block definition | Dictionary.com

block

[blok]

–noun

1.	a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more flat or approximately flat faces.

2.	a hollow masonry building unit of cement, terra cotta, etc.: a wall made of concrete blocks.

3.	one of a set of cube-shaped pieces of wood, plastic, or the like, used as a child's toy in building.

4.	a mold or piece on which something is shaped or kept in shape: a hat block.

5.	a piece of wood used in the art of making woodcuts or wood engravings.

6.	Printing. the base on which a plate is mounted to make it type-high.

7.	a projection left on a squared stone to provide a means of lifting it.

8.	a short length of plank serving as a bridging, as between joists.

9.	a stump or wooden structure on which a condemned person is beheaded: Mary Stuart went bravely to the block.

10.	auction block.

11.	Machinery. a part enclosing one or more freely rotating, grooved pulleys, about which ropes or chains pass to form a hoisting or hauling tackle.

12.	an obstacle, obstruction, or hindrance: His stubbornness is a block to all my efforts.

13.	the state or condition of being obstructed; blockage: The traffic block lasted several hours.

14.

Pathology.

a.	an obstruction, as of a nerve.

b.	heart block.

15.	Sports. a hindering of an opponent's actions.

16.	a quantity, portion, or section taken as a unit or dealt with at one time: a large block of theater tickets.

17.	a small section of a city, town, etc., enclosed by neighboring and intersecting streets: She lives on my block.

18.	the length of one side of such a section: We walked two blocks over.

19.	Chiefly British. a large building divided into separate apartments, offices, shops, etc.

20.	a large number of bonds or shares of stock sold together as a single unit.

21.

Computers.

a.	a group of data stored as a unit on an external storage medium and handled as a unit by the computer for input or output: This file has 20 records per block.

b.	a section of storage locations in a computer allocated to a particular set of instructions or data.

c.	a group of consecutive machine words organized as a unit and guiding a particular computer operation, esp. with reference to input and output.

d.	(on a flow chart) a symbol representing an operation, device, or instruction in a computer program.

22.	Railroads. any of the short lengths into which a track is divided for signaling purposes.

23.	Philately. a group of four or more unseparated stamps, not in a strip.

24.	Slang. a person's head.

25.	Glassmaking. a wooden or metal cup for blocking a gather.

26.	an obstruction or stoppage in mental processes or speech, esp. when related to stress, emotional conflict, etc.

27.	writer's block.

28.

Geology.

a.	any large, angular mass of solid rock.

b.	fault block.

29.	(in Canada) a wild or remote area of land that has not yet been surveyed: the Peace River block.

30.	Automotive. cylinder block.

31.	Falconry. a low perch to which a falcon is tethered outdoors.

–verb (used with object)

32.	to obstruct (someone or something) by placing obstacles in the way (sometimes fol. by up): to block one's exit; to block up a passage.

33.	to fit with blocks; mount on a block.

34.	to shape or prepare on or with a block: to block a hat; to block a sweater.

35.	to join (the ends of boards or the like) by fastening to a block of wood.

36.

Theater.

a.	Also, block out. to plan or work out the movement of performers in a play, pageant, etc.: Tomorrow we'll block act one.

b.	to draw a floor plan on (a stage) in order to indicate placement of scenery, stage property, etc.

37.	Pathology, Physiology. to stop the passage of impulses in (a nerve).

38.	Computers. to group (contiguous data) together so as to allow to be read or written in a single operation.

39.	Sports. to hinder or bar the actions or movements of (an opposing player), esp. legitimately.

40.

Glassmaking.

a.	to shape (a molten gather) in a wet cup of wood or metal.

b.	to plunge a block of wood into (molten glass) to aid in refining the glass.

41.	Metalworking. to give (a forging) a rough form before finishing.

42.	Electronics. to apply a high negative bias to the grid of (a vacuum tube), for reducing the plate current to zero.

–verb (used without object)

43.	to act so as to obstruct an opponent, as in football, hockey, and basketball: He doesn't get many baskets, but he sure can block.

