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Balks vs Balls - What's the difference?

balks | balls |

As a verb balks

is (balk).

As a noun balls is

.

balks

English

Verb

(head)
  • (balk)

    • 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

    ----

    balls

    English

    Noun

    (head)
    • Can you believe he can juggle six balls at once?
  • (slang) The testicles.
    • Dude, he got hit in the balls !
  • (uncountable, countable, slang) Bravery, courage, chutzpah, or brazenness.
    • He must have a lot of balls to talk to his boss that way.
    He's the guy with the big balls in that group.
    You do not have the balls to go through with that.
    (Stephen Colbert)
  • (British, slang) Rubbish, nonsense.
    • That's a load of balls .
  • (UK, Ireland, slang) A balls-up; a botched job.
    • Don't make a balls of it!

    Derived terms

    * ballsy * bust one's balls * bust someone's balls * have someone by the balls

    Verb

    (head)
  • (ball)

    • Adverb

    (-)
  • (slang) Very.
    • It is balls cold out there.