bilk
/bɪlk/ noun, verb
Forms bilks bilking bilked
- noun (cribbage) The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
- noun (obsolete) A deception, a hoax.
- noun (obsolete) A cheat or swindler.
- verb (transitive) To spoil the score of (someone) in cribbage.
- verb (transitive) To do someone out of their due; to deceive or defraud, to cheat (someone).
- verb (intransitive, UK) To steal fuel from a self-service filling station by driving away without paying after filling the fuel tank or other container; to commit a drive-off.
- verb (transitive, archaic) To evade, elude.
Synonyms
abuse beglammer counterfeit deceive catch trap into dissemble dissimulate feign jiff lead astray overreach put on spoof sham trick thwart queer spoil scotch foil cross frustrate baffle elude evade
Etymology
Uncertain; perhaps a variant form of balk.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by nonfulfillment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to; as, to bilk a creditor. Thackeray.
- noun A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk.
- noun A cheat; a trick; a hoax. Hudibras.
Etymology [Origin unknown. Cf. Balk.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bilk”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details