balk vs control

balk

verb
  • To stop, check, block. 

  • To refuse suddenly. 

  • To stop short and refuse to go on. 

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

  • To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. 

  • To leave or make balks in. 

  • To make a deceptive motion to deceive another player. 

  • 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. 

control

verb
  • to hold in check, to curb, to restrain 

  • (construed with for) To design (an experiment) so that the effects of one or more variables are reduced or eliminated. 

  • To exercise influence over; to suggest or dictate the behavior of. 

noun
  • A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register. 

  • An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box (abbreviated Ctrl). 

  • Influence or authority over something. 

  • A control group or control experiment. 

  • A checkpoint along an audax route. 

  • A means of monitoring for, and triggering intervention in, activities that are not going according to plan. 

  • The method and means of governing the performance of any apparatus, machine or system, such as a lever, handle or button. 

  • Restraint or ability to contain one's movements or emotions, or self-control. 

  • A security mechanism, policy, or procedure that can counter system attack, reduce risks, and resolve vulnerabilities; a safeguard or countermeasure. 

  • A spirit that takes possession of a psychic or medium and allows other spirits to communicate with the living. 

  • A construction in which the understood subject of a given predicate is determined by an expression in context. See control. 

  • Any of the physical factors determining the climate of a place, such as latitude, distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation. 

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