baulk
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
baulk /bɔːlk, bɔːk/ (chiefly US also balk)
▶verb
- 1 (baulk at) hesitate to accept (an idea or undertaking).
- 2 thwart or hinder (a plan or person).
- 3 (of a horse) refuse to go on.
- 1 a roughly squared timber beam.
- 2 the area on a billiard table between the baulk line and the bottom cushion.
- 3 Baseball an unlawful action made by a pitcher that may deceive a base runner.
- 4 a ridge left unploughed between furrows.
– origin OE balc (in the sense ‘unploughed ridge’, later ‘obstacle’), from ON bálkr ‘partition’.
'baulk' also found in these Oxford entries:
