Balk vs. Ball — What's the Difference?

In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. Most of these violations involve a pitcher pretending to pitch when they have no intention of doing so.

A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players.

To stop short and refuse to go on

A solid or hollow spherical or egg-shaped object that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game

To refuse obstinately or abruptly

(in cricket) a delivery of the ball by the bowler to the batsman

(Sports) To make an incomplete or misleading motion.

The rounded protuberant part of the foot at the base of the big toe.

(Baseball) To make an illegal motion before pitching, allowing one or more base runners to advance one base.

A formal social gathering for dancing

To check or thwart by or as if by an obstacle.

Squeeze or form (something) into a rounded shape

(Archaic) To let go by; miss.

Have sexual intercourse with.

A hindrance, check, or defeat.

(of a flower) fail to open properly, decaying in the half-open bud.

(Sports) An incomplete or misleading motion, especially an illegal move made by a baseball pitcher.

A spherical object or entity

(Games) One of the spaces between the cushion and the balk line on a billiard table.

A spherical or almost spherical body

An unplowed strip of land.

Any of various movable and round or oblong objects used in various athletic activities and games.

A ridge between furrows.

Such an object moving, thrown, hit, or kicked in a particular manner

A wooden beam or rafter.

A game, especially baseball or basketball, played with such an object.

(agriculture) An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.

A pitched baseball that does not pass through the strike zone and is not swung at by the batter.

(archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.

A solid spherical or pointed projectile, such as one shot from a cannon.

Beam, crossbeam; squared timber; a tie beam of a house, stretching from wall to wall, especially when laid so as to form a loft, "the balks".

Projectiles of this kind considered as a group.

A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

A rounded part or protuberance, especially of the body

A sudden and obstinate stop.

A testicle.

(obsolete) An omission.

Balls Courage, especially when reckless.

(sports) A deceptive motion.

Balls Great presumptuousness.

(baseball) An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.

A formal gathering for social dancing.

(badminton) A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve.

(Informal) An extremely enjoyable time or experience

(billiards) The area of the table lying behind the line from which the cue ball is initially shot, and from which a ball in hand must be played.

To form into a ball.

(snooker) The area of the table lying behind the baulk line.

Vulgar Slang To have sexual intercourse with.

(fishing) The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together.

To become formed into a ball.

(archaic) To pass over or by.

Vulgar Slang To have sexual intercourse.

To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.

A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

(obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid.

A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.

To stop, check, block.

(mathematics) Homologue or analogue of a disk in the Euclidean plane.

To stop short and refuse to go on.

(mathematics) In 3-dimensional Euclidean space, the volume bounded by a sphere.

To refuse suddenly.

(mathematics) The set of points in a metric space of any number of dimensions lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point.

To disappoint; to frustrate.

(mathematics) The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point.

To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, rifle, gun, etc.

To leave or make balks in.

A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.

To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.

Such bullets collectively.

To make a deceptive motion to deceive another player.

A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

(anatomy) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.

A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside.

The globe; the earthly sphere.

A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks."

An object that is the focus of many sports and games, in which it may be thrown, caught, kicked, bounced, rolled, chased, retrieved, hit with an instrument, spun, etc., usually roughly spherical but whose size, weight, bounciness, colour, etc. differ according to the game

One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.

Any sport or game involving a ball; its play, literally or figuratively.

A hindrance or disappointment; a check.

A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.

A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.

An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.

A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. It is illegal and is penalized by allowing the runners on base to advance one base.

A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.

To leave or make balks in.

A pass; a kick of the football towards a teammate.

To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.

A testicle.

To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.

(in the plural) Nonsense.

To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.

(in the plural) Courage.

To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart; as, to balk expectation.

A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.

To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.

A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.

To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks.

 One thousand US dollars.

To commit a balk{6}; - of a pitcher.

A formal dance.

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

(informal) A very enjoyable time.

The area on a billiard table behind the balkline;

A competitive event among young African-American and Latin American LGBTQ+ people in which prizes are awarded for drag and similar performances. See ball culture.

Something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

(transitive) To form or wind into a ball.

One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

(metalworking) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

An illegal pitching motion while runners are on base

To have sexual intercourse with.

Refuse to comply

(ambitransitive) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.

To be hip or cool.

(university slang) To reject from a fraternity or sorority. (blackball)

To play basketball.

(transitive) To punish by affixing a ball and chain.

(Australian rules football) An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.

A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.

A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.

Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; - often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.

A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball.

A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; - formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.

A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.

A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.

The globe or earth.

A pitched ball, not struck at by the batter, which fails to pass over the home plate at a height not greater than the batter's shoulder nor less than his knee (i.e. it is outside the strike zone). If the pitcher pitches four balls before three strikes are called, the batter advances to first base, and the action of pitching four balls is called a walk.

A testicle; usually used in the plural.

Courage; nerve.

A social assembly for the purpose of dancing; - usually applied to an occasion lavish or formal.

A very enjoyable time; as, we had a ball at the wedding.

To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls.

To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.

Round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games;

A solid ball shot by a musket;

An object with a spherical shape;

The people assembled at a lavish formal dance;

One of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens;

A spherical object used as a plaything;

United States comedienne best known as the star of a popular television program (1911-1989)

A compact mass;

A lavish formal dance

A more or less rounded anatomical body or mass; ball of the human foot or ball at the base of the thumb;

A ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of 9 players; teams take turns at bat trying to score run;

A pitch that is not in the strike zone;

Form into a ball by winding or rolling;