BALK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does balk mean? 

• BALK (noun)
  The noun BALK has 4 senses:

1. the area on a billiard table behind the balkline

2. something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

3. one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

4. an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base

  Familiarity information: BALK used as a noun is uncommon.

• BALK (verb)
  The verb BALK has 1 sense:

1. refuse to comply

  Familiarity information: BALK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BALK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The area on a billiard table behind the balkline

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

balk; baulk

Context example:

a player with ball in hand must play from the balk

Hypernyms ("balk" is a kind of...):

area; expanse; surface area (the extent of a 2-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundary)

Holonyms ("balk" is a part of...):

billiard table; pool table; snooker table (game equipment consisting of a heavy table on which pool is played)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; check; deterrent; handicap; hinderance; hindrance; impediment

Hypernyms ("balk" is a kind of...):

difficulty (a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "balk"):

albatross; millstone ((figurative) something that hinders or handicaps)

bind (something that hinders as if with bonds)

diriment impediment ((canon law) an impediment that invalidates a marriage (such as the existence of a prior marriage))

drag (something that slows or delays progress)

obstacle; obstruction (something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted)

straitjacket (anything immaterial that severely hinders or confines)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; rafter

Hypernyms ("balk" is a kind of...):

beam (long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An illegal pitching motion while runners are on base

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("balk" is a kind of...):

delivery; pitch ((baseball) the act of throwing a baseball by a pitcher to a batter)

Derivation:

balky (stopping short and refusing to go on)

• BALK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they balk    ... he / she / it balks   
Past simple: balked   
Past participle: balked   
-ing form: balking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Refuse to comply

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; jib; resist

Hypernyms (to "balk" is one way to...):

disobey (refuse to go along with; refuse to follow; be disobedient)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

balker (a person who refuses to comply)

 Context examples 

“It were pity to balk this worthy seneschal, should he desire to try some small feat of arms.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The wind balked my every effort, ripping the canvas out of my hands and in an instant undoing what I had gained by ten minutes of severest struggle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

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.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was a woman's hand which cast this lime into mine eyes, and though I saw her stoop, and might well have stopped her ere she threw, I deemed it unworthy of my knighthood to hinder or balk one of her sex.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)