Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See balk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK Alternative spelling of balk.
  • noun UK In 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.
  • verb UK Alternative spelling of balk.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress
  • verb refuse to comply
  • noun the area on a billiard table behind the balkline
  • noun one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See balk

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Examples

  • Upon a baulk, that is, an unploughed ridge of land interposed among the corn, the Laird's trusty palfrey was tethered by the head, and picking a meal of grass.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 1822

  • Upon a baulk, that is, an unploughed ridge of land interposed among the corn, the Laird's trusty palfrey was tethered by the head, and picking a meal of grass.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Complete Walter Scott 1801

  • If we leave unstimulated, or, to use a shorter term, if we "baulk" any one of our main dispositions, Curiosity, Property, Trial and Error, Sex, and the rest, we produce in ourselves a state of nervous strain.

    Human Traits and their Social Significance Irwin Edman

  • It seemed to her that she had been in the timber trade for ages and ages, and that the most important and necessary thing in life was timber; and there was something intimate and touching to her in the very sound of words such as "baulk," "post," "beam," "pole,"

    The Darling and Other Stories Anton Pavlovich Chekhov 1882

  • XII. 422 we have "a common field," and men measuring a strip and quarrelling about the marking-stones, across the "baulk," but it does not follow that they are owners; they may be tenants.

    Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878

  • Upon a baulk, that is, an unploughed ridge of land interposed among the corn, the Laird’s trusty palfrey was tethered by the head, and picking a meal of grass.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

  • The brown, which he attempted along the baulk cushion, was the worst shot.

    John Higgins' Wembley curse strikes again in defeat to Graeme Dott 2011

  • Anyone think CI Silver will baulk at paying me offshore in Zimbabwean blood diamonds or my idea to source all police catering at the same place? on February 28, 2010 at 10: 29 pm inspectorgadget

    Satisfied? Confident? You Will Be…… « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010

  • All that said, I still baulk at the idea of paying £30+ per month for a mobile phone contract.

    Twitticide « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2009

  • Others fear the destruction of areas of outstanding natural beauty or indeed, just baulk at the idea of a railway line running close to where they live.

    Expect Delays Christian Wolmar 2011

Comments

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  • "I am very much afraid that we are going to be baulked of our galley—pipped on the post—done brown."

    --P. O'Brian, The Hundred Days, 249

    A Sea of Words: "Baulk: A roughly squared beam of timber. Sometimes used specifically to designate Baltic timber, which is roughly dressed before shipment."

    March 25, 2008