balk vs cock

balk

verb
  • To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. 

  • To refuse suddenly. 

  • To stop short and refuse to go on. 

  • To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. 

  • To leave or make balks in. 

  • To make a deceptive motion to deceive another player. 

  • To stop, check, block. 

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

  • To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. 

  • To disappoint; to frustrate. 

noun
  • 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". 

  • The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation. 

  • The area of the table lying behind the baulk line. 

  • A sudden and obstinate stop. 

  • A hindrance or disappointment; a check. 

  • The rope by which fishing nets are fastened together. 

  • 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. 

  • An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner. 

  • A motion used to deceive the opponent during a serve. 

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

cock

verb
  • To form into piles. 

  • To turn or twist something upwards or to one side; to lift or tilt (e.g. headwear) boastfully. 

  • To lift the cock of a firearm or crossbow; to prepare (a gun or crossbow) to be fired. 

  • To copulate with; (by extension, as with fuck) to mess up, to damage, to destroy. 

  • To be prepared to be triggered by having the cock lifted. 

  • To erect; to turn up. 

noun
  • The penis. 

  • The circle at the end of the rink. 

  • The state of being cocked; an upward turn, tilt or angle. 

  • Vulva, vagina. 

  • Shuttlecock. 

  • A male fish, especially a salmon or trout. 

  • A cock pigeon. 

  • The bridge piece that affords a bearing for the pivot of a balance in a clock or watch. 

  • A valve or tap for controlling flow in plumbing. 

  • Hay-cock, a small conical pile of hay. 

  • The crow of a cock, especially the first crow in the morning; cockcrow. 

  • A rooster: a male gallinaceous bird, especially a male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). 

  • The style or gnomon of a sundial. 

  • The hammer of a firearm trigger mechanism. 

  • Nonsense; rubbish; a fraud. 

  • A man; a fellow, especially as a term of address. 

  • A vane in the shape of a cock; a weathercock. 

  • The indicator of a balance. 

  • A stupid, obnoxious or contemptible person. 

  • A boastful tilt of one's head or hat. 

intj
  • Expression of annoyance. 

How often have the words balk and cock occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )