GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Balk, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Balked (ba̤kt); 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.]
   
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   1. To leave or make balks in. [Obs.]  Gower.
   
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   2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.]
   
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   Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
   
   Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. Shak.
   
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   3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.]
   
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   4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent]
   
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   By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns.  Evelyn.
   
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   Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. Bp. Hall.
   
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   Nor doth he any creature balk,
   
   But lays on all he meeteth. Drayton.
   
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   5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, “to balk expectation”.
   
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   They shall not balk my entrance. Byron.
   
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2.       
   balked adj.
   1.  Same as baffled.
   
   Syn. -- baffled, discomfited, discouraged, frustrated.
   
   [WordNet 1.5]