The area on a billiard table behind the balkline:
— A player with ball in hand must play from the balk.

synonym: baulk.

Roget 509: disappointment; blighted hope, balk; blow; anticlimax; slip 'twixt cup and lip; nonfulfillment of one's hopes; sad disappointment, bitter disappointment; trick of fortune; afterclap; false expectation, vain expectation; miscalculation etc. 481; fool's paradise; much cry and little wool.    ... show more

Dutch: band

Something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress.

synonyms: baulk, check, deterrent, handicap, hinderance, hindrance, impediment.

Dutch: barrière, belemmering, beletsel, drempel, handicap, hindernis, hinderpaal, hobbel, obstakel, rem, struikelblok, struikelsteen, verhindering ... show more
Polish: zawada, piąte koło u wozu, kamień u szyi, kula u nogi, ciężar

One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof.

synonyms: baulk, rafter.

Dutch: dakspant, dakspar, spantrib, spar
Polish: krokiew

An illegal pitching motion while runners are on base.

Refuse to comply.

synonyms: baulk, jib, resist.

Roget 545: deceive, take in; defraud, cheat, jockey, do, cozen, diddle, nab, chouse, play one false, bilk, cully^†, jilt, bite, pluck, swindle, victimize; abuse; mystify; blind one's eyes; blindfold, hoodwink; throw dust into the eyes; dupe, gull, hoax, fool, befool^†, bamboozle, flimflam, hornswoggle; trick.    impose upon, practice upon, play upon, put upon, palm off on, palm upon, foist upon; snatch a verdict; bluff off, bluff; bunko, four flush [Slang], gum [U.S.], spoof [Slang], stuff (a ballot box) [U.S.].    circumvent, overreach; outreach, out wit, out maneuver; steal a march upon, give the go-by, to leave in the lurch decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle; entrap, intrap^†, ensnare; nick, springe^†; set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for; bait the hook, forelay^†, spread the toils, lime; trapan^†, trepan; kidnap; let in, hook in; nousle^†, nousel^†; blind a trail; enmesh, immesh^†; shanghai; catch, catch in a trap; sniggle, entangle, illaqueate^†, hocus, escamoter^†, practice on one's credulity; hum, humbug; gammon, stuff up [Slang], sell; play a trick upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one, put one over on; balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale; fool to the top of one's bent, send on a fool's errand; make game, make a fool of, make an April fool of^†, make an ass of; trifle with, cajole, flatter; come over etc. (influence) 615; gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert, put a good face upon; dissemble etc. 544.    cog, cog the dice, load the dice, stack the deck; live by one's wits, play at hide and seek; obtain money under false pretenses etc. (steal) 791; conjure, juggle, practice chicanery; deacon [U.S.].    play off, palm off, foist off, fob-off.    lie etc. 544; misinform etc. 538; mislead etc. (error) 495; betray etc. 940; be deceived etc. 547.    ... show more

Roget 706: hinder, impede, filibuster [U.S.], impedite^†, embarrass.    keep off, stave off, ward off; obviate; avert, antevert^†; turn aside, draw off, prevent, forefend, nip in the bud; retard, slacken, check, let; counteract, countercheck^†; preclude, debar, foreclose, estop [Law]; inhibit etc. 761; shackle etc. (restrain) 751; restrict.    obstruct, stop, stay, bar, bolt, lock; block, block up; choke off; belay, barricade; block the way, bar the way, stop the way; forelay^†; dam up etc. (close) 261; put on the brake etc. n.; scotch the wheel, lock the wheel, put a spoke in the wheel; put a stop to etc. 142; traverse, contravene; interrupt, intercept; oppose etc. 708; hedge in, hedge round; cut off; inerclude^†.    interpose, interfere, intermeddle etc. 682.    cramp, hamper; clog, clog the wheels; cumber; encumber, incumber; handicap; choke; saddle with, load with; overload, lay; lumber, trammel, tie one's hands, put to inconvenience; incommode, discommode; discompose; hustle, corner, drive into a corner.    run foul of, fall foul of; cross the path of, break in upon.    thwart, frustrate, disconcert, balk, foil; faze, feaze^†, feeze [U.S.]; baffle, snub, override, circumvent; defeat etc. 731; spike guns etc. (render useless) 645; spoil, mar, clip the wings of; cripple etc. (injure) 659; put an extinguisher on; damp; dishearten etc. (dissuade) 616; discountenance, throw cold water on, spoil sport; lay a wet blanket, throw a wet blanket on; cut the ground from under one, take the wind out of one's sails, undermine; be in the way of, stand in the way of; act as a drag; hang like a millstone round one's neck.    ... show more

Roget 283: recede, regrade, return, revert, retreat, retire; retrograde, retrocede; back out; back down; balk; crawfish [U.S.], crawl [Slang]; withdraw; rebound etc. 277; go back, come back, turn back, hark back, draw back, fall back, get back, put back, run back; lose ground; fall astern, drop astern; backwater, put about; backtrack, take the back track; veer round; double, wheel, countermarch; ebb, regurgitate; jib, shrink, shy.    turn tail, turn round, turn upon one's heel, turn one's back upon; retrace one's steps, dance the back step; sound a retreat, beat a retreat; go home.    ... show more

Roget 509: be disappointed; look blank, look blue; look aghast, stand aghast etc. (wonder) 870; find to one's cost; laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth; find one a false prophet.    not realize one's hope, not realize one's expectation.    [cause to be disappointed] disappoint; frustrate, discomfit, crush, defeat (failure) 732; crush one's hope, dash one's hope, balk one's hope, disappoint one's hope, blight one's hope, falsify one's hope, defeat one's hope, discourage; balk, jilt, bilk; play one false, play a trick; dash the cup from the lips, tantalize; dumfound, dumbfound, dumbfounder, dumfounder (astonish) 870.    ... show more