44.	Theater. to block a play, act, scene, stage, etc.: The director will block tomorrow.

45.	to suffer a block.

—Verb phrases

46.	block in or out, to sketch or outline roughly or generally, without details: She blocked out a color scheme for the interiors.

47.

block out,

a.	block (def. 36a).

b.	Basketball. to box out.

—Idiom

48.	put or go on the block, to offer or be offered for sale at auction: to put family heirlooms on the block.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME blok log, stump (< MF bloc) < MD blok; perh. akin to balk

Related forms:

block⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
12. impediment, blockade, barrier, stoppage, jam. 32. close, blockade, impede; hinder, deter, stop.

Block

[blok]

–noun

Herbert Lawrence (Herblock

), 1909–2001, U.S. cartoonist.

auction block

–noun

1.	Also called block. a platform from which an auctioneer sells: the old courthouse where slaves were sold from the auction block.

—Idiom

2.	put on the auction block, to offer for sale at auction; offer to sell to the highest bidder.

Also, put on the block.

Origin:
1840–50, Americanism

cylinder block

–noun Automotive.

the metal casting in which the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine are bored.

Also called block, engine block.

Origin:
1920–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To block

block (blŏk)

1. A solid piece of a hard substance, such as wood, having one or more flat sides.
2. Such a piece used as a construction member or as a support.
3. Such a piece upon which chopping or cutting is done: a butcher's block.
4. Such a piece upon which persons are beheaded.
5. One of a set of small wooden or plastic pieces, such as a cube, bar, or cylinder, used as a building toy.
6. Printing A large amount of text.
7. Sports A starting block.
8. A pulley or a system of pulleys set in a casing.
9. An engine block.
10. A usually rectangular section of a city or town bounded on each side by consecutive streets.
11. A segment of a street bounded by consecutive cross streets and including its buildings and inhabitants.
12. Sports An act of bodily obstruction, as of a player or ball.
13. Football Legal interference with an opposing player to clear the path of the ball carrier.
A stand from which articles are displayed and sold at an auction: Many priceless antiques went on the block.
A mold or form on which an item is shaped or displayed: a hat block.
A substance, such as wood or stone, that has been prepared for engraving.
1. A pulley or a system of pulleys set in a casing.
2. An engine block.
3. A usually rectangular section of a city or town bounded on each side by consecutive streets.
4. A segment of a street bounded by consecutive cross streets and including its buildings and inhabitants.
5. Sports An act of bodily obstruction, as of a player or ball.
6. Football Legal interference with an opposing player to clear the path of the ball carrier.
A bloc.
A set of like items, such as shares of stock, sold or handled as a unit.
A group of four or more unseparated postage stamps forming a rectangle.
Canadian A group of townships in an unsurveyed area.
1. A usually rectangular section of a city or town bounded on each side by consecutive streets.
2. A segment of a street bounded by consecutive cross streets and including its buildings and inhabitants.
3. Sports An act of bodily obstruction, as of a player or ball.
4. Football Legal interference with an opposing player to clear the path of the ball carrier.
A large building divided into separate units, such as apartments.
A length of railroad track controlled by signals.
The act of obstructing.
Something that obstructs; an obstacle.
1. Sports An act of bodily obstruction, as of a player or ball.
2. Football Legal interference with an opposing player to clear the path of the ball carrier.
Medicine Interruption or obstruction of a physiological function: nerve block.
Psychology A sudden cessation of speech or a thought process without an immediate observable cause, sometimes considered a consequence of repression. Also called mental block.
Slang The human head: threatened to knock my block off.
A blockhead.

v. blocked, block·ing, blocks

v. tr.

To shape into a block or blocks.
To support, strengthen, or retain in place by means of a block.
To shape, mold, or form with or on a block: block a hat.
1. To stop or impede the passage of or movement through; obstruct: block traffic.
2. To shut out from view: a curtain blocking the stage.
3. To stop the passage of (a motion or bill) in a legislative assembly.
To indicate broadly without great detail; sketch. Often used with out: block out a plan of action; block out stage movements.
Sports To impede the movement of (an opponent or the ball) by physical interference.
Medicine To interrupt or obstruct the proper functioning of (a physiological process), especially by the use of drugs.
Psychology To fail to remember.
To run (trains) on a block system.

v. intr.

Sports To obstruct the movement of an opponent.
To suffer a mental block. Often used with on: I blocked on his name.

Phrasal Verb(s):
block out

To cover over so as to be illegible: block out sensitive information from a document before releasing it.
To repress (a traumatic event, for example) from conscious memory.

Idiom(s):
go on the blockTo be offered for sale.

Idiom(s):
out of the blocksFrom a starting position, as in a race or contest: The company has in the past been slow out of the blocks to adapt to consumer tastes.

Idiom(s):
put on the blockTo offer for sale.

[Middle English blok, from Old French bloc, from Middle Dutch.]
block'er n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to cut off from sight: a tree that blocked the view; a road hidden by brush; mist that obscured the mountain peak; skyscrapers obstructing the sky; a fence that screens the alley; a face shrouded by a heavy veil. See Also Synonyms at hinder¹, obstacle.

Block (blŏk)

American editorial cartoonist whose witty works have appeared in the Washington Post and more than 200 other papers nationwide. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1942 and in 1954.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Block

Block\, n. [OE. blok; cf. F. bloc (fr. OHG.), D. & Dan. blok, Sw. & G. block, OHG. bloch. There is also an OHG. bloch, biloh; bi by + the same root as that of E. lock. Cf. Block, v. t., Blockade, and see Lock.]

1. A piece of wood more or less bulky; a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more plane, or approximately plane, faces; as, a block on which a butcher chops his meat; a block by which to mount a horse; children's playing blocks, etc.

Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke, And Christmas blocks are burning. --Wither.

All her labor was but as a block Left in the quarry. --Tennyson.

2. The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay their necks when they are beheaded.

Noble heads which have been brought to the block. --E. Everett.

3. The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. Hence: The pattern or shape of a hat.

He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block. --Shak.

4. A large or long building divided into separate houses or shops, or a number of houses or shops built in contact with each other so as to form one building; a row of houses or shops.

5. A square, or portion of a city inclosed by streets, whether occupied by buildings or not.

The new city was laid out in rectangular blocks, each block containing thirty building lots. Such an average block, comprising 282 houses and covering nine acres of ground, exists in Oxford Street. --Lond. Quart. Rev.

6. A grooved pulley or sheave incased in a frame or shell which is provided with a hook, eye, or strap, by which it may be attached to an object. It is used to change the direction of motion, as in raising a heavy object that can not be conveniently reached, and also, when two or more such sheaves are compounded, to change the rate of motion, or to exert increased force; -- used especially in the rigging of ships, and in tackles.

7. (Falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.

8. Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a hindrance; an obstacle; as, a block in the way.

9. A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work.

10. (Print.) A piece of hard wood (as mahogany or cherry) on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted to make it type high.

11. A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. [Obs.]

What a block art thou ! --Shak.

12. A section of a railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below.

A block of shares (Stock Exchange), a large number of shares in a stock company, sold in a lump. --Bartlett.

Block printing. (a) A mode of printing (common in China and Japan) from engraved boards by means of a sheet of paper laid on the linked surface and rubbed with a brush. --S. W. Williams. (b) A method of printing cotton cloth and paper hangings with colors, by pressing them upon an engraved surface coated with coloring matter.

Block system on railways, a system by which the track is divided into sections of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the guidance of electric signals that no train enters a section or block before the preceding train has left it.

