(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.
Thwart
Definition:
(a.) Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
(a.) Fig.: Perverse; crossgrained.
(a.) Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart.
(prep.) Across; athwart.
(n.) A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat.
(v. t.) To move across or counter to; to cross; as, an arrow thwarts the air.
(v. t.) To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to run counter to; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat.
(v. i.) To move or go in an oblique or crosswise manner.
(v. i.) Hence, to be in opposition; to clash.
Example Sentences:
(1) The disappointing weather at Easter left beaches deserted but some Britons, who were determined to enjoy the outdoors this time round, have already had their plans thwarted by the weather, taking to websites such as ukcampsite.co.uk to swap tales of woe, such as farmers calling to cancel bookings because sites were waterlogged.
(2) Bryan Hopkins Sheffield • David Cameron says he wants to tackle segregation between schools ( Four steps to thwart creation of ‘a barbaric realm’ , 21 July).
(3) As for the speaker in parliament Thura Shwe Mann, a former general, he has formed an improbable alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi, on the assumption that she might help him thwart the plans of his former cronies.
(4) In the recent local and European parliament elections, Labour gained 300 councillors and boosted its number of MEPs, but saw Ukip thwart its progress in key target areas, make gains in traditional party heartlands and top the European poll.
(5) But concerns about a slowing economy, jobs, civil rights and a lack of progress in the Kurdish peace process appear to have combined with worries that Erdoğan could assume quasi-dictatorial powers to thwart the president’s ambitions.
(6) A standoff between the two houses of parliament threatens to thwart a government-backed crackdown on multinational tax avoidance and a Labor-backed plan to increase tax transparency.
(7) So President Mujica may be thinking: "why not take the risk and embrace the possibility of becoming the first marijuana hero and the man who thwarted drug dealers?"
(8) The cataractogenic effect of oxyradicals, however, can be thwarted by nutritional and metabolic antioxidants such as ascorbate, vitamin E, and pyruvate.
(9) However, the over-riding view is that with Global's plan to buy GMG Radio outright all but thwarted, senior executives at German-owned Bauer will be breathing a sigh of relief.
(10) Experts say there are other arms of the federal octopus that could be squeezed in a bid to thwart Obama’s deferred action schemes, but even that would not affect the directive that tells immigration officials to focus on deporting “felons, not families”.
(11) The solution is for Hathaway to spend a year in sarky Manchester, where her attempts to go jogging will be thwarted by 324 days of rain, and if she so much as thinks about telling a Mancunian barmaid that she has poured those lagers fantastically well, she will swiftly learn an aloofness not taught in any American drama school.
(12) The report finds the company "deliberately" tried to "thwart" the 2005-6 Metropolitan police investigation into phone hacking carried out by the tabloid.
(13) But imperial Britain was not thwarted in any of these wars – however questionable we may now judge those conflicts to have been.
(14) This year the weather has tended to thwart these hopes, although after "the summer of sport" we might all need a break.
(15) Qerdaha is the heart of Alawite Syria , a hub for senior army officers and Shabiha, the pro-Assad militia accused of tremendous brutality in their three-year campaign to thwart the rebel uprising.
(16) 1.44am BST Rangers 2-1 Kings, 12:50, 2nd period Lewis stick handles towards the net but is thwarted by McDonagh, who is all over the place this game.
(17) The secret vote was an attempt to thwart the bill before it is put to a general vote.
(18) Part of the problem is procedural: that the will of the church’s parliament, the General Synod, is easily thwarted by a tiny minority of its members.
(19) Chloro substituents in the ring of other methoxylated benzoic acids also arrested their normal metabolism by the Nocardia: an ortho-chloro substituent thwarted both demethylation and ring-opening.
(20) The Liberal Democrat input is the second time they have helped thwart Gove's policies.