▪ I. block, n.
(blɒk)
Forms: 4–5 blok, 5 blokke, 5–7 blocke, 6 block.
[In sense 1, app. a ME. adoption of F. bloc, of same meaning; but in senses 17–20 taken directly from block v. OF. bloc is, according to Diez and Littré, a. OHG. bloh (MHG. bloch, mod.Ger. block) in same sense (MDu. bloc, Du. blok, MLG. block, Sw. block, Da. blok), the origin of which is uncertain. Grimm and others identify it with MHG. bloch, OHG. biloh (MDu. beloc, beloke) ‘closure, obstruction, shut place,’ referred to bi-lûkan, f. lûkan to close, shut. Kluge considers it a distinct word, and possibly related farther back to balk balk.]
I. A solid piece of wood.
1. A log of wood; part of the trunk of a tree, a stump.
| c 1305 Leg. Rood (1871) 141 Whon crist was knit with corde on a stok His bodi bledde a-ȝein þat blok. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 314 This king..made..Of grete shides and of blockes Great fire. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 27 They..drewe hym ouer stones and ouer blockes wythout the village. 1552 Huloet, Blocke, truncus. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 131 [No] more motion or feeling then is in a blocke or stone. 1830 Disraeli Home Lett. x. 84, I looked at the wood fire and thought of the blazing blocks in the hall at Bradenham. 1884 Froude Carlyle II. xxiii. 176 Sitting patient on a big block—huge stump of a tree-root. |
b. Often used in similes as a type of inertia, senselessness, stupidity.
Cf. sense 15: also
post.
| c 1410 Sir Cleges 440 He yaffe the styward sech a stroke, That he fell dovn as a bloke. 1678 Ripley Reviv'd 383 They are as stupid as Blocks. 1718 Pope Auth. Successio 10 When you like Orpheus, strike the warbling lyre, Attentive blocks stand round you and admire. 1875 Buckland Log-Bk. 68 As deaf as a block. |
† c. contemptuously. An idol, a ‘stock’.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1340/1 His great God was not exalted..ouer the aultar, nor his blocke almighty set seemely in the roode loft. |
† d. Contrasted with ‘straw’ in some obsolete proverbial phrases.
Cf. sense 11: also
beam and
mote.
Obs.| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 93 Lest of a strawe we make a blocke. 1551 Cranmer Answ. Bp. Gardiner 201 (T.) You can spy a little mote in another mans eye, that cannot see a great block in your own. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 76 Ye stumbled at a strawe, and lept ouer a blocke. |
† 2. The stump or trunk of a figure without the limbs.
| 1535 Coverdale i Sam. v. 5 The block laie there onely. |
3. A large solid piece of wood, of which the top or surface is used for various operations:
a. A piece of wood on which a butcher chops his meat, or on which firewood is cut, or which is used for beetling or hammering on, or otherwise in various mechanical crafts.
between the beetle and the block: see
beetle1 1 c.
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) i. 157 If I fynde a yong child I shall choppe it on a blokke. 1766 Entick London IV. 65 Stalls for butchers, with..blocks. 1849 Dickens Dav. Copp. xix, He looked such a very obdurate butcher as he stood scraping the great block. |
b. The piece of wood on which the condemned were beheaded or mutilated.
| 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, xii. §18 The serieant..shal bring to the said place of execucion a blocke with a betill a staple & cordes to binde the saide hande vpon the blocke. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 122 Some guard these Traitors to the Block of Death. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1704) III. xiv. 384 He laid down his head upon the Block. 1829 H. Neele Lit. Rem. 25 The sovereign who sent Raleigh to the block. 1876 Green Short Hist. vii. §1 (1882) 341 It was by bills of attainder..that the great nobles were brought to the block. |
c. A stump by which to mount, or dismount from, a horse. Also
fig.| 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. ii. (1668) 12 Observing to mount and dismount at the block only. a 1659 Osborn Observ. Turks iii. (1673) 265 The promoters of Sedition, are seldom found to take Horse at any other block than what they perceive the People aptest to stumble at. 1841 J. W. Orderson Creol. viii. 76 [He] rode dashingly up to the block. |
d. The stump on which a slave stood when being sold by auction.
