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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Block \Block\ (bl[o^]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Blocked}
(bl[o^]kt); 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; to block an
entrance.
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With moles . . . would block the port. --Rowe.
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A city . . . besieged and blocked about. --Milton.
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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.
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3. To shape on, or stamp with, a block; as, to block a hat.
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4. to cause (any activity) to halt by creating an
obstruction; as, to block a nerve impulse; to block a
biochemical reaction with a drug.
[PJC]

{To block out}, to begin to reduce to shape; to mark out
roughly; to lay out; to outline; as, to block out a plan.
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Block \Block\ (bl[o^]k), 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}.]
[1913 Webster]
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.
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Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning. --Wither.
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All her labor was but as a block
Left in the quarry. --Tennyson.
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2. The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay
their necks when they are beheaded.
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Noble heads which have been brought to the block.
--E. Everett.
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3. The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.
Hence: The pattern or shape of a hat.
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He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it
ever changes with the next block. --Shak.
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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.
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5. A square, or portion of a city inclosed by streets,
whether occupied by buildings or not.
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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.
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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.
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7. (Falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.
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8. Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a
hindrance; an obstacle; -- also called {blockage}; as, a
block in the way; a block in an artery; a block in a
nerve; a block in a biochemical pathway.
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9. A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work.
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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.
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11. A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. [Obs.]
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What a block art thou ! --Shak.
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12. A section of a railroad where the block system is used.
See {Block system}, below.
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13. In Australia, one of the large lots into which public
land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the
government surveyors.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

14. (Cricket)
(a) The position of a player or bat when guarding the
wicket.
(b) A block hole.
(c) The popping crease. [R.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

15. a number of individual items sold as a unit; as, a block
of airline ticketes; a block of hotel rooms; a block of
stock.
[PJC]

16. the length of one side of a city block[5], traversed
along any side; as, to walk three blocks ahead and turn
left at the corner.
[PJC]

17. a halt in a mental process, especially one due to stress,
memory lapse, confusion, etc.; as, a writer's block; to
have a block in remembering a name.
[PJC]

18. (computers) a quantity of binary-encoded information
transferred, or stored, as a unit to, from, or on a data
storage device; as, to divide a disk into 512-byte
blocks.
[PJC]

19. (computers) a number of locations in a random-access
memory allocated to storage of specific data; as, to
allocate a block of 1024 bytes for the stack.
[PJC]

{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.

{Back blocks}, Australian pastoral country which is remote
from the seacoast or from a river.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]