Balk

1. v. i. A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball.
2. v. i. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.
3. v. i. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called “the balks.”
4. v. i. One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.
5. v. i. A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
6. v. i. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
7. v. i. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
8. v. i. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.