bilk

Origin uncertain; perhaps a variant form of balk.

• IPA^(key): /bɪlk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪlk

bilk (plural bilks)

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

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.

3. (archaic, transitive) To evade, elude.

• blik