Make Your Point: BALK

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pronounce BALK:

Rhyme it with TALK and WALK:

BALK.

connect this word to others:

Our word balk is cousins with words like beam and balcony: they all have something to do with a kind of ridge, bank, or plank: something long that juts out.

When you balk at something, it's like you've hit a ridge or a border, and you won't go any further. Here's Captain Picard, balking at something.

(Source)

You may know Captain Picard as someone who boldly goes where no man has gone before. But he's also known for boldly NOT going. For balking.

Like when he gets captured by the Cardassian, who show him four lights and try to torture him into saying there are five. He balks then, too.

(Source)

I've mentioned before that Picard's name is totally perfect for him. Although it's probably just a reference to Picardy, a region of France where his ancestors are from, it also sounds a lot like picaro, Spanish for "a rogue" and the source of our English word picar____e, meaning "involving roguish heroes and/or grand adventures." Can you recall that one?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Balk" comes from an Old English word meaning "a bank or ridge of land," something that might mark off the boundary of a piece of farmland: the place where you can't plant anything further.

In English, a balk is something that stops you from making progress. It's like a border or a ridge standing in your way, blocking you from moving forward.

And if you balk at something, you stop suddenly, or you refuse to do it: it's like you've hit the edge or the boundary of what's acceptable to you, and you won't go any further.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Most often a verb, and most often the intransitive kind: "We wanted to move along, but the horse balked;" "Teenagers will balk at a schedule that's too rigid."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "balked" and "balking."

No other forms are common these days, but you could talk about "balkers" (people who balk), or describe people as "balking" or "unbalking," or talk about how they do things "balkingly" or "unbalkingly."

how to use it:

Pick the short, powerful, common word "balk" to make your point quickly and visually as you describe someone's refusal to continue.

Say that someone balked in a certain situation or when something happened. Or say thaty they balked at some suggestion, command, expectation, or possibility.

It's good to be aware that the word "balk" can imply a comparison to a pack animal, or a farm animal: one that's being led that refuses to go any further. Here's a literal example from Old Yeller: "It was down in the bottom of this draw that the hogs balked."

examples:

"What with the oxen balking so much we were two hours behind schedule."
— James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, My Brother Sam is Dead, 1974

"Even a mushroom lover might balk at eating 1 kilogram or more of the fungi every day."
— Robert F. Service, Science Magazine, 7 June 2023

has this page helped you understand "balk"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "balk" without saying "resist" or "refuse."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "When (someone was asked or expected to do something), they balked: (they didn't want to for some reason)."

Example 1: "When I ask my kid to try new vegetables, she balks: she dislikes new tastes and strange textures."

Example 2: "When the U.N. post was first conferred on him, my grandfather balked: he wanted no part of the corrupt regime."
— Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, 1991

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Market That Makeup!"

Check out the names given to the shades in a palette, and decide what to call the shade with the missing name. You might channel the vibe established by the other shade names, or just pick the weirdest or most grandiloquent name you can think of. To see the shade's real name—the one that the marketing team picked—scroll all the way down.

Try this one today:

ColourPop's "Fade Into Hue Palette" includes shades like "Atelier," "Prismatic," "Kaleidoscope," "Bold Type," and "Lovecraft."

Invent a name for the shade on the bottom row, far right:

(Source)

review this word:

1. The opposite of BALKING could be

A. CROWING.
B. RESTORING ORDER.
C. HURTLING FORWARD.

2. In The Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan wrote, "A _____ appeared in the goddess's path, causing her horses to balk."

A. trench
B. wide bridge
C. golden meadow

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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