verb (used with object)
- to defraud; cheat: He bilked the government of almost a million dollars.
- to evade payment of (a debt).
- to frustrate: a career bilked by poor health.
- to escape from; elude: to bilk one’s pursuers.
noun
- a cheat; swindler.
- a trick; fraud; deceit.
verb (tr)
- to balk; thwart
- (often foll by of) to cheat or deceive, esp to avoid making payment to
- to escape from; elude
- cribbage to play a card that hinders (one’s opponent) from scoring in his or her crib
noun
- a swindle or cheat
- a person who swindles or cheats
1650s, from or along with the noun (1630s), first used as a cribbage term; as a verb, “to spoil (someone’s) score.” Origin obscure, it was believed in 17c. to be “a word signifying nothing;” perhaps it s a thinned form of balk “to hinder.” Meaning “to defraud” is first recorded 1670s. Related: Bilked; bilking.