Block

Block\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blocked; p. pr. & vb. n. Blocking.] [Cf. F. bloquer, fr. bloc block. See Block, n.]

1. To obstruct so as to prevent passage or progress; to prevent passage from, through, or into, by obstructing the way; -- used both of persons and things; -- often followed by up; as, to block up a road or harbor.

With moles . . . would block the port. --Rowe.

A city . . . besieged and blocked about. --Milton.

2. To secure or support by means of blocks; to secure, as two boards at their angles of intersection, by pieces of wood glued to each.

3. To shape on, or stamp with, a block; as, to block a hat.

To block out, to begin to reduce to shape; to mark out roughly; to lay out; as, to block out a plan.

Block

Block\, n. 1. In Australia, one of the large lots into which public land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the government surveyors.

2. (Cricket) (a) The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket. (b) A block hole. (c) The popping crease. [R.]

Back blocks, Australian pastoral country which is remote from the seacoast or from a river.

Language Translation for : block

Spanish: bloque,

German: der Block,

Japanese: かたまり

More Translations »

block

v. [common; from process scheduling terminology in OS theory]
1. vi. To delay or sit idle while waiting for something. "We're blocking until everyone gets here." Compare busy-wait.
2. `block on' vt. To block, waiting for (something). "Lunch is blocked on Phil's arrival."

Jargon File 4.2.0
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block

"solid piece," c.1305, from O.Fr. bloc "log, block," via M.Du. bloc "trunk of a tree" or O.H.G. bloh, both from PIE *bhlugo-, from *bhel "a thick plank, beam." Slang sense of "head" is from 1635. The meaning in city block is 1796, from the notion of a "compact mass" of buildings; slang meaning "fashionable promenade" is 1869. Extended sense of "obstruction" is first recorded 1649. The verb "to obstruct" is from 1570. Blockhead "stupid person" (1549) was originally a head-shaped oaken block used by hat-makers. Blockade first used 1680, with false Fr. ending (the Fr. word is blocus). Blockhouse is c.1500, of unknown origin.

Block

A large amount of the same security bought or sold by institutional or other large investors. There is no official size designation constituting a block of securities, but a commonly used threshold is more than10,000 equity shares or more than $200,000 of debt securities.

Investopedia Commentary

Blocks of securities are traded in what are called "block trades" and serve to facilitate trades involving institutional investors or other large investors who require such bulk trades to meet their needs.

Also spelled: blocks

block

A large amount of a security, usually 10,000 shares or more.

Main Entry: ¹block
Pronunciation: 'bläk
Function: noun
often attributive 1 : interruption of normal physiological function ofa tissue or organ block due to carbon monoxide>; especially : HEART BLOCK
2a : BLOCK ANESTHESIA b :

NERVE BLOCK 1

3 : interruption of a train of thought by competing thoughts or psychological suppression

Main Entry: ²block
Function: transitive verb
1 : to prevent normal functioning of (a bodily element) <block a nerve with novocaine>
2 : to obstruct the effect of blocked by esterification> block intransitive senses
: to experience or exhibitpsychological blocking or blockage —block·er /-&r/ noun

block (blŏk)
n.

Interruption, especially obstruction, of a normal physiological function.
Interruption, complete or partial, permanent or temporary, of the passage of a nervous impulse.
Atrioventricular block.
Sudden cessation of speech or a thought process without an immediate observable cause, sometimes considered a consequence of repression.

v. blocked, block·ing, blocks
To arrest passage through; obstruct.

block'age (blŏk'ĭj) n.

block
1. A unit of data or memory, often, but not exclusively, on a magnetic disk or magnetic tape.
Compare record, sector.
(2000-07-17)
2. To delay or sit idle while waiting for something.
Compare busy-wait.
(2000-07-17)
3. A delimited section of source code in a block-structured language.
(2004-09-29)

block

see chip off the old block; knock someone's block off; on the block; stumbling block.

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