Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter B - Page 7
Balk (n.) (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.
Balk (n.) A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker. -- South.
Compare: Hindrance
Hindrance (n.) 妨礙，障礙 [U]；障礙物，阻礙物 [C] A thing that provides resistance, delay, or obstruction to something or someone.
‘A hindrance to the development process.’
[Mass noun] ‘The visitor can wander around without hindrance.’
Balk (n.) [C] 阻礙；妨礙；挫折；過失，錯誤 A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
Balk (n.) (Baseball) [C]（棒球投手的）佯投；犯規動作 A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. It is illegal and is penalized by allowing the runners on base to advance one base.
Balk line (Billiards), A line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game.
Balked (imp. & p. p.) of Balk.
Balking (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Balk.
Balk (v. i.) （馬等）突然止步不前；畏怯，猶豫 [（+at）]；（棒球投手）佯投；作犯規動作 To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.]
In strifeful terms with him to balk. -- Spenser.
Compare: Contradiction
Contradiction (n.) (pl. Contradictions) [US] 矛盾 [C] [U]；否認；反駁；抵觸 [U] [C] A combination of statements, ideas, or features which are opposed to one another.
‘The proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions.’
Contradiction (n.) A situation in which inconsistent elements are present.
‘The paradox of using force to overcome force is a real contradiction.’
Contradiction (n.) [Mass noun] The statement of a position opposite to one already made.
‘The second sentence appears to be in flat contradiction of the first’
[Count noun] ‘The experiment provides a contradiction of the hypothesis.’
Contradiction in terms (ph.) A statement or group of words associating incompatible objects or ideas.
‘She has demonstrated that the term ‘student-athlete’ isn't always a contradiction in terms.’
Balk (v. i.) To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.
Note: This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's "Fa["e]rie Queene," Book IV., 10, xxv.
Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt, Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt.
Balk (v. i.) (Baseball) To commit a balk [6]; -- of a pitcher.
Balk (v. t.) 阻礙，阻止；妨礙；錯過；推諉 To leave or make balks in. [Obs.] -- Gower.
Balk (v. t.) To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.]
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. -- Shak.
Balk (v. t.) To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.]
Balk (v. t.) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent]
By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the inns. -- Evelyn.
Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. -- Bp. Hall.
Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth. -- Drayton.
Balk (v. t.) To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, to balk expectation.
They shall not balk my entrance. -- Byron.
Balk (v. i.) To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
Balk (n.) The area on a billiard table behind the balkline; "a player with ball in hand must play from the balk" [syn: balk, baulk].
Balk (n.) Something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress [syn: hindrance, hinderance, deterrent, impediment, balk, baulk, check, handicap].
Balk (n.) One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof [syn: rafter, balk, baulk].
Balk (n.) An illegal pitching motion while runners are on base.
Balk (v.) Refuse to comply [syn: resist, balk, baulk, jib].
Balkans (n.) 巴爾幹半島 The Balkans, or the Balkan Peninsula, is a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders.[1] The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbian-Bulgarian border to the Black Sea.
The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea on the northwest, the Ionian Sea on the southwest, the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea on the south and southeast, and the Black Sea on the east and northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres (9,596 ft) in the Rila mountain range.
Balker (n.) One who, or that which balks.
Balker (n.) A person who stands on a rock or eminence to espy the shoals of herring, etc., and to give notice to the men in boats which way they pass; a conder; a huer.
Balkingly (adv.) In a manner to balk or frustrate.
Balkish (a.) Uneven; ridgy.
Balky (a.) Apt to balk; as, a balky horse.
Ball (n.) Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.
Ball (n.) A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.
Ball (n.) A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.
Ball (n.) Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; -- often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.
Ball (n.) A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball.
Ball (n.) A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.
Ball (n.) A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.
Ball (n.) A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.
Ball (n.) The globe or earth.
Balled (imp. & p. p.) of Ball.
Balling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ball.
Ball (v. i.) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls.
Ball (v. t.) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
Ball (v. t.) To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.
Ball (n.) A social assembly for the purpose of dancing.
Ballad (v. t.) To make mention of in ballads. [Obs.]
Ballad (n.) A popular kind of narrative poem, adapted for recitation or singing; as, the ballad of Chevy Chase; esp., a sentimental or romantic poem in short stanzas.
Ballad (v. i.) To make or sing ballads. [Obs.]
Ballad (n.) [C] 民謠，民歌；敘事歌謠；歌；情歌；（節奏緩慢的）流行抒情歌曲 A narrative song with a recurrent refrain [syn: ballad, lay].
Ballad (n.) A narrative poem of popular origin [syn: ballad, lay].
Ballade (n.) A form of French versification, sometimes imitated in English, in which three or four rhymes recur through three stanzas of eight or ten lines each, the stanzas concluding with a refrain, and the whole poem with an envoy.
Balladeer (n.) A singer of popular ballads. [Syn: Crooner] The balladeer sang about the tragic fate of a couple in love.
Ballader (n.) A writer of ballads.
Ballader (n.) (Historical) A writer of ballads, especially of scurrilous verses.
Compare: Scurrilous
Scurrilous (a.) Making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation.
‘A scurrilous attack on his integrity.’
Scurrilous (a.) [Humorously] Insulting.
‘A very funny collection of bawdy and scurrilous writings.’
Compare: Insulting
Insulting (a.) 侮辱的；無禮的；insult的動詞現在分詞、動名詞 Disrespectful or scornfully abusive.
‘Insulting remarks.’
‘Their language is insulting to women.’
Ballad monger (n.) 歌謠販子 A seller or maker of ballads; a poetaster. -- Shak.
Balladry (n.) Ballad poems; the subject or style of ballads.
Ballahoo (n.) Alt. of Ballahou.
Ballahou (n.) A fast-sailing schooner, used in the Bermudas and West Indies.
Ballarag (v. i.) To bully; to threaten.
Ballasted (imp. & p. p.) of Ballast.
Ballasting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ballast.
Ballast (v. t.) 給……裝壓艙物；使穩定；給……鋪道渣 To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.
Ballast (v. t.) To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.
Ballast (v. t.) To keep steady; to steady, morally.
'T is charity must ballast the heart. -- Hammond.
Ballast (n.) (Naut.) [U] 1. 【船】壓艙物，壓載物；【空】（起穩定熱氣球或操縱高度作用的）沙袋；（在品格、人際關係等方面的）穩定力量 Any heavy substance, as stone, iron, etc., put into the hold to sink a vessel in the water to such a depth as to prevent capsizing.
Ballast (n.) Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.
Ballast (n.) Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.
Ballast (n.) The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete.
Ballast (n.) Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity. -- Barrow.
Ballast engine, A steam engine used in excavating and for digging and raising stones and gravel for ballast.
Ship in ballast, A ship carrying only ballast.
Ballast (n.) Any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship.
Ballast (n.) Coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads.
Ballast (n.) An attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings.
Ballast (n.) A resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations) [syn: ballast resistor, ballast, barretter].
Ballast (n.) An electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps [syn: ballast, light ballast].
Ballast (v.) Make steady with a ballast.
Ballastage (n.) A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast in a port or harbor.
Ballasting (n.) That which is used for steadying anything; ballast.
Ballatry (n.) See Balladry.
Ballerina (n.) [US] 芭蕾舞女演員（尤指主角） A female ballet dancer.
Syn: danseuse.
Ballerina (n.) [Usually as modifier] A ballet shoe.
‘Wear ballerina pumps with a pretty day dress for a perfect spring/ summer look.’
‘New Yorkers walk a lot, so ballerinas make sense.’
Ballerina (n.) A female ballet dancer [syn: ballerina, danseuse].
Compare: Danseuse
Danseuse (n.) 【法】女芭蕾舞蹈家 A female ballet dancer.
Ballet (n.) 芭蕾舞 [C] [U]；芭蕾舞音樂 [C]；芭蕾舞團 [C] An artistic dance performed as a theatrical entertainment, or an interlude, by a number of persons, usually women. Sometimes, a scene accompanied by pantomime and dancing.
Ballet (n.) The company of persons who perform the ballet.
Ballet (n.) (Mus.) A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus, -- most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers ; -- also spelled ballett.
Ballet (n.) (Her.) A bearing in coats of arms, representing one or more balls, which are denominated bezants, plates, etc., according to color.
