(v. t.) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
(v. i.) A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.
(v. i.) A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks."
(v. i.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.
(v. i.) A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
(v. i.) A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
(v. i.) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball.
(v. t.) To leave or make balks in.
(v. t.) To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
(v. t.) To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to /hwart; as, to balk expectation.
(v. i.) To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
(v. i.) To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.
(v. i.) To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
Example Sentences:
(1) Since the first is balked by the obstacle of deficit reduction, emphasis has turned to the second.
(2) The US and its allies are balking at Iranian demands for all UN sanctions to be lifted at the start of a deal.
(3) The eastern European nations balked at the “emergency brake” on benefits to EU migrants.
(4) Critics balk at the original asking price of $399, but the initial stock sells out in five hours.
(5) In recent years, though, a number of his near comtemporaries – notably Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen – have been revitalised by taking on the kind of touring schedules that many a younger artist might balk at.
(6) To attract support from moderate Republicans who balked at the plan, an additional $8bn was included over five years to fund so-called high-risk pools that would help subsidize people with preexisting conditions.. Health policy experts have argued the fix is insufficient.
(7) One government source said: "Patrick McLoughlin is not balking at these ideas, which are interesting.
(8) Her work, which tackles the problems women face in Egypt and across the world, has always attracted outrage, but she never seems to have balked at this; she has continued to address controversial issues such as prostitution, domestic violence and religious fundamentalism in her writing.
(9) Young parents who have seen their tax credits cut and wages stagnate might balk at George Osborne’s repeated claims that “the economic plan is working”.
(10) Duration of treadmill exercise on a Balke treadmill protocol increased similarly in the two groups, 62% in the older group (from 8.9 to 14.3 minutes) and 40% in the younger group (from 12.2 to 17.1 minutes) (p = NS).
(11) The Wigan Athletic chairman, Dave Whelan , could step in to save jobs at his stricken former company JJB Sports, which is searching for a buyer after shareholders balked at pumping more cash into the troubled chain.
(12) Republicans in the house have already balked at the $50bn in immediate relief for Sandy that went to the house on Tuesday.
(13) It has been known for weeks that the US balked at Germany’s demand for a no-spy agreement, in part because of the precedent it would set for other countries that might also ask not to be spied on, and in part because Germany , which has limited spy capabilities, had nothing to offer in trade.
(14) Distribution of mitoses and dead hepatocytes in the hepatic balk was investigated.
(15) The new service unveiled on Friday will allow viewers who balk at a monthly Sky pay-TV subscription to access on-demand content including the BBC iPlayer, Facebook and Sky News.
(16) I think we balk at commercialising babies for the same reason that there's no provision under law for financial compensation if you lose a loved one.
(17) The misery of the left was, in the 1980s, matched by the triumphalism of the free marketeers, who had transformed Britain beyond many of their wildest ambitions, and began to balk at the restraints put on their dreams by the European project.
(18) Any Moldy Peach diehards balking at the idea of Green duetting with someone other than Dawson are missing out, though: this record sounds as though he and Shapiro have known each other for ever.
(19) Many countries, including major ones, won’t be willing to make their mitigation commitment legally binding at the international level, and once some balk, the premise of a legal form applicable to all unravels,” he said.
(20) Balking as never before at being the EU's cashpoint, Germany has been the main obstacle, although others have also hidden behind Berlin and quietly egged it on.
Halt
Definition:
() 3d pers. sing. pres. of Hold, contraction for holdeth.
(n.) A stop in marching or walking, or in any action; arrest of progress.
(v. i.) To hold one's self from proceeding; to hold up; to cease progress; to stop for a longer or shorter period; to come to a stop; to stand still.
(v. i.) To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; to hesitate; to be uncertain.
(v. t.) To cause to cease marching; to stop; as, the general halted his troops for refreshment.
(a.) Halting or stopping in walking; lame.
(n.) The act of limping; lameness.
(a.) To walk lamely; to limp.
(a.) To have an irregular rhythm; to be defective.
Example Sentences:
(1) Schneiderlin, valued at an improbable £27m, and the currently injured Jay Rodriguez are wanted by their former manager Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs, but the chairman Ralph Krueger has apparently called a halt to any more outgoings, saying: “They are part of the core that we have decided to keep at Southampton.” He added: “Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin are not for sale and they will be a part of our club as we enter the new season.” The new manager Ronald Koeman has begun rebuilding by bringing in Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pellè from the Dutch league and Krueger said: “We will have players coming in, we will make transfers to strengthen the squad.
(2) It pulled to a halt and a bodyguard got out and knocked me unconscious.
(3) An otherwise progressive rise in blood ammonia concentration was halted in the treatment group.
(4) It inherited an economy that was growing quite strongly but activity came to an abrupt halt last autumn and has flatlined ever since.
(5) The further disappearance of laboratory exercises from the curriculum should be halted by efforts to revitalize them.
(6) What we’re saying is the advertising is false.” Prosecutors are not asking the court to halt the company’s services while the suit proceeds.
(7) Britain is being urged to halt the supply of weapons to its ally Saudi Arabia in the light of evidence that civilians are being killed in Saudi-led attacks on rebel forces in Yemen .
(8) Vomiting ceased in 85% of the symptomatic patients; pulmonary deterioration was halted, and the frequency of aspiration pneumonia was reduced in 68%; nutritional improvement was seen in 44%; the hydration status improved in 88%; and the frequency of hospital admissions decreased in 74%.
(9) That's why the policies that are desperately needed for the majority to break the grip of a failed economic model would also help make regulated migration work for all: stronger trade unions, a higher minimum wage, a shift from state-subsidised low pay to a living wage, a crash housing investment programme, a halt to cuts in public services, and an end to the outsourced race to the bottom in employment conditions.
(10) Trains in the northern Netherlands were halted, Dutch Railways said.
(11) We have described methods to prepare ternary complexes halted at defined positions along the DNA template, using specific dinucleotides to prime chain initiation along with limited subsets of the NTP substrates.
(12) The AP reports: The incremental assistance would be aimed both at bolstering the Ukrainian military as it seeks to halt the advances of pro-Russian forces in the east, as well as showing symbolic U.S. support for Ukraine's efforts.
(13) Occupy activists have lost their case at the court of appeal to halt their eviction from an abandoned London building that previously housed the multinational banking giant, UBS.
(14) Protests against the four grocers will be halted while agreements over the new price for milk are finalised.
(15) Serum amino transferase values need to be checked once during the 1st 3-6 months of use, although routine liver tests have been halted.
(16) The construction of Fab 42 was halted in 2014 , following a slump in PC sales, but analysts don’t believe Trump is the reason it’s been restarted.
(17) In my case the phone went silent after a couple of weeks and the programme I worked on then came to an abrupt halt.
(18) I appeal to the king of Saudi Arabia to exercise his power to halt the public flogging by pardoning Mr Badawi, and to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty.” Badawi’s case was one of several recent prosecutions of activists.
(19) The case for halting British arms sales to Saudi Arabia has been evident, not only on moral grounds, since civilians started dying in the conflict devastating Yemen.
(20) UN envoy Staffan De Mistura halted the latest Syria talks on 3 February, because of major differences between the two sides, exacerbated by increased aerial bombings and a wide military offensive by Syrian troops and their allies under the cover of Russian airstrikes.