| 1853 Chamb. Jrnl. Oct. 39 Boy mounts the block..the auctioneer kindly lends him a hand. 1866 Bryant Death Slavery vii, There shall the grim block remain, At which the slave was sold. |
e. A falcon's perch.
| 1844 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club. II. 97 The hawk..was soon receiving..a good meal of beef upon her block. |
4. A piece of wood or other substance on which something is moulded, shaped, or fashioned:
spec. a. A mould for a hat.
| 1575 Gascoigne Hearbes, Weedes, etc. Wks. (1587) 154 A coptanke hat made on a Flemish block. 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. i. xiii. Wks. 1873 II. 79 We have blockes for all heads. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 217 His Head is, like his Hat, fashioned upon a Block. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 81 Wolsey's hat..might have been made on the same block. |
b. fig. Shape, style, fashion (of hat).
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 323 A hat of the..best block in al Italy. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 77 He weares his faith but as the fashion of his hat, it euer changes with y⊇ next block. 1612 Rowlands More Knaues Yet 6 Hats of newest blocke. 1820 Scott Abbot xxv, A beaver hat of the newest block. |
c. barber's block: a wooden head for a wig.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. xviii. 464 A Finishing Block is a Wooden head set on a Stand, on which the rounds of hair are sowed on the Cawl. 1754 Connoisseur No. 36 Their heads..have worn as many different kinds of wigs as the block at their barber's. a 1843 Southey Ep. A. Cunningham Wks. III. 318 From such a barber..was that portrait made, I think, or per adventure from his block. |
d. transf. A head,
esp. in
to knock one's block off. So
off one's block: angry, insane. Also
to lose or do (in) one's block (chiefly
Austral. and
N.Z.), to become angry, excited, or anxious. (
slang.)
| 1635 Shirley Lady of Pleas. ii. i, Buy a beaver For thy own block. 1862 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe II. ix. 86, I cleaned a groom's boots on Toosday, and he punched my block because I blacked the tops. 1913 A. J. Rees Merry Marauders ii. 23 When I seen that 'earse of yours comin' a-plungin' down straight towards me..I admit I fair lost me block. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee! i. 19 Mrs. Muller went on no end! Did in her block, thinking of the night's ride Nipper had given her. Ibid. xiv. 211 Sandy Pilkins..always lost his block at the local football match. 1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke 118 To lose or do in the block, to become flustered; excited; angry; to lose confidence. To keep the block, to remain calm, dispassionate. 1918 N.Z.E.F. Chrons. 21 June 22/1 If you can keep your block, while those about you are losing theirs. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 26 Block, head, face. ‘Off his block’, angry, off his head. 1928 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 572 If I had any side, they would knock off what they call my ‘block’. 1931 V. Palmer Separate Lives 220 There was a sheelah back in Salisbury who did her block on me. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Nov. 33/1 The Cossack done his block again—slapped Plato on the cheek. 1939 H. G. Wells Holy Terror i. i. 12 Many suggestions were made, from ‘Knock his little block off’, to ‘Give him more love’. 1939 A. Upfield Myst. Swordfish Reef (1943) vi. 52 Some will lose their blocks, get excited, and then something has to go west. 1956 E. Grierson Second Man vii. 144, I did my block—panicked, I reckon you'd say. 1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 10 I done me block; I went off my head; I lost my temper. |
e. generally. A substratum or core.
| 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 119 To serve as a Form or Block to sustain the succeeding annual Coat. |
5. Mechanics. A pulley or system of pulleys mounted in a case, used to increase the mechanical power of the ropes running through them; employed
esp. for the rigging of ships, and in lifting great weights. They take various names from their shape, position, or use, as
fiddle block,
sister block, etc.
