ALL meanings of balking
balk
B b - noun balking Present participle of balk. 1
- verb without object balking to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually followed by at): He balked at making the speech. 1
- verb without object balking (of a horse, mule, etc.) to stop short and stubbornly refuse to go on. 1
- verb without object balking Baseball. to commit a balk. 1
- verb with object balking to place an obstacle in the way of; hinder; thwart: a sudden reversal that balked her hopes. 1
- verb with object balking Archaic. to let slip; fail to use: to balk an opportunity. 1
- noun balking a check or hindrance; defeat; disappointment. 1
- noun balking a strip of land left unplowed. 1
- noun balking a crossbeam in the roof of a house that unites and supports the rafters; tie beam. 1
- noun balking any heavy timber used for building purposes. 1
- noun balking Baseball. an illegal motion by a pitcher while one or more runners are on base, as a pitch in which there is either an insufficient or too long a pause after the windup or stretch, a pretended throw to first or third base or to the batter with one foot on the pitcher's rubber, etc., resulting in a penalty advancing the runner or runners one base. 1
- noun balking Billiards. any of the eight panels or compartments lying between the cushions of the table and the balklines. 1
- noun balking Obsolete. a miss, slip, or failure: to make a balk. 1
- idioms balking in balk, inside any of the spaces in back of the balklines on a billiard table. 1