Ballet (n.) A theatrical representation of a story that is performed to music by trained dancers [syn: ballet, concert dance]
Ballet (n.) Music written for a ballet.
Ball-flower (n.) An ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the petals of which form a cup round it, -- usually inserted in a hollow molding.
Ballist[ae] (n. pl. ) of Ballista.
Ballista (n.) 古代用以發射石頭的武器，弩砲 An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.
Ballister (n.) 石弓，弩 A crossbow.
Ballistic (a.) Of or pertaining to the ballista, or to the art of hurling stones or missile weapons by means of an engine.
Ballistic (a.) Pertaining to projection, or to a projectile.
Ballistic (a.) (Informal) 彈道的 Connected with ballistics.
Go ballistic 怒氣沖天；大發雷霆 To become extremely angry.
// If your dad finds out you've been skipping school, he'll go ballistic.
Ballistics (n.) 彈道學 The science or art of hurling missile weapons by the use of an engine.
Ballium (n.) See Bailey.
Balloon (v. t.) To take up in, or as if in, a balloon.
Balloon (v. i.) 像氣球般鼓起（或膨脹）[（+out/ up）]；乘氣球上升；乘氣球飛行；激增 To go up or voyage in a balloon.
Balloon (v. i.) To expand, or puff out, like a balloon.
Balloon (n.) [C] 氣球，輕氣球；（用作玩具的）氣球；（漫畫中圈出人物對白的）氣球形圓圈 A bag made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere; especially, one with a car attached for aerial navigation.
Balloon (n.) (Arch.) A ball or globe on the top of a pillar, church, etc., as at St. Paul's, in London.
Balloon (n.) (Chem.) A round vessel, usually with a short neck, to hold or receive whatever is distilled; a glass vessel of a spherical form.
Balloon (n.) (Pyrotechnics) A bomb or shell. [Obs.]
Balloon (n.) A game played with a large inflated ball. [Obs.]
Balloon (n.) (Engraving) The outline inclosing words represented as coming from the mouth of a pictured figure.
Air balloon, A balloon for a["e]rial navigation.
Balloon frame (Carp.), A house frame constructed altogether of small timber.
Balloon net, A variety of woven lace in which the weft threads are twisted in a peculiar manner around the warp.
Balloon (n.) Large tough nonrigid bag filled with gas or heated air.
Balloon (n.) Small thin inflatable rubber bag with narrow neck.
Balloon (v.) Ride in a hot-air balloon; "He tried to balloon around the earth but storms forced him to land in China".
Balloon (v.) Become inflated; "The sails ballooned" [syn: balloon, inflate, billow].
Balloon (n.) [ C ] (A2) 氣球 A small, very thin rubber bag that you blow air into or fill with a light gas until it is round in shape, used for decoration at parties or as a children's toy.
// We tied balloons and streamers to the ceiling ready for the party.
Balloon (n.) [ C ] (Also hot-air balloon) 熱氣球 A very large balloon that is filled with hot air or gas and can carry people in a basket (= open container ) hanging under it.
// People first flew in a balloon in 1783.
Balloon (n.) [ C ] （漫畫中的）話泡泡 A speech bubble.
Idiom:
The balloon goes up 形勢變嚴峻；情況變糟 If the balloon goes up, a situation suddenly becomes very serious or unpleasant.
// The balloon went up last Friday when the scandal became public.
Balloon (v.) [ I ] 像氣球般膨脹 To get bigger and rounder.
// I ballooned when I was pregnant with my second baby.
Balloon (v.) [ I ] （在大小、重量或重要性上）激增 To quickly increase in size, weight, or importance.
// The rumours soon ballooned into a full-blown scandal.
Ballooned (a.) Swelled out like a balloon.
Ballooner (n.) One who goes up in a balloon; an aeronaut.
Balloon fish () A fish of the genus Diodon or the genus Tetraodon, having the power of distending its body by taking air or water into its dilatable esophagus. See Globefish, and Bur fish.
Ballooning (n.) 氣球操縱；乘氣球；balloon的動詞現在分詞、動名詞 The art or practice of managing balloons or voyaging in them ; the sport of riding in balloons.
Syn: balloonry (Archaic).
