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Chambers (1908)

Balk

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This edition’s origin note

[A.S. balca, ridge; Old High Ger. balcho.]

Original source wording, not an independently verified *SET-U conclusion.

The complete extracted entry

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Balk, Baulk, bawk, n. a ridge left unploughed, intentionally or through carelessness: (obs.) an omission: squared timber: a tie-beam of a house, stretching from wall to wall, esp. when laid so as to form a loft, 'the balks:' (obs.) the beam of a balance: the rope by which fishing-nets are fastened together: a hindrance or disappointment.—v.t. to ignore, pass over: refuse: avoid: let slip: to check, disappoint, or elude: to meet arguments with objections.—v.i. to swerve, pull up: (Spens.) lie out of the way.—n. Balk′-line, in billiards, a line drawn across the table 28½ inches from the face of the bottom cushion—a ball is said to be in balk when within this space. [A.S. balca, ridge; Old High Ger. balcho.]

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  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
  • Historical text may contain offensive, obsolete or inaccurate language and classifications.
  • Public-domain determination applies to the United States; other jurisdictions require separate confirmation.
  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

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Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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