| 释义 |
▪ I. bilk, n.|bɪlk|
[Of uncertain origin; nor can it be determined whether the n. or the vb. was first in use. The verb was at first a technical term in the game of Cribbage, where it interchanged with balk; hence a conjecture that it may have originated in a mincing pronunciation of the latter. Blount's assertion that the word is Arabic is altogether erroneous; and the derivation ‘from Mœso-Goth. bi-laikan to mock, to deride,’ given in some dicts., belongs to a pre-scientific age.]
1. Cribbage. A balking or spoiling of an adversary's score in his crib.
1791J. Williams (A. Pasquin) Cribbage 63 To assist your own Crib better, or to throw a greater bilk into that of your adversary. Ibid. 65 A King is, in general, a great bilk with almost any other card.
†2. A statement having nothing in it. Obs.
1633B. Jonson T. Tub i. i, Tub. He will have the last word, though he talk bilk for 't. Hugh. Bilk! what's that? Tub. Why, nothing: a word signifying Nothing; and borrowed here to express nothing. 1681Blount, Bilk is said to be an Arabick word, and signifies nothing: cribbage-players understand it best. a1733North Exam. i. iii. ⁋139. 213 Bedloe was sworn, and, being asked what he knew against the Prisoner, answered, Nothing..Bedloe was questioned over and over, who still swore the same Bilk. Ibid. i. iii. ⁋46 The Words in a common Acceptation are a meer Bilk, and signify nothing.
3. A hoax, a deception, a ‘take in.’ ? Obs.
1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 376 Spells, Which over ev'ry month's blank-page In th' Almanack strange Bilks presage. 1694Congreve Double Deal. iii. x, There he's secure from danger of a bilk. a1733North Lives I. 260 After this bilk of a discovery was known.
4. A person who bilks or cheats; a cheat.
1790Sheridan in Sheridaniana 109 Johnny W―lks, Johnny W―lks, Thou greatest of bilks. 1836Marryat Japhet ix, The wagoner drove off, cursing him for a bilk.
▪ II. † bilk, a. Obs.
[See prec.]
a1733North Exam. i. iii. ⁋10. 129 To that and the Author's bilk account of it, I am approaching.
▪ III. bilk, v.|bɪlk|
[See bilk n.]
1. trans. In Cribbage: To balk or spoil any one's score in his crib.
1651Cleveland Poems 24 So many Cards, i'th stock, and yet be bilkt? 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester viii, If he find no Games in them, nor help by the Card that was turn'd up, which he takes into his hand, then he is bilkt, and sometimes it so happens that he is both bilkt in hand and crib. 1791J. Williams (A. Pasquin) Cribbage 65 Bilking the Crib of your adversary is a very essential part of the game of Cribbage..any cards which are not likely to make sequences, are proper cards to bilk your adversary. 1850Bohn Hand-bk. Games, ‘Baulking’ or ‘bilking’ the crib.
2. To balk (hope, expectation); to cheat, deceive, betray.
1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 27 When we have search'd all over, we find ourselves bilk'd in our expectation. a1683Oldham Wks. & Rem. (1686) 48 Hopes often bilkt, and Sought Preferment lost. 1774Westm. Mag. II. 145 Hapless woman..Bilk'd while she's young, and ancient without friends! 1822Hazlitt Table-t. II. xv. 351 Native talents at work..to bilk their consciences, and salve their reputation. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 293 Fate..may be to a certain extent bilked.
3. To ‘do (a person) out’ of (his due); to cheat, defraud; to evade payment of (a debt).
1672Locke in Fox Bourne Life I. v. 268 A man that had bilked one of the most considerable men of the place. 1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 412 Beleiving the persons therein would bilk the coachman. a1704T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1730 I. 98 A..scoundrel who knows no pleasure beyond..bilking bauds and coaches. 1723De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 198 We bilked the captain of his ransom money. 1766New Bath Guide vi. (1807) 40 'Tis hard to be bilk'd of our fare. 1785Cowper Tiroc. 327 His skill..In bilking tavern bills. 1853Merivale Rom. Rep. viii. (1867) 224 In bilking a creditor or negotiating a loan.
4. To elude, evade, escape from, ‘give the slip’ to.
1679R. W. Cromwell's Ghost 2, I bilkt my Keeper, and..Once more I mount my Native Soyl again. 1713Guardian No. 124 (1756) II. 159 The country lass! who, her cow bilking, leaves her milking, For a green gown on the grass. 1720Gay Poems (1745) II. 64 She scorn'd to bilk her assignation. 1826Scott Woodst. xxviii, I bilked Everard in order to have my morning draught. 1852Thackeray Esmond ii. i. 161 T'other recollected how a constable had been bilked. |