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bilk Definition

bilk (bilk)

transitive verb

  1. to balk or thwart
  2. to cheat or swindle; defraud
  3. to get away without paying (a debt, etc.)
  4. to manage to get away from; elude to bilk the police

Etymology: ? altered < balk

noun

  1. a bilking or being bilked; hoax
  2. a person who cheats; swindler

bilk Related Forms
bilk′er noun
bilk Usage Examples

Object

  • rube: Image is a shell & pea game played to bilk the rubes.
  • million: Although, in at least one similar case it was a successful scam to bilk millions out of investers.
bilk Quotes

Mr Kemblesacrificestoomuchto decorum.He ischiefly afraid of being contaminated by too close an identity with the character herepresents.This isthegreatest vice in an actor, who ought never to bilk his part.

—Hazlitt,William