bilk
English edit
Etymology edit
Uncertain; perhaps a variant form of balk.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bilk (plural bilks)
- (cribbage) The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
- (obsolete) A deception, a hoax.
- (obsolete) A cheat or swindler.
Verb edit
bilk (third-person singular simple present bilks, present participle bilking, simple past and past participle bilked)
- (transitive) To spoil the score of (someone) in cribbage.
- (transitive) To do someone out of their due; to deceive or defraud, to cheat (someone).
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deceive
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 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.
- 2021 November 2, Maria Cramer, “Texas Radio Host Who Bilked Listeners Out of Millions Is Sentenced to Life”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- Mr. Gallagher, who went by the nickname Doc, pleaded guilty on Aug. 31 to several charges connected to what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme that lasted nearly 10 years and bilked older people of their retirement savings.
- (intransitive, UK) To steal fuel from a self-service filling station by driving away without paying after filling the fuel tank or other container; to commit a drive-off.
- (transitive, archaic) To evade, elude.
Translations edit
defraud, cheat