v. 1
To pass over or by (either by chance or intentionally); to avoid in passing. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance, error, or inadvertance.
[…] you cannot baulk your Road without the hazard of drowning
v. 2
To pass over or by (either by chance or intentionally); to avoid in passing. To miss intentionally; to avoid, ignore, or shun.
I may not balk two pregnant testimonies of the Fathers
v. 3
To disappoint, frustrate, or check.
[…] balk yourself of the pleasure of bullying and making her unhappy.
n. 1
An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.

Related words

Forms

Plural: balks → checks, impediments, hindrances, deterrents…
Past participle: balked
e.g. balked → frustrated, thwarted, baffled, foiled…

disconcert I don't mean to disconcert you, but there's a spider in your hair.
kick Tom got a kick out of the way Mary told the story.

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

3 letters: jib¹
4 letters: miss¹, kick¹, foil¹, shun¹, bilk¹
5 letters: check¹, avoid², elude², shirk¹, feint¹
6 letters: defeat², refuse², resist², hinder², thwart¹, baffle², rafter²
7 letters: prevent², failure²
8 letters: handicap³, overlook³
9 letters: deterrent³, frustrate², hindrance², discomfit
10 letters: disappoint³, counteract³, impediment⁴, contravene³, hinderance, disconcert³
14 letters: disappointment⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (avoid² = 2 syllables).