bilk

Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps a variant form of balk.

noun

1. (cribbage) The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
2. (obsolete) A deception, a hoax.
3. (obsolete) A cheat or swindler.

verb

1. (transitive) To spoil the score of (someone) in cribbage.
2. (transitive) To do someone out of their due; to deceive or defraud, to cheat (someone).
   They also perpetrate nonviolent crimes like bilking elderly couples out of their life savings and running a business with ruthless disregard for the welfare of the workforce or stakeholders. 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 615
   Mr. Gallagher, who went by the nickname Doc, pleaded guilty on Aug. 31 to several charges connected to what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme that lasted nearly 10 years and bilked older people of their retirement savings. 2021-11-02, Maria Cramer, “Texas Radio Host Who Bilked Listeners Out of Millions Is Sentenced to Life”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
3. (intransitive, UK) To steal fuel from a self-service filling station by driving away without paying after filling the fuel tank or other container; to commit a drive-off.
4. (transitive, archaic) To evade, elude.