balk

balk is a 4-letter English word with 19 senses as intransitive verb, transitive verb, noun, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside. Face value is 10 in Scrabble and 12 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.

4 letters · Scrabble 10 · Words With Friends 12 · 19 senses

Definitions

1. intransitive verb. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.
2. intransitive verb. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks."
3. intransitive verb. One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.
4. intransitive verb. A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
5. intransitive verb. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
6. intransitive verb. A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball.
7. transitive verb. To leave or make balks in.
8. transitive verb. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
9. transitive verb. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
10. transitive verb. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
11. transitive verb. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to /hwart; as, to balk expectation.
12. intransitive verb. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
13. intransitive verb. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.
14. intransitive verb. To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
15. noun. an illegal pitching motion while runners are on base
16. noun. one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

    Synonyms: baulk, rafter

17. noun. something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

    Synonyms: baulk, check, deterrent, handicap, hinderance, hindrance, impediment

18. noun. the area on a billiard table behind the balkline

    "a player with ball in hand must play from the balk"

    Synonyms: baulk

19. verb. refuse to comply

    Synonyms: baulk, jib, resist

Synonyms

baulk, rafter, check, deterrent, handicap, hinderance, hindrance, impediment, jib, resist

Common word forms

balks, balked, balker, balking

Words from these letters

If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for BALK lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.