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Webster 1913 Edition


Bilk

Bilk

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Bilked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Bilking
.]
[Origin unknown. Cf.
Balk
.]
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.

Bilk

,
Noun.
1.
A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk.
2.
A cheat; a trick; a hoax.
Hudibras.
3.
Nonsense; vain words.
B. Jonson.
4.
A person who tricks a creditor; an untrustworthy, tricky person.
Marryat.

Webster 1828 Edition


Bilk

BILK

,
Verb.
T.
To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by non-fulfillment of engagement; as, to bilk a creditor.

Definition 2024


bilk

bilk

English

Noun

bilk (plural bilks)

  1. (cribbage) The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
  2. (obsolete) A deception, a hoax.

Verb

bilk (third-person singular simple present bilks, present participle bilking, simple past and past participle bilked)

  1. (transitive) To spoil the score of (someone) in cribbage.
  2. (transitive) To do someone out of their due; to deceive or defraud, to cheat (someone).
    • 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, p. 615:
      They also perpetrate nonviolent crimes like bilking elderly couples out of their life savings and running a business with ruthless disregard for the welfare of the workforce or stakeholders.

Translations