(or better balkr, bölkr), old form b́lkr, Grág., dat. bælki, N. G. L. i. 399, acc. pl. b́lku or bálku, Lex. Poët. [A. S. bälc], a balk, partition [cp. naval bulk-heads]; b. um þveran hellinn, of a cross wall, Fms. iii. 217, Fas. ii. 333, Grett. 140; sá studdi höndunum á bálkinn, of a balk of wood across the door, Orkn. 112.

β. a low wall in a stall or house, N. G. L. i. 399,

2. metaph. a law term, a section in a code of law; þjófa bálkr, Kristindóms b., etc., criminal, ecclesiastical law …, Grág., Jb.; enn fyrsti bölkr bókar þessarrar er um Kristindóms hald várt, N. G. L. i. 3; hér hefr kaupa-bolk, 20; landzleigu bolkr, 37; hér hefr upp erfða-bolk, 48; hér hefr upp þjófa bólk, 82; hér hefr upp útgerðar-bolk, 96; hefir hverr hlutr þá bolku í sér, 126; í hinum fyrra bælkinum, 424 (420, 421). Balkr as a law term is much older than any written code, and does not originally denote ‘a section of a code,’ but rather a ‘body, collection of laws,’ cp. frænd-balkr, ætt-balkr; but later it was a section of a written code, cp. Schlyter in the Glossary, s. v. balker.

γ. a body, a host, in compds as frændbálkr, ættbálkr, herbálkr; sýndist honum úárenniligr b. þeirra, of a host in line of battle, Bs. i. 667; a pr. name.

COMPDS: bálkarbrot, bálkarlag.