Brady Dennis
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Initially, "bilking" wasn't considered cheating-just good strategy for cribbage players. Language historians aren't sure where "bilk" originated, but they have noticed that its earliest uses occur in contexts referring to cribbage. Part of the scoring in cribbage involves each player adding cards from his or her hand to a pile of discards called the "crib." At the end of a hand, the dealer gets any points in the crib. Strategically, then, it's wisest for the dealer's opponent to discard non-scoring cards-the ones most likely to "balk," or put a check on, the dealer's score. Etymologists theorize that "bilk" may have originated as an alteration of that card-game "balk."
Synonyms
Examples of bilk in a Sentence
Brian Mann, NPR, 24 Apr. 2024
The accomplished deceiver impersonated mostly top female execs like former Sony chair Amy Pascal and Star Wars producer Kathleen Kennedy to target industry creators with promises of career-changing work in Indonesia, only to bilk them of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Apr. 2024
Over the past five years, American timeshare owners were bilked out of $288 million, according to the F.B.I., through various types of scams, including those run by the cartel.
—Maria Abi-Habib, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2024
The two businesses were among the ring’s 10 Miami-Dade pharmacies used to bilk Medicare, the indictment says.
—Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 29 Mar. 2024
In that fraud case — the largest in California’s recent history — charter operators manipulated student attendance records and funding to bilk the state of $400 million in public school dollars.
—Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Mar. 2024
Jimmy Jenkins More than a dozen people have filed a lawsuit claiming they were collectively bilked out of more than $1 million after they were drugged at East Valley strip clubs.
—The Arizona Republic, 27 Mar. 2024
His guilty plea to charges filed in January followed the conviction of the first BSO employee to face trial on charges of bilking the Paycheck Protection Program.
—Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2024
In 2023, consumers lost $1.14 billion to romance scams, which bilk people out of money for love, according to new information released Friday by the Federal Trade Commission.
—USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024
Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 17 May 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bilk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near bilk
Cite this Entry
“Bilk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bilk. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
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