bilk

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 12, 2024 is:

bilk • \BILK\ • verb

Bilk is typically applied in contexts relating to fraud and deceit. It can mean "to cheat out of something valuable," or "to evade payment of or to," or "to obtain something by defrauding someone."

// Prosecutors contend that the defendant bilked hundreds of investors out of their life savings.

// Some vendors accuse the company of bilking its creditors.

// The organization's treasurer had bilked thousands of dollars from the nonprofit over the course of one year.

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Examples:

"In a scheme revealed in February, Arlington was bilked out of nearly a half-million dollars by international hackers impersonating a vendor working to rebuild the community's high school." — John Hilliard, The Boston Globe, 11 June 2024

Did you know?

Initially, bilking wasn't considered cheating—just good strategy for cribbage players. Language historians aren't sure where bilk originated, but they have noticed that its earliest uses occur in contexts relating to the game of cribbage. Part of the scoring in cribbage involves each player adding cards from their hand to a pile of discards called the "crib." At the end of a hand, the dealer gets any points in the crib. Strategically, then, it's wisest for the dealer's opponents to discard the cards most likely to "balk," or put a check on, the dealer's score (or in other words, the ones least likely to contribute to point-making combinations). Etymologists theorize that bilk may have originated as an alteration of that card-game balk.