n. A ridge; especially, a ridge left unplowed in the body of a field, or between fields; an uncultivated strip of land serving as a boundary, often between pieces of ground held by different tenants.n. A piece missed in plowing.n. An omission; an exception.n. A blunder; a failure or miscarriage: as, to make a balk; you have made a bad balk of it.n. In base-ball, a motion made by the pitcher as if to pitch the ball, but without actually doing so.n. A barrier in one's way; an obstacle or stumbling-block.n. A check or defeat; a disappointment.n. In coal-mining, a more or less sudden thinning out, for a certain distance, of a bed of coal; a nip or want.n. A beam or piece of timber of considerable length and thickness.n. Milit., one of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle-bridge or bateau-bridge.n. In carpentry, a squared timber, long or short; a large timber in a frame, floor, etc.; a square log.n. The beam of a balance.n. In billiards, the space between the cushion of the table and the balkline. A ball inside this space is said to be in balk.n. A long wooden or iron table on which paper is laid in the press-room of a printing-office.n. A set of stout stakes surrounded by netting or wickerwork for catching fish.n. The stout rope at the top of fishing-nets by which they are fastened one to another in a fleet.To make a balk or ridge in plowing; make a ridge in by leaving a strip unplowed.Hence To leave untouched generally; omit; pass over; neglect; shun.To place a balk in the way of; hence, to hinder; thwart; frustrate; disappoint.To miss by error or inadvertence.To heap up so as to form a balk or ridge.[Some editors read bak'd in this passage.] SynonymsTo stop short in one's course, as at a balk or obstacle: as, the horse balked; he balked in his speech. Spenser.To quibble; bandy words.To signify to fishing-boats the direction taken by the shoals of herrings or pilchards, as seen from heights overlooking the sea: done at first by bawling or shouting, subsequently by signals.n. n. In wool-manuf., a fullness and suppleness of texture.n. The failure of a jumper or vaulter to jump after taking his run. Three balks usually count as a trial-jump.