Ballooning (n.) (Stock Exchange) The process of temporarily raising the value of a stock, as by fictitious sales. [U. S.]
Ballooning spider () A spider which has the habit of rising into the air. Many kinds ( esp. species of Lycosa) do this while young by ejecting threads of silk until the force of the wind upon them carries the spider aloft.
Compare: Spider
Spider (n.) [C] 蜘蛛；設圈套者；長柄平底鍋（煎鍋） (Frying pans) An eight-legged predatory arachnid with an unsegmented body consisting of a fused head and thorax and a rounded abdomen. Spiders have fangs which inject poison into their prey, and most kinds spin webs in which to capture insects.
Order Araneae, class Arachnida
Spider (n.) Used in names of arachnids similar or related to spiders, e.g. sea spider, sun spider.
Spider (n.) An object resembling a spider, especially one having numerous or prominent legs or radiating spokes.
Spider (n.) [British] A set of radiating elastic ties used to hold a load in place on a vehicle.
Spider (n.) A long-legged rest for a billiard cue that can be placed over a ball without touching it.
Spider (n.) [Computing] Another term for crawler (sense 2).
Spider (v.) [No object, with adverbial of direction] Move in a scuttling manner suggestive of a spider.
‘A treecreeper spidered head first down the tree trunk.’
‘A system of tunnels spider through the district.’
Spider (v.) [Computing ]‘When the search engines spider your site they'll find all of the pages.’
Another term for crawl (sense 4 of the verb).
Balloonist (n.) An aeronaut.
Compare: Aeronaut
Aeronaut (n.) [Dated] 氣球（或飛船）駕駛員；飛船（或氣球）乘客 A traveller in a hot-air balloon, airship, or other flying craft.
Balloonry (n.) The art or practice of ascending in a balloon; aeronautics.
Ballot (n.) 投票用紙，選票 [C]；（尤指無記名的）投票 [U] [C]；投票權 [the S]；投票總數 [C]；候選人名單 [the S]；抽籤 [U] Originally, a ball used for secret voting. Hence: Any printed or written ticket used in voting.
Ballot (n.) The act of secret voting, whether by balls, written or printed ballots or tickets, or by use of a voting machine; the system of voting secretly.
The insufficiency of the ballot. -- Dickens.
Ballot (n.) The whole number of votes cast at an election, or in a given territory or electoral district.
Ballot (n.) the official list of candidates competing in an election.
There are no women on the ballot.
Ballot box, A box for receiving ballots.
Ballot box, The act, process or system of voting secretly; same as ballot [2]. "The question will be resolved by the ballot box."
Balloted (imp. & p. p.) of Ballot.
Balloting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Ballot.
Ballot (v. i.) （以無記名）投票，投票表決 [（+for/ against）] To vote or decide by ballot; as, to ballot for a candidate.
Ballot (v. t.) 投票選舉（或決定）；向……拉票；透過投票了解（人們）的意向 To vote for or in opposition to.
None of the competitors arriving to a sufficient number of balls, they fell to ballot some others. -- Sir H. Wotton.
Ballot (n.) A document listing the alternatives that is used in voting
Ballot (n.) A choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative; "there were only 17 votes in favor of the motion"; "they allowed just one vote per person" [syn: vote, ballot, voting, balloting]
Ballot (v.) Vote by ballot; "The voters were balloting in this state"
Ballotade (n.) (Man.) A leap of a horse, as between two pillars, or upon a straight line, so that when his four feet are in the air, he shows only the shoes of his hind feet, without jerking out.
Ballotation (n.) Voting by ballot. [Obs.] -- Sir H. Wotton.
Balloter (n.) One who votes by ballot.
Ballotin (n.) An officer who has charge of a ballot box. [Obs.] -- Harrington.
Ballow (n.) A cudgel. [Obs.] -- Shak.
Ballproof (a.) 子彈打不穿的；防彈的 Incapable of being penetrated by balls from firearms; bulletproof.
Ballroom (n.) 跳舞的大廳 A room for balls or dancing.
Ballroom (n.) Large room used mainly for dancing [syn: ballroom, dance hall, dance palace].
Ballroom dancing (n.) （兩人跳的）交際舞 Any of a variety of social dances performed by couples in a ballroom [syn: ballroom dancing, ballroom dance].