See Also: Complete Heart Block (heart block)(health)
block-out(medicine)
A-V block(medicine)
Block(medicine)
block(2)(dictionary)
block(1)(dictionary)
Jo block(dictionary)
Ivy block(health)
Block(finance)
Block(money)

block(1) (iou)



block noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French bloc from Middle Dutch blok, Middle & mod. Low German block, of unkn. origin.]
I. A solid piece or mass.
A log; a tree stump. ME.
chip off the old block, chip of the old block, a child resembling a parent or ancestor, esp. in character. on the block N. Amer. for sale at auction.
A large piece of wood on which chopping, hammering, etc., is done. LME.
Chinese block: see CHINESE adjective.
b. spec. Hist. The piece of wood on which the condemned were beheaded. L15.
c. A piece of wood on which something can be moulded or shaped; esp. a mould for a hat; fig. (arch.) a style or fashion of hat. L16.
d. A stump etc. from which to mount a horse. E17.
e. In full starting-block. A shaped rigid piece for bracing the foot of a runner at the start of a race. M20.
A pulley or system of pulleys mounted in a case, used to direct or increase the lifting power of the rope(s) running through it. LME.
block and tackle: see TACKLE noun 5a.
gen. Any bulky or massive piece of matter; a large amount or body of anything treated as a whole. LME.
J. Tyndall The more solid blocks of ice shoot forward in advance of the lighter debris. J. G. Holland The combination began by selling large blocks of the Stock for future delivery. O. Dopping The information on the tape is concentrated into blocks, separated by empty gaps.
b. spec. An unhewn lump of rock; a piece of stone or other material prepared for building; one of a set of wooden or plastic cubes etc. that fit together, as a child's toy. M19.
erratic block: see ERRATIC adjective.
c. A compact set of sheets of drawing-paper etc. fastened together at one edge. M19.
d. A body of rock (often of large extent) bounded by faults. L19.
e. = BLOC. E20.
f. A square unit in a patchwork design. E20.
A lump of stone, wood, or other material that bars one's way; an obstacle. Now chiefly in stumbling-block s.v. STUMBLE verb. L15.
b. A chock. M20.
fig.
a. A stupid person, a blockhead; a stolid or hard-hearted person. M16.
b. The head. slang. E17.
do one's block, lose one's block (chiefly Austral. & NZ) become angry or agitated. knock someone's block off slang strike someone about the head, thrash someone. off one's block slang crazy, angry.
A piece of wood or metal engraved for printing on paper or fabric. M18.
a. A compact mass of buildings bounded by (usu. four) streets; (chiefly N. Amer.) any urban or suburban area so bounded, the length of such an area. L18.
A. Miller There's not a person on the block who doesn't know the truth. S. Kauffmann He had walked six blocks to the nearest subway station. J. T. Story She cruised round the block twice.
b. A large area of land or seabed sold or allocated to one person or organization for settlement, development, etc. M19.
backblocks: see BACK-.
c. A large single building, esp. one divided into offices or flats. M19.
tower block: see TOWER noun1 3h.
II. Senses from the verb.
A bargain, an exchange; a scheme. Scot. E16-L18.
An act or instance of blocking; a stoppage, an obstruction. E19.
roadblock: see ROAD noun.
J. Galsworthy Swithin was so long over this course..that he caused a block in the progress of the dinner. P. G. Wodehouse One of those blocks in the traffic which are inevitable in so congested a system as that of London. J. T. Story We were stopped by a two-car police block at the junction with the Huntingdon Road.
b. An interruption of physiological function, esp. in the passage of nerve impulses. L19.
heart-block: see HEART noun. spinal block: see SPINAL adjective.
c. Psychology. A sudden and temporary inability to continue a thought process or mental link. In popular use usu. more fully mental block, psychological block. M20.
M. Stewart He's been going through a bad period, a more or less complete block since he got Tiger Tiger off his desk.
d. Amer. Football. Obstruction of an opponent with the body, as a legal move. M20.
Cricket. The spot on which the batsman rests the toe of the bat when facing the bowling. M19.
Chess. A problem position in which Black is not under threat but must become exposed to a threat if obliged to move. E20.
Comb.: block-board a plywood board with a core of thin wooden strips; block-book: printed from woodcut blocks; block booking the booking of a large number of seats etc. as a unit; blockbuster slang (a) a heavy aerial bomb; (b) a thing of great power or size, esp. an epic best-selling book or successful film; block capitals capital block letters; block delete Computing the deletion of a block of text or data in a single operation; block diagram: in which squares and other conventional symbols show the general arrangement of parts of an apparatus; block-faulting Geology faulting which divides a region into blocks having different elevations; block grant an inclusive grant made for a particular purpose; blockhead (a) a wooden block for hats or wigs; a wooden head (lit. & fig.); (b) colloq. a stupid person; blockheaded, blockheadish adjectives (colloq.) stupid, dull, obtuse; blockheadism colloq. blockheaded behaviour, stupidity; block heater a storage heater; blockhole Cricket (a) = sense 11 above; (b) an indentation marking this; blockhouse [Middle & mod. Dutch blokhuis] (a) a detached fortified defensive building with loopholes, usu. of timber or concrete; (b) a house of squared logs; (c) a concrete shelter; block letters (esp. capital) letters written without serifs and separate from each other; block mountain a mountain formed by block-faulting; block move Computing the process or an act of moving a block of text or data as a whole; block party US a (usu. outdoor) party for all the residents of a block or neighbourhood; block plane a plane with a blade set at an acute angle, used esp. for planing end-grain; block release release of a person from his employment for the whole of a stated period to attend a course of study; block-ship a ship moored or grounded in order to block a channel; block signalling, block system a system of railway signalling which divides the track into sections and allows no train to enter a section that is not wholly clear; block tin refined tin cast in ingots; block vote (a vote by) a method of voting whereby a delegate's vote has influence according to the number of members he or she represents.
blockish adjective of the nature of a block; like a block in form or character; obtuse, stupid, clumsy: M16.
blockishly adverb M16.
blockishness noun M16.
blocky adjective of the nature of or resembling a block or blocks L19.