Balk () To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to /hwart; as, to balk expectation.

Balk () To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

Balk () To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.

Balk () To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

Balker () One who, or that which balks.

Balker () A person who stands on a rock or eminence to espy the shoals of herring, etc., and to give notice to the men in boats which way they pass; a conder; a huer.

Balkingly () In a manner to balk or frustrate.

Balkish () Uneven; ridgy.

Balky () Apt to balk; as, a balky horse.

Ball () Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.

Ball () A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.

Ball () A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.

Ball () Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; -- often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.

Ball () A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball.

Ball () A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.

Ball () A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.

Ball () A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.

Ball () The globe or earth.

Balled () of Ball

Balling () of Ball

Ball () To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls.

Ball () To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

Ball () To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.

Ball () A social assembly for the purpose of dancing.

Ballad () A popular kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; as, the ballad of Chevy Chase; esp., a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.

Ballad () To make or sing ballads.

Ballad () To make mention of in ballads.

Ballade () A form of French versification, sometimes imitated in English, in which three or four rhymes recur through three stanzas of eight or ten lines each, the stanzas concluding with a refrain, and the whole poem with an envoy.

Ballader () A writer of ballads.

Ballad monger () A seller or maker of ballads; a poetaster.

Balladry () Ballad poems; the subject or style of ballads.

Ballahoo () Alt. of Ballahou

Ballahou () A fast-sailing schooner, used in the Bermudas and West Indies.

Ballarag () To bully; to threaten.

Ballast () Any heavy substance, as stone, iron, etc., put into the hold to sink a vessel in the water to such a depth as to prevent capsizing.

Ballast () Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.

Ballast () Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.

Ballast () The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete.

Ballast () Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.

Ballasted () of Ballast

Ballasting () of Ballast

Ballast () To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.

Ballast () To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.

Ballast () To keep steady; to steady, morally.

Ballastage () A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast in a port or harbor.

Ballasting () That which is used for steadying anything; ballast.

Ballatry () See Balladry.

Ballet () An artistic dance performed as a theatrical entertainment, or an interlude, by a number of persons, usually women. Sometimes, a scene accompanied by pantomime and dancing.

Ballet () The company of persons who perform the ballet.

Ballet () A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus, -- most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers.

Dictionary

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