Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To defraud, cheat, or swindle.
  • transitive verb To evade payment of.
  • transitive verb To thwart or frustrate.
  • transitive verb To elude.
  • noun One who cheats.
  • noun Obsolete A hoax or swindle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In cribbage, the spoiling of one's score in the crib.
  • noun Nothing; vain words.
  • noun [To call a word “Arabic” or “Hebrew” was and still is a way of dignifying slang or jargon.]
  • noun A trick; a fraud.
  • noun A cheat; a swindler.
  • Fallacious; unreliable.
  • In cribbage, to balk or spoil any one's score in his crib.
  • To frustrate or disappoint.
  • To deceive or defraud; leave in the lurch; cheat: often with of: as, to bilk one of his due; to bilk a creditor; “don't you bilk me,”
  • To evade or escape from; dodge; elude.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by nonfulfillment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to.
  • noun A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk.
  • noun A cheat; a trick; a hoax.
  • noun Nonsense; vain words.
  • noun A person who tricks a creditor; an untrustworthy, tricky person.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud by not fulfilling an obligation; to leave in the lurch.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb evade payment to
  • verb escape, either physically or mentally
  • verb hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
  • verb cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of balk.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • ...One hundred and fifty guineas, or pounds, is no small sum to lose-- and by a young creature, who would have bilked her lodgings!

    You amaze me, Miss Martin!-- What language do you talk in?-- Bilk my lodgings!-- What is that?

    Sally Martin and Clarissa Harlowe (as quoted by Belford), Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 17, 2007

  • Also: milk beer, a fruity-flavored beverage created by adding yeast and hops to milk, and fermenting.

    Initially created in Japan to reduce a milk surplus. Distribution to international markets is unknown.

    March 28, 2008

  • If the milk beer meaning is correct, then see also koumiss, a fermented dairy beverege treated much like beer.

    December 23, 2008

  • Also chicha.

    December 23, 2008

  • also can be used as a noun; a swindler or cheater

    March 7, 2009

  • to cheat or deceive.

    Bilk the Rattling Cove; Sharp the Coachman of his Hire.

    May 9, 2009

  • I like the sharpness of this word. Oooh! I can almost feel the jab of pain as the money disappears.

    February 17, 2016