n. [ AS. balca beam, ridge; akin to Icel. bālkr partition, bjālki beam, OS. balko, G. balken; cf. Gael. balc ridge of earth between two furrows. Cf. Balcony, Balk, v. t., 3d Bulk. ] 1. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bad plowmen made balks of such ground. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called “the balks.” [ 1913 Webster ]

Tubs hanging in the balks. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check. [ 1913 Webster ]

A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. It is illegal and is penalized by allowing the runners on base to advance one base. [ 1913 Webster ]

Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Balked p. pr. & vb. n. Balking. ] [ From Balk a beam; orig. to put a balk or beam in one's way, in order to stop or hinder. Cf., for sense 2, AS. on balcan legan to lay in heaps. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To leave or make balks in. [ Obs. ] Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [ Obs. or Obsolescent ] [ 1913 Webster ]

By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor doth he any creature balk,
But lays on all he meeteth. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, to balk expectation. [ 1913 Webster ]

They shall not balk my entrance. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In strifeful terms with him to balk. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's “Faërie Queene, ” Book IV., 10, xxv. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt,
Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Baseball) to commit a balk{ 6 }; -- of a pitcher. [ PJC ]

v. i. [ Prob. from D. balken to bray, bawl. ] To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. 1. to divide a territory into small, hostile states. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. pl. 1. The countries occupying the Balkan Peninsula.
Syn. -- Balkan countries, Balkan nations, Balkan states. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. The Balkan mountains. [ PJC ]

adj. 1. Same as baffled.
Syn. -- baffled, discomfited, discouraged, frustrated. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ See last Balk. ] A person who stands on a rock or eminence to espy the shoals of herring, etc., and to give notice to the men in boats which way they pass; a conder; a huer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 2d Balk. ] One who, or that which, balks. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. likely to stop abruptly and unexpectedly. [ WordNet 1.5 ]