BAULK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does baulk mean? 

• BAULK (noun)
  The noun BAULK has 3 senses:

1. the area on a billiard table behind the balkline

2. something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

3. one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

  Familiarity information: BAULK used as a noun is uncommon.

• BAULK (verb)
  The verb BAULK has 1 sense:

1. refuse to comply

  Familiarity information: BAULK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BAULK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The area on a billiard table behind the balkline

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

balk; baulk

Context example:

a player with ball in hand must play from the balk

Hypernyms ("baulk" is a kind of...):

area; expanse; surface area (the extent of a 2-dimensional surface enclosed within a boundary)

Holonyms ("baulk" is a part of...):

billiard table; pool table; snooker table (game equipment consisting of a heavy table on which pool is played)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; check; deterrent; handicap; hinderance; hindrance; impediment

Hypernyms ("baulk" is a kind of...):

difficulty (a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "baulk"):

albatross; millstone ((figurative) something that hinders or handicaps)

bind (something that hinders as if with bonds)

diriment impediment ((canon law) an impediment that invalidates a marriage (such as the existence of a prior marriage))

drag (something that slows or delays progress)

obstacle; obstruction (something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted)

straitjacket (anything immaterial that severely hinders or confines)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; rafter

Hypernyms ("baulk" is a kind of...):

beam (long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction)

• BAULK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they baulk    ... he / she / it baulks   
Past simple: baulked   
Past participle: baulked   
-ing form: baulking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Refuse to comply

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; jib; resist

Hypernyms (to "baulk" is one way to...):

disobey (refuse to go along with; refuse to follow; be disobedient)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

baulker (a person who refuses to comply)

 Context examples 

He said he would even have spent as much, to baulk or injure Copperfield.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

By my soul! had you asked as much from our new ally Don Pedro, he had not baulked you.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I dare say he'll last a long time yet, Blossom, said my aunt, patting Dora on the cheek, as she leaned out of her couch to look at Jip, who responded by standing on his hind legs, and baulking himself in various asthmatic attempts to scramble up by the head and shoulders.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

What the knitting was, I don't know, not being learned in that art; but it looked like a net; and as she worked away with those Chinese chopsticks of knitting-needles, she showed in the firelight like an ill-looking enchantress, baulked as yet by the radiant goodness opposite, but getting ready for a cast of her net by and by.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)