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Block

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block¹

  • /blɒk/ UK
  • /blɑk/ US

Sounds like bloc · Rhymes with -ɒk

Where it comes from

From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.

noun blocks · blocke

  1. A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance. a block of ice; a block of stone
  2. A chopping block: a cuboid base for cutting or beheading. Anne Boleyn placed her head on the block and awaited her execution.
  3. A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn. Next morning, Monday, after disposing of the embalmed head to a barber, for a block, I settled my own and comrade’s bill; using, however, my comrade’s money.
  4. A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block.
  5. dated A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.
  6. A case or frame housing one or more sheaves (pulleys), used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example as part of lifting gear or a sailing ship's rigging. See also block and tackle.
  7. A section of split logs used as fuel. She said, 'I hope I shall not be left to kill myself, but It would be no more sin to kill me, than to put a block on the fire.'
  8. A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end, forming a cuboid shape. a block of 100 tickets
  9. The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.
  10. In Conway's Game of Life, a still life consisting of four living cells arranged in a two-by-two square. But there are many queen bee configurations in which the debris is neutralized, including placement of a block or eater near the bee's turnaround point, or placing two queen bees in a line or at right angles in various positions and phases.
  11. A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular. a block of text; a block of colour; a block of land
  12. A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.
  13. A discrete group of vines in a vineyard, often distinguished from others by variety, clone, canopy training method, irrigation infrastructure, or some combination thereof.
  14. A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit. a block of data; a block of seven days; a block reservation
  15. A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors. After one disk is mapped, the next block starts at address 0 on the next disk.
  16. A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop. With a foreach block, you don't need to create an explicit counter variable.
  17. A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message.
  18. A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions.
  19. A section of a railroad where the block system is used.
  20. A contiguous range of Unicode code points used to encode characters of a specific type; can be of any size evenly divisible by 16, up to 65,536 (a full plane). The "Specials" block comprises the sixteen codepoints from U+FFF0 through U+FFFF.
  21. A yeargroup at Eton College.
  22. A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets. I’m going for a walk around the block.
  23. The distance from one street to another in a city or suburb that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern. The place you are looking for is two long blocks east and one short block north.
  24. A cuboid or approximately cuboid building. a block of flats; a tower block; an office block; a toilet block; a shower block
  25. A cellblock.
  26. Something that prevents something from passing. There’s a block in the pipe that means the water can’t get through.
  27. Interference or obstruction of cognitive processes. I work with writers/artists/others using artistic skills as a tool to explore blocks and free creative energy.
  28. Any point on the board where two or more men rest, and consequently an opponent may not land.
  29. An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck). The match proved an unedifying spectacle until Spurs won a corner following their first move of real quality, John Mensah making an important block with Jermain Defoe poised to strike.
  30. A shot played by holding the bat vertically in the path of the ball, so that it loses momentum and drops to the ground.
  31. The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket.
  32. A blockhole.
  33. The popping crease.
  34. A defensive play by one or more players meant to deflect a spiked ball back to the hitter’s court.
  35. The portion of the movement where a gymnast pushes off the vault. While it might seem like she should bend her elbows in order to spring up — the way you bend your knees in order to jump — a good block actually requires the gymnast to keep her arms straight and use her shoulder strength to launch into the air.
  36. A temporary or permanent ban that prevents access to an online account or service, or connection to or from a designated telephone number, IP address, or similar. The Wiktionary page-blanking vandal was hit with an indefinite block.
  37. slang The human head. I’ll knock your block off!
  38. UK Solitary confinement.
  39. obsolete A blockhead; a stupid person; a dolt. What a block art thou!

verb blocks · blocking · blocked · blocke

  1. transitive To fill or obstruct (something) so that it is not possible to pass. The pipe was blocked by leaves.
  2. transitive To prevent (something or someone) from passing. A broken-down car is blocking the traffic.
  3. transitive To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something). His plan to take over the business was blocked by the boss.
  4. transitive To impede (an opponent or opponent’s play). He blocked the basketball player’s shot.
  5. transitive To specify the positions and movements of the actors for (a section of a play or film). It was very difficult to block this scene convincingly.
  6. transitive To hit with a block.
  7. intransitive To play a block shot.
  8. transitive To bar (impose a ban on a person or bot, etc.) from connecting via telephone, instant messaging, etc., or from accessing an online account or service, or similar. I tried to send you a message, but you’ve blocked me!
  9. transitive To bar (a message or communication), or bar connection with (an online account or service, a designated telephone number, IP address, etc.). They’ve blocked all calls to international numbers.
  10. intransitive To wait for some condition to become true. When the condition expression is false, the thread blocks on the condition variable.
  11. transitive To shape, stretch, or mould knitted items, hats, books (and book covers), shoes, etc. I blocked the mittens by wetting them and pinning them to a shaped piece of cardboard.
  12. transitive To shape or sketch out roughly. When drawing a scene, first block the main features, and then fill in the detail.
  13. intransitive To experience mental block or creative block. As I started to read the stories I thought, "I have to write my story," but I blocked on it for six months. I couldn't write anything else while I couldn't write my coming out story. It seemed to me a subterfuge to turn out an anthology of coming out stories which didn't have my story in it.
  14. obsolete, slang, transitive To knock the hat of (a person) down over their eyes.
  15. To reject or not play into one's scene partner during improv.

block²

  • /blɒk/ UK
  • /blɑk/ US

Sounds like bloc · Rhymes with -ɒk

noun blocke

  1. misspelling Misspelling of bloc.bloc

Block³

Where it comes from

* A Germanic surname (German, Dutch and English), from German Block and Dutch blok respectively. As an English surname from the same cognate, block.

* As a Jewish surname, Americanized from Bloch. Also see Vlach.

proper noun Blocks

  1. countable, uncountable A surname. The major themes in Francesca Lia Block's books include the necessity of love and the acceptance of and celebration of racial and sexual difference.
  2. countable, uncountable A surname from German
  3. countable, uncountable A surname from Dutch
  4. countable, uncountable An English surname
  5. countable, uncountable A Jewish surname
  6. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Champaign County, Illinois, United States.
  7. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Miami County, Kansas, United States.
  8. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States.

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