FluentPlex

balk

/bɔk/ verb C2
  1. To be unwilling to do something; to refuse to proceed or do or allow something, either in general or only temporarily. · balked at paying a day's wages for a pencil; he said he would buy her one, but when he saw the price, he balked
  2. To stop short and refuse to go on or do something (such as jump). · The horse balked.
  3. To move fitfully, stopping frequently.
  4. To leave or make a balk or balks (ridges) in; to leave a ridge in by leaving partly unploughed.
  5. To stop, check, block (by or as if by an obstacle); to hinder, impede, thwart.
  6. To disappoint, frustrate, or check. · to balk expectation
  7. To make a balk, a deceptive motion to deceive another player. (intransitive)

He/she/it balks · Past balked · Past participle balked · -ing form balking

+ Save to review

Verb forms

Base form
balk
He/she/it
balks
Past
balked
Past participle
balked
-ing form
balking

Other matches

Learn balk in real texts

With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.

Create free account
Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.