Bilk
//bɪlk// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
- 2 A deception, a hoax. obsolete
- 3 A cheat or swindler. obsolete
Verb
- 1 To spoil the score of (someone) in cribbage. transitive
- 2 escape, either physically or mentally wordnet
- 3 To do someone out of their due; to deceive or defraud, to cheat (someone). transitive
"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."
- 4 evade payment to wordnet
- 5 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. UK, intransitive
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- 6 hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of wordnet
- 7 To evade, elude. archaic, transitive
- 8 cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money wordnet
Example
More examples"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."
Etymology
Uncertain; perhaps a variant form of balk.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.