balk

1 of 2

verb

ˈbȯk How to pronounce balk (audio)
 sometimes  ˈbȯlk
balked; balking; balks

intransitive verb

1
: to refuse abruptly
used with at
Congress balked at putting up the moneyThomas Fleming
2
: to stop short and refuse to proceed
The horse balked at the jump and threw the rider.
3
sports : to commit a balk (see balk entry 2 sense 1)

transitive verb

1
: to check or stop by or as if by an obstacle : block
… had neither been balked nor been frightened …Francis Hackett
2
archaic : to pass over or by
… such an age as ours balks no expense …William Cowper
balker noun

balk

2 of 2

noun

1
a
baseball : an occurrence in which a pitcher stops suddenly or makes an illegal movement after starting to throw a pitch
The pitcher was charged with a balk.
b
sports : failure of a competitor to complete a motion (such as a jump, vault, or dive)
2
billiards
a
: the space behind the balkline on a billiard table
b
: any of the outside divisions made by the balklines
3
4
5
: a ridge of land left unplowed as a dividing line or through carelessness
Choose the Right Synonym for balk

frustrate, thwart, foil, baffle, balk mean to check or defeat another's plan or block achievement of a goal.

frustrate implies making vain or ineffectual all efforts however vigorous or persistent.

frustrated attempts at government reform

thwart suggests frustration or checking by crossing or opposing.

the army thwarted his attempt at a coup

foil implies checking or defeating so as to discourage further effort.

foiled by her parents, he stopped trying to see her

baffle implies frustration by confusing or puzzling.

baffled by the maze of rules and regulations

balk suggests the interposing of obstacles or hindrances.

officials felt that legal restrictions had balked their efforts to control crime

Examples of balk in a Sentence

Verb The horse balked and would not jump the fence. The runner on third base tried to make the pitcher balk. Noun the constant interruptions proved to be a balk to the flow of conversation
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Many rightfully balked at their $299.99 and $349.99 starting prices, but now through March 9th, Woot is offering new open-box Magic Keyboards for the 11-inch iPad Pro and newer iPad Airs with a 90-day warranty in white for $189.99 ($110 off). Quentyn Kennemer, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2024 While early adopters were willing to tolerate some inconveniences — such as finding public EV chargers, mainstream buyers are balking. Peter Cohan, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 But when the proposal came before the House, Republicans balked. Annie Karni, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2024 The same week that Twitter’s bankers were expecting formal bids, both Disney and Salesforce balked. Kurt Wagner, Fortune, 21 Feb. 2024 Saudi Arabia has already introduced reforms in areas like gender rights, tourism, and investment, but critics still balk at its continued lack of freedom for women, LGBTQ+ citizens and the press, among other things. Diane Brady, Fortune, 23 Feb. 2024 Meantime, its customers were starting to balk at paying higher prices. Paul Wiseman, Quartz, 21 Feb. 2024 Yet the party’s centrists would probably balk at installing a polarizing figure in Downing Street before an election. Stephen Castle, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2024 Target Target is the latest major brand to recognize that consumers are balking at higher prices. Rob Wile, NBC News, 16 Feb. 2024
Noun
If a third pickoff throw is attempted and is unsuccessful, the pitcher is charged with a balk. Chantz Martin, Fox News, 1 Sep. 2023 Moreover, on cold mornings, this engine balks and stalls if asked to move the car before an appropriate idle is negotiated. John Phillips, Car and Driver, 6 Sep. 2023 Mateo moved to third on a balk called on Andrés Muñoz, with Seattle manager Scott Servais ejected for arguing. Nathan Ruiz, Baltimore Sun, 13 Aug. 2023 Hot pursuit:Supreme Court balks at warrantless searches when police are in 'hot pursuit' for lesser crimes No one bothered to close the door. John Fritze, USA TODAY, 5 Sep. 2023 The offense was fairly equally divided between two-strike-tough Josh Jung and run-scoring balks. Evan Grant, Dallas News, 24 May 2023 Arkansas loaded the bases again in the fourth and pushed the lead to 3-0 on a balk by Naturals reliever Dante Biasi. Paul Boyd, Arkansas Online, 17 Sep. 2023 The game-winning run scored when closer Gregory Santos was called for a balk with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning. Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2023 While Canseco and Rodriguez's career exploits were tied to performance-enhancing drug use, Acuña had a different benefit — radical rules changes that created larger bases and confined pitchers to two pickoff attempts; an unsuccessful third attempt results in a balk. Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 1 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'balk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English balkyn "to leave an unplowed ridge between furrows, omit, neglect," verbal derivative of balk, balke "strip of unplowed land between fields" — more at balk entry 2

Noun

Middle English balk, balke, bauke "squared beam of wood, beam of a balance from which pans hang, strip of unplowed land between fields, ridge between furrows left unplowed," going back to Old English balca "strip of unplowed land between fields, ridge between furrows left unplowed," going back to Germanic *balkōn (masculine n-stem) "beam," (whence also Old Frisian balka "beam," Old Saxon balko, Old High German balko, balcho "beam, winepress, gangway on a ship"; with differing ablaut and/or inflection Old English bolca "deck, gangway on a ship," Old High German bolkun [plural] "passageway on a ship," Old Icelandic bǫlkr, balkr "partition, section," bjalki "beam"), going back to dialectal Indo-European *bholǵ- or *bholǵh-, whence also regional Russian bólozno "thick board," Slovene blazína "load-bearing beam in a roof or threshing floor," Lithuanian balžíena "flexible crosspiece for securing the back support on a sled"

Note: G. Kroonen prefers *bholǵh- to *bholǵ- because a plain voiced stop should have triggered lengthening and acute accent in Balto-Slavic ("Winter's Law"). Aspirated *bholǵh-, however, would result in a voiced rather than voiceless stop in Germanic, a problem that Kroonen circumvents by assuming that -k- in *balkan- reflects a voiceless geminate stop produced by assimilation of a voiced stop and a following *n ("Kluge's Law")—hence an original genitive form *bhl̥ǵh-n-ós would result in *bulkkaz. (See Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic [Leiden, 2013] s.v. *belkan- and The Proto-Germanic N-Stems [Amsterdam/New York, 2011], pp. 148-49.) — A variety of other formations have been assigned to this Indo-European base: 1) Latin sufflāmen "bar used for braking wheeled vehicles," allegedly from *sub-flăg-men, in the notation of A.L. Lloyd et al., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (vol. 1, p. 442), *-bhlьg-mn̥ or *-bhlьg-smn̥. But a deverbal derivation is suggested by the prefix, and -men derivatives in Latin are almost without exception formed from verbs. 2) Greek phalang-, phálanx "log, roller placed under loads or a ship, spar, row, rank, body of troops drawn up in ranks" (see phalanx). Earlier literature uniformly assigns this word to *bhl̥ǵ- "beam," with the addition of a laryngeal that drops elsewhere and a "secondary" nasal consonant—hence *bhol-ə2-g- in Chantraine's notation. R. Beekes, however, regards all -ang-/-ing-/-yng- derivatives, most etymologically opaque, as of pre-Greek substratal origin (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010); see also note at pharynx.

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 5

Time Traveler
The first known use of balk was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near balk

Cite this Entry

“Balk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balk. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

balk

1 of 2 noun
1
: something that prevents movement or action
2
: an illegal motion of a baseball pitcher while in position to pitch with a runner on base

balk

2 of 2 verb
1
: to check or stop by or as if by something in the way : block
2
: to stop and refuse to go
the horse balked
3
: to make a balk in baseball
balker noun

More from Merriam-Webster on balk

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