Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
BILK
elude, evade, bilk
(verb) escape, either physically or mentally; “The thief eluded the police”; “This difficult idea seems to evade her”; “The event evades explanation”
bilk
(verb) evade payment to; “He bilked his creditors”
thwart, queer, spoil, scotch, foil, cross, frustrate, baffle, bilk
(verb) hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; “What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth’s amazing September surge”; “foil your opponent”
bilk
(verb) cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
bilk (plural bilks)
(cribbage) The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
(obsolete) A deception, a hoax.
Verb
bilk (third-person singular simple present bilks, present participle bilking, simple past and past participle bilked)
(transitive) To spoil the score of (someone) in cribbage.
(transitive) To do someone out of their due; to deceive or defraud, to cheat (someone).
(archaic, transitive) To evade, elude.
Anagrams
• blik
Source: Wiktionary
Bilk, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bilked; p. pr. & vb. n. Bilking.] Etym: [Origin unknown. Cf. Balk.]
Definition: To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by nonfulfillment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to; as, to bilk a creditor. Thackeray.
Bilk, n.
1. A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk.
2. A cheat; a trick; a hoax. Hudibras.
3. Nonsense; vain words. B. Jonson.
4. A person who tricks a creditor; an untrustworthy, tricky person. Marryat.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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