from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Balk \Balk\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Balked} (b[add]kt); 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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