balk

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balk / bôk/ (Brit. also baulk) • v. [intr.] 1. hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking: any gardener will at first balk at enclosing the garden. ∎  (of a horse) refuse to go on.2. Baseball (of a pitcher) make an illegal motion, penalized by an advance of the base runners: the rookie balked and permitted Robinson to score.• n. 1. Baseball an illegal motion made by a pitcher that may deceive a base runner.2. any area on a pool or billiard table in which play is restricted in some way.

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