References in classic literature ?
At the very moment when she would have seized her prey, the hare moved and darted along the balk between the winter rye and the stubble.
Edna admired the skill of his maneuver, and avoided any occasion to balk his intentions.
Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
Ah, would it not be sweet revenge indeed to balk the King in this venture so dear to his heart!
If you interfere to balk his vengeance, you should remember there is one way to shut your testimony out; and that is to put you in the dock.
It's all dead easy if Rosy don't balk when the flag drops.
Hunt was not accustomed to the management of "voyageurs," and he had a crew admirably disposed to play the old soldier, and balk their work; and ever ready to come to a halt, land, make a fire, put on the great pot, and smoke, and gossip, and sing by the hour.
The party returned to camp, balked of their revenge, but still more grievously balked of their supper.
My mother did not relish this at all, and now made many objections to my accepting the situation; in which my sister warmly supported her: but, unwilling to be balked again, I overruled them all; and, having first obtained the consent of my father (who had, a short time previously, been apprised of these transactions), I wrote a most obliging epistle to my unknown correspondent, and, finally, the bargain was concluded.
It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans--that is what Perry calls them--and make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the eating of food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed these delicacies.
The clergyman's shy and sensitive reserve had balked this scheme Roger Chillingworth, however,was inclined to be hardly, if at all, less satisfied with the aspect of affairs, which Providence -- using the avenger and his victim for its own purposes, and, perchance, pardoning, where it seemed most to punish -- had substituted for his black devices A revelation, he could almost say, had been granted to him.
I saw that she was a good housekeeper, for while she talked she kept a corner of her eye on the servants to see that they made no balks in handling the body and getting it out; when they came with fresh clean towels, she sent back for the other kind; and when they had finished wiping the floor and were going, she indicated a crimson fleck the size of a tear which their duller eyes had overlooked.