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Search results for 'block':

block noun 1 a mass of solid wood, stone, ice or other hard material, usually with flat sides. 2 a a piece of wood or stone, etc used for chopping and cutting on; b (the block) historical a piece of wood used for beheading, across which the condemned person laid their neck. 3 a wooden or plastic cube, used as a child's toy. 4 slang a person's head • knock his block off. 5 a large building containing offices, flats, etc. N Amer equivalent apartment house or apartment building. 6 a a group of buildings with roads on all four sides • Let's take a walk around the block; b the distance from one end of such a group of buildings to the other • lives about a block away. 7 Austral, NZ an extensive area of land for settlement or farming, etc. 8 a compact mass, group or set. 9 a group of seats, tickets, votes, data, shares, etc thought of as a single unit. 10 something which causes or acts as a stopping of movement or progress, etc; an obstruction. Also in compounds • road block. 11 often in compounds a psychological barrier preventing progress in thought or development, etc • writer's block • a mental block. 12 sport, especially Amer football obstruction of an opposing player. 13 athletics, often in plural a starting-block • fast off the block. 14 (also nerve block) medicine the obstruction of nerve impulses to a particular area of the body by means of an injection of local anaesthetic. 15 a piece of wood or metal which has been cut to be used in printing. 16 engineering a pulley or set of pulleys mounted in a case, often with rope or chain passing over it, used as part of a lifting tackle. See also block and tackle. verb (blocked, blocking) 1 to obstruct or impede; to put an obstacle in the way of someone or something. 2 to print (a design, title, etc) on (the cover of a book, piece of material, etc). 3 cricket to stop (a ball) with one's bat held upright and touching on the ground. 4 tr & intr, sport to obstruct the play or action of (an opposing player). 5 medicine to interrupt or obstruct (a normal physiological function), such as a nerve impulse, eg with an anaesthetic. 6 theat to practise the moves in (a scene, etc). blocked adj. See also blocked style. do one's block slang, chiefly Austral & NZ to become very angry or excited; to lose one's temper.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from French bloc.

block someone or something in 1 to prevent them or it from moving or from getting out; to confine them. 2 to draw or sketch them or it roughly, often simply to show their position in a layout.

block something off to restrict or limit the use of (an area or place, etc) • The police have blocked off several streets.

block something out 1 to shut out (eg light, or an idea, etc). 2 to draw or sketch it roughly. 3 theat to practise the moves in (a scene, etc).

block something up 1 to block it completely. 2 to fill (a window or doorway, etc) with bricks, etc.