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Balk vs Qualm - What's the difference?

balk | qualm |

As nouns the difference between balk and qualm

is that balk is ridge, an unplowed strip of land while qualm is smoke.

As a verb balk

is (archaic) to pass over or by or balk can be to indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

balk

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) balke, (etyl) balca, either from or influenced by (etyl) .

Alternative forms

* baulk

Noun

(en noun)
  • ridge, an unplowed strip of land
  • * Fuller
  • Bad ploughmen made balks of such ground.
  • beam, crossbeam
  • A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
  • * South
  • a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
  • A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
  • (sports) deceptive motion; feint
  • # (baseball) an illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner
  • # (badminton) motion used to deceive an opponent during a serve
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To pass over or by.
  • To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
  • (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
  • * Evelyn
  • By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.
  • * Bishop Hall
  • Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
  • * Drayton
  • Nor doth he any creature balk , / But lays on all he meeteth.
  • To stop, check, block.
  • To stop short and refuse to go on.
  • The horse balked .
  • To refuse suddenly.
  • To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart.
  • to balk expectation
  • * Byron
  • They shall not balk my entrance.
  • To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
  • * Spenser
  • In strifeful terms with him to balk .
  • To leave or make balks in.
  • (Gower)
  • To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
  • (Webster 1913)

    References

    ----

    qualm

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (dialectal)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Mortality; plague; pestilence.
  • A calamity or disaster.
  • A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc.
  • :* {{quote-web
  • , date=2012-08-25 , year= , first= , last= , author=Andy Pasztor , authorlink= , title=Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies , site=Wall Street Journal citation , archiveorg= , accessdate=2012-08-26 , passage=Opponents of those privatization plans hoped to use Mr. Armstrong's qualms as ammunition to block the White House initiatives, and they asked for more public statements. }}
  • A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness.
  • A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt. (Now chiefly in negative constructions.)
  • Synonyms

    * compunction * misgiving * scruple

    Derived terms

    * qualmish * qualmishly * qualmishness * qualmy