balk

pronunciation

How to pronounce balk in British English: UK [bɔːk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce balk in American English: US [bɔːk] word us audio image

Noun:

the area on a billiard table behind the balkline
something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress
one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof
an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base
Verb:

refuse to comply

Word Origin

balk: balk: [OE] There are two separate strands of meaning in balk, or baulk, as it is also spelled. When it first entered English in the 9th century, from Old Norse bálkr, it meant a ‘ridge of land, especially one between ploughed furrows’, from which the modern sense ‘stumbling block, obstruction’ developed. It is not until about 1300 that the meaning ‘beam of timber’ appears in English, although it was an established sense of the Old Norse word’s Germanic ancestor *balkon (source also of English balcony).The common element of meaning in these two strands is something like ‘bar’, which may have been present in the word’s ultimate Indo- European base *bhalg- (possible source of Greek phálagx ‘log, phalanx’).=> balcony, phalanx

balk (n.): Old English balca "ridge, bank," from or influenced by Old Norse balkr "ridge of land," especially between two plowed furrows, both from Proto-Germanic *balkon- (cognates: Old Saxon balko, Danish bjelke, Old Frisian balka, Old High German balcho, German Balken "beam, rafter"), from PIE *bhelg- "beam, plank" (cognates: Latin fulcire "to prop up, support," fulcrum "bedpost;" Lithuanian balziena "cross-bar;" and possibly Greek phalanx "trunk, log, line of battle"). Modern senses are figurative, representing the balk as a hindrance or obstruction (see balk (v.)). Baseball sense is first attested 1845.

balk (v.): late 14c., "to leave an unplowed ridge when plowing," from balk (n.). Extended meaning "to omit, intentionally neglect" is mid-15c. Most modern senses are figurative, from the notion of a balk in the fields as a hindrance or obstruction: sense of "stop short" (as a horse confronted with an obstacle) is late 15c.; that of "to refuse" is 1580s. Related: Balked; balking.

vi.

1. Should lawmakers balk , he said he would take action on his own authority .

2. But there must be a price that even san franciscans would balk at paying to reduce their waste .

4. Those used by engineering companies cost serious money-and even they might balk at printing an object the size of the milk carton derby boat .

5. Even confident investors , however , may balk at how much debt they will soon be asked to buy .