Balk (v. i.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.
Balk (v. i.) A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
Balk (v. i.) A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
Balk (v. i.) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball.
Balked (imp. & p. p.) of Balk
Balking (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Balk
Balk (v. t.) To leave or make balks in.
Balk (v. t.) To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
Balk (v. t.) To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
Balk (v. t.) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
Balk (v. t.) To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to /hwart; as, to balk expectation.
Balk (v. i.) To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
Balk (v. i.) To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.
Balk (v. i.) To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
Balker (n.) One who, or that which balks.
Balker (n.) 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 (adv.) In a manner to balk or frustrate.
Balkish (a.) Uneven; ridgy.
Balky (a.) Apt to balk; as, a balky horse.
Ball (n.) Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.
Ball (n.) A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.
Ball (n.) A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.
Ball (n.) 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 (n.) 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 (n.) 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cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.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 (n.) A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.
Ball (n.) A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.
Ball (n.) The globe or earth.
Balled (imp. & p. p.) of Ball
Balling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ball
Ball (v. i.) 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 (v. t.) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
Ball (v. t.) To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.
Ball (n.) A social assembly for the purpose of dancing.
Ballad (n.) 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 (v. i.) To make or sing ballads.
Ballad (v. t.) To make mention of in ballads.
Ballade (n.) 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 (n.) A writer of ballads.
Ballad monger () A seller or maker of ballads; a poetaster.
Balladry (n.) Ballad poems; the subject or style of ballads.
Ballahoo (n.) Alt. of Ballahou
Ballahou (n.) A fast-sailing schooner, used in the Bermudas and West Indies.
Ballarag (v. i.) To bully; to threaten.
Ballast (a.) 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 (a.) Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.
Ballast (a.) Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.
Ballast (a.) The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete.
Ballast (a.) Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
Ballasted (imp. & p. p.) of Ballast
Ballasting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ballast
Ballast (v. t.) To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.
Ballast (v. t.) To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.
Ballast (v. t.) To keep steady; to steady, morally.
Ballastage (n.) A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast in a port or harbor.
Ballasting (n.) That which is used for steadying anything; ballast.
Ballatry (n.) See Balladry.
Ballet (n.) 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 (n.) The company of persons who perform the ballet.
Ballet (n.) A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus, -- most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers.
Ballet (n.) A bearing in coats of arms, representing one or more balls, which are denominated bezants, plates, etc., according to color.
Ball-flower (n.) An ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the petals of which form a cup round it, -- usually inserted in a hollow molding.
Ballist/ (pl. ) of Ballista
Ballista (n.) An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.
Ballister (n.) A crossbow.
Ballistic (a.) Of or pertaining to the ballista, or to the art of hurling stones or missile weapons by means of an engine.
Ballistic (a.) Pertaining to projection, or to a projectile.
Ballistics (n.) The science or art of hurling missile weapons by the use of an engine.
Ballium (n.) See Bailey.
Balloon (n.) A bag made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere; especially, one with a car attached for aerial navigation.
Balloon (n.) A ball or globe on the top of a pillar, church, etc., as at St. Paul's, in London.
Balloon (n.) A round vessel, usually with a short neck, to hold or receive whatever is distilled; a glass vessel of a spherical form.
Balloon (n.) A bomb or shell.
Balloon (n.) A game played with a large inflated ball.
Balloon (n.) The outline inclosing words represented as coming from the mouth of a pictured figure.
Balloon (v. t.) To take up in, or as if in, a balloon.
Balloon (v. i.) To go up or voyage in a balloon.
Balloon (v. i.) To expand, or puff out, like a balloon.
Ballooned (a.) Swelled out like a balloon.
Ballooner (n.) One who goes up in a balloon; an aeronaut.
Balloon fish () A fish of the genus Diodon or the genus Tetraodon, having the power of distending its body by taking air or water into its dilatable esophagus. See Globefish, and Bur fish.
Ballooning (n.) The art or practice of managing balloons or voyaging in them.
Ballooning (n.) The process of temporarily raising the value of a stock, as by fictitious sales.
Ballooning spider () A spider which has the habit of rising into the air. Many kinds ( esp. species of Lycosa) do this while young by ejecting threads of silk until the force of the wind upon them carries the spider aloft.
Balloonist (n.) An aeronaut.
Balloonry (n.) The art or practice of ascending in a balloon; aeronautics.
Ballot (n.) Originally, a ball used for secret voting. Hence: Any printed or written ticket used in voting.
Ballot (n.) The act of voting by balls or written or printed ballots or tickets; the system of voting secretly by balls or by tickets.
Ballot (n.) The whole number of votes cast at an election, or in a given territory or electoral district.
Balloted (imp. & p. p.) of Ballot
Balloting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ballot
Ballot (n.) To vote or decide by ballot; as, to ballot for a candidate.
Ballot (v. t.) To vote for or in opposition to.
Ballotade (v. i.) A leap of a horse, as between two pillars, or upon a straight line, so that when his four feet are in the air, he shows only the shoes of his hind feet, without jerking out.
Ballotation (n.) Voting by ballot.
Balloter (n.) One who votes by ballot.
Ballotin (n.) An officer who has charge of a ballot box.
Ballow (n.) A cudgel.
Ballproof (a.) Incapable of being penetrated by balls from firearms.
Ballroom (n.) A room for balls or dancing.