2013, Aaron Wisewell, The Baseball Coach
Derived terms
- balked landing
Translations
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Etymology 2
Probably from Dutch balken (“to bray, bawl”).
Verb
balk (third-person singular simple present balks, present participle balking, simple past and past participle balked)
- 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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “balk”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
- Blak, blak
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɑlk/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: balk
- Rhymes: -ɑlk
- Homophone: Balk
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch balke, from Old Dutch *balco, from Proto-West Germanic *balkō, from Proto-Germanic *balkô.
Noun
balk m (plural balken, diminutive balkje n)
- A beam, solid support.
- (mathematics) A cuboid.
- A section, icon et cetera in such rectangular shape.
Derived terms
- balkenbrij
- dakbalk
- draagbalk
- evenwichtsbalk
- staartbalk
- stootbalk
- beam-shaped
- notenbalk
- taakbalk
- zoekbalk
Related terms
- balkon
Descendants
- Afrikaans: balk
- Negerhollands: balk
- → Caribbean Javanese: baleg, balok
- → Javanese: ꦧꦭꦺꦴꦏ꧀ (balok)
- → Indonesian: balok
- → Malay: balak
- Indonesian: balak
- → Papiamentu: balki (from the diminutive)
- → Saramaccan: báíki
- → Sranan Tongo: barki, balk
- → Caribbean Hindustani: barki
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
balk
- first-person singular present indicative of balken
- imperative of balken
Swedish
Etymology
From Old Swedish balker, from Old Norse bialki, bǫlkr, from Proto-Germanic *balkuz, from *balkô (“beam, plank”).
Noun
balk c
- a wooden or metal beam
- (heraldry) a bend (diagonal band)
- (law) code (major section of legislation)
- brottsbalk
- criminal code
- brottsbalk
Declension
Declension of balk | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | balk | balken | balker | balkerna |
Genitive | balks | balkens | balkers | balkernas |
Synonyms
- bjälke
Derived terms
- tvärbalk
- ändbalk
- ändtvärbalk