Noun
an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base

Noun
one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

Noun
something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

Noun
the area on a billiard table behind the balkline; "a player with ball in hand must play from the balk"

Verb
refuse to comply

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v. i.
A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.

v. i.
A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks."

v. i.
One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.

v. i.
A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

v. i.
A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.

v. i.
A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball.

v. t.
To leave or make balks in.

v. t.
To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.

v. t.
To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.

v. t.
To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.

v. t.
To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to /hwart; as, to balk expectation.

v. i.
To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

v. i.
To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.

v. i.
To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

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Balk

Balk , n. [AS. balca beam, ridge; akin to Icel. b'belkr partition, bj'belki beam, OS. balko, G. balken; cf. Gael. balc ridge of earth between two furrows. Cf. Balcony, Balk, v. i., 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.

Bad plowmen made balks of such ground.

2. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks."

Tubs hanging in the balks.

3. (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge. 4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker.

5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. 6. (Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. 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.

Balk

Balk, 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.] 1. To leave or make balks in. [Obs.] Gower. 2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.]

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

3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.] 4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent]

By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.

Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.

Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth.

5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to hwart; as, to balk expectation.

They shall not balk my entrance.

Balk

Balk, v. i. 1. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.]

In strifeful terms with him to balk.

2. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks. &hand; This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's "Fa'89rie Queene," Book IV., 10, xxv.

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

Balk

Balk, 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.

A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.

To leave or make balks in.

To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.