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 143 Damages sustained by bad Hookes, Ropes, Blockes, or Lines. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 19 Blocks or Pullies are thick peeces of wood hauing shiuers in them. 1752 Smeaton Tackle in Phil. Trans. XLVII. 494 An inconvenience arises, if above 3 pullies are framed in one block. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 58 Thro' rattling blocks the clue-lines swiftly run. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 236 The stump of a mast, with a few ropes and blocks swinging about. |
b. Naut. phrase.
block and block (see
quot.).
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 19 When we hale any Tackle or Haleyard to which two blocks doe belong, when they meet, we call that blocke and blocke. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Block and block, the situation of a tackle when the two opposite blocks are drawn close together, so that the..power becomes destroyed. |
c. block and tackle,
= tackle n. 3; also
fig.| 1838 Knickerbocker XII. 373 The diver began to don his submarine habiliments, which were swung inward from the vessel's side..by means of a block-and-tackle. 1864 O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 221 General Birney seems to consider the Eighth as..block and tackle by which to hoist his favorites into place and power. 1910 Hawkins' Electr. Dict. 39/1 Block and Tackle, a term including the block and the rope wove through it, for hoisting or obtaining a purchase. 1936 Discovery Aug. 238/1 The camera is lowered on its mount by means of special block and tackle installation fixed to the cabin roof. |
6. A piece of wood which acts as a support:
a. Carpentry. A square piece of wood glued into the angle at a joint to strengthen it;
= blocking 3.
b. A piece of scantling for elevating cannon; called a
whole block,
half block, or
quarter block, according to its thickness.
c. A frame to support the end of a log in a saw-mill.
d. Carriage-making (see
quot.).
| 1801 Felton Carriages I. 120 Those platforms, raisers, or blocks, are added to a carriage, either as matter of necessity or appearance..their use is to elevate and support the budget, boot, hind foot-board, and springs. |
e. A shaped piece of wood forming part of a shoeblack's equipment, on which a customer places his foot.
| 1872 Cassell's Mag. V. 84/1 The boys are provided with their uniforms, their block, blacking, and brushes by the society. |
f. Drapery. A roll of material wound on a board: now called
piece.
| 1905 H. G. Wells Kipps i. vi. §4 Being subsequently engaged in serving cretonnes, and desiring to push a number of rejected blocks up the counter. 1934 ― Exper. in Autobiogr. i. iv. 149 Wrappered blocks labelled incomprehensibly Hard Book or Turkey Twill. |
7. A piece of wood on which lines, letters, or figures are engraved, in order to be printed from it in ink or colours on paper, calico, etc., or to be stamped by pressure on any yielding surface.
| 1732 S. Palmer Hist. Printing vi. (title), An enquiry into the first books printed on blocks of wood. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Cutting, The cutters in wood begin by preparing a plank or block. 1780 R. Burrow Comp. Ladies Diary 6 Engraving wooden blocks for printing pictures with the letter-press. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 94 [Calico-printer] They have from the earliest period used blocks and stencils to produce the pattern. 1880 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxx. 10 Printed in four colors, from engraved blocks. |
8. Various solid pieces of wood about a ship: see
quots.| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 97 Block, the large piece of elm out of which the figure is carved at the head of the ship. Blocks for building the ship are those solid pieces of oak timber fixed under the ship's keel, upon the groundways. Blocks for transporting the ship are two solid pieces of oak or elm, one fixed on each side of the stern above the taffrail, and a snatch with a large score cut each way in the middle. a 1856 Longfellow Build. Ship 95 Thus, said he, we will build this ship! Lay square the blocks upon the slip. |
† 9. The peg or ‘hob’ aimed at in throwing quoits; the ‘Jack’ at bowls.
