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Boggle vs Balk - What's the difference?

boggle | balk |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between boggle and balk

is that boggle is (obsolete) to play fast and loose; to dissemble while balk is (obsolete) to miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.

As verbs the difference between boggle and balk

is that boggle is to be bewildered, dumbfounded, or confused while 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.

As a noun balk is

ridge, an unplowed strip of land.

boggle

English

Verb

(boggl)
  • To be bewildered, dumbfounded, or confused.
    • He boggled at the surprising news.
    The mind boggles .
  • * Barrow
    • Boggling at nothing which serveth their purpose.
  • * Glanvill
    • We start and boggle at every unusual appearance.
  • To confuse or mystify; overwhelm.
    • The vastness of space really boggles the mind.
    The oddities of quantum mechanics can boggle the minds of students and experienced physicists alike.
  • (US, dialect) To embarrass with difficulties; to bungle or botch.
  • (obsolete) To play fast and loose; to dissemble.
    • (Howell)

    Derived terms

    * mindboggling

    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

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