Obs.| 1598 Florio, Buttiro, a maister or mistres of boules or coites, whereat the plaiers cast or play: some call it the blocke. |
II. A bulky piece of any substance.
10. a. gen. Any solid or compact mass of matter with an extended surface.
| 1530 Palsgr. 199/1 Blocke of tynne, savmon destain. 1577 Harrison Descr. Brit. v. 12 These huge blocks were ordeined and created of God. 1670 J. Claridge Sheph. Banbury's Rules (1744) 38 A block of this kind of stone as big as a large rolling stone. 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall xv. §18. 182 The metal when hardened is called a block of tin. 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 166 Granite is most commonly found in huge blocks. 1813 Gentl. Mag. LXXXIII. i. 609/2 A square block of masonry has been raised to support the stone. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §2. 17 The more solid blocks of ice shoot forward in advance of the lighter débris. |
b. A large quantity of anything dealt with at once. Hence
in block: in the mass, as a whole, ‘wholesale’;
= Fr. en bloc.
| 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 134 Block. A number of shares, say 5,000 or 10,000, massed together, and sold or bought in a lump. 1876 Holland Sev. Oaks xxiv. 331 The combination began by selling large blocks of the Stock for future delivery. 1876 Gladstone in Contemp. Rev. June 3 Puritans..who rejected in block the authority of creeds. 1901 Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ iii. 40 A big block of treasury stock. |
c. = pad n.3 4. Also
attrib., as
block calendar.
| 1865 G. M. Hopkins Note-Bks. & Papers (1937) 54 Shewing a sketching-block, he asked if there would be any objection to his sketching there. 1893 Sketch-block [see sketch n. 7]. 1908 Scribbling-block [see scribbling vbl. n.1 4]. 1910 Brit. Empire Paper Trades' Jrnl. Feb. 66/2 Blotting pads, books, etc., note books, note blocks, address books, etc. Ibid. May 186 Portrait and Figure Studies, with Daily Tear-off Block and Quotations for every day in the year. Ibid. 187/1 A new series of larger size shilling block calendars. 1940 H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood ii. i. 128 He pushed the paper-block back and began writing on the blotting-paper before him. |
d. The carcass of a bullock; also
attrib., as
block test, ascertainment of the dead weight of a beast when on the butcher's block for cutting up.
| 1893 Westm. Gaz. 8 Mar. 9/1 The ‘block test’..used by Mr. M{supc}Jannet, of Stirling... A set of tables by which, when the weight of the live bullock is ascertained, the weight of the ‘block’ as it hangs up in the flesher's shop for sale can be established within about a couple of pounds. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 188/1 In 1895 the Smithfield Club instituted a carcase competition... The cattle and sheep entered for this competition are shown alive on the first day, at the close of which they are slaughtered and the carcases hung up for exhibition, with details of live and dead weights. The competition thus constitutes what is termed a ‘block test’. |
e. = bloc.
| 1925 M. Eastman Since Lenin Died ii. 19 To perfect and solidify the block which they had already formed against him among the leaders of the party. 1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 12 July 25 Working for the entry of France into a vast Continental block with Germany and Italy as the chief partners. 1957 Economist 7 Sept. 744/1 The extent to which the Soviet block is believed to have settled down again. |
f. Computers. A set of data or instructions: (
i) a group of successive locations in a memory and the data they contain; (
ii) a group of words treated as a single unit in a program or by a computer.
| 1948 Math. Tables & other Aids to Computation III. 11 Characterizing a block of data on a table tape by a single block number. Ibid. 71 If a block has been called for, the machine..automatically transfers the first number in this block into the table register. 1958 Gotlieb & Hume High-Speed Data Processing ix. 179 A block is an integral number of words stored in a single register and transferred as a whole from one part of the machine to another. 1964 A. Lytel Fund. Data Processing iv. 202 A block is a series of declarations and statements enclosed between the words begin and end. 1964 Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. CXV. 663 Reels of 3/4 inch-wide tape which contain 512 consecutively numbered blocks, each capable of storing 256 12-bit numbers. 1968 Lehman & Bailey Digital Computing x. 200/2 The common area of memory may be divided into any number of separate regions, or blocks. |
11. a. A lump of wood, stone, or other matter, that obstructs one's way; a bar;
fig. an obstacle or obstruction. Now only in
stumbling-block.
| a 1500 Songs & Carols 15th C. (Wright) 81 (Mätz.) Ale mak many a mane to stombyle at the blokkes. 1573 G. Harvey Lett.-Bk. (1884) 32, I tould him there was a certain block in the wai. 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 38 At which common block many weakelings do stumble. 1649 Selden Laws Eng. i. xv. (1739) 29 This was..a block in the way of Prelacy, and a clog to keep it down. a 1718 Penn Life Wks. 1726 I. 2 A Block in the Way to Preferment. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 531 By maintaining these passages he laid a stumbling block in his own path. |
b. A piece of wood or other material placed in front of a wheel of an aeroplane to prevent it from moving forward; a chock. Also
attrib., as
block time (see
quot. 1950), etc.
| [1918 W. G. McMinnies Pract. Flying 228 Chocks, wooden blocks placed in front of the wheels of a machine to prevent it moving when the engine is started.] 1930 P. White How to fly an Airplane xiii. 189 You must remove the blocks from under the wheels. 1936 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XL. 852 On short ferry services the time occupied at each end in taking off and landing had a curiously levelling effect, so that the block-to-block speed was much the same as for high or low speed aircraft. 1948 Ibid. LII. 624/2 This method of arriving at stage distance—by taking a block time and by relating that time to the distance which would be covered at the block speed in the wind conditions. 1950 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) i. ii Block time, the period from the time the chocks are withdrawn, brakes released or moorings dropped, to the time of return to rest, or taking up of moorings after flight. |
12. spec. a. A mass or lump of rock or stone in its natural or unhewn state.
erratic block, a boulder transported by physical agencies far from its native site.
| 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii, All her labour was but as a block Left in the quarry. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. i. 19 The glacier stream[s] of the Lombards and..Normans left their erratic blocks wherever they had flowed. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 149 The Bowder Crag from which the immense block has fallen, is directly above. |
b. A solid piece of stone, etc., prepared for building purposes;
also the ‘bricks’ with which children build toy-houses.
| c 1854 Longfellow Builders iii, Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build. 1885 R. L. Stevenson Child's Garden 63 Block City, What are you able to build with your blocks, Castles and palaces, temples and docks? |
c. Archit. Each of the squared pieces above and sometimes below the columns of a chimney-piece.
| 1775 J. Wedgwood Let. 14 Jan. in E. Meteyard Life (1866) II. 321, I..stand in need of your directions relative to the blocks & ovals to the Tablets. 1875 E. Meteyard Wedgwood Handbk. Gloss. s.v., The more ordinary chimney⁓pieces had only a tablet and blocks... Occasionally the base of the columns had blocks also. |
† 13. A whetstone.
Obs.| 1592 Greene Groatsw. Wit (1617) 28 He serued but for a blocke to whet Robertoes wit on. |
14. a. A compact or connected mass of houses or buildings, with no intervening spaces; (
esp. in
U.S. and Canada) the quadrangular mass of buildings included between four streets, or two ‘avenues’ and two streets at right angles to them.
b. A portion of a town or space of ground so bounded, whether occupied by buildings or not.
orig. U.S.| 1796 Aurora (Philad.) 13 Dec. (Th.), The whole block of buildings included between that slip, Front Street, and the Fly Market. 1817 S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 101 Each block of lots has the advantage of two 16 feet alleys. 1837 Knickerbocker IX. 72 Paved thoroughfares and manufacturing or commercial blocks. 1843 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xvi. 203 A neighbouring bar-room, which..was ‘only in the next block’. 1851 Househ. Narrative Mar. 69 The blocks..are rapidly filling up by the erection upon them of large houses. 1855 Act 18–19 Vict. cxx. §74 A group or block of contiguous houses..may be drained more economically..in combination. 1882 Freeman in Longm. Mag. I. 89 American towns are built in blocks. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Journal 12 Sept., When the matinee between brother and sister had closed Blossum was about two blocks away. 1963 J. T. Story Something for Nothing vi. 214 Outside the office there was nowhere to park... She cruised round the block twice, then finally double-parked and hurried into the building. |
c. A fashionable promenade outside a particular block of buildings and shops in some Australian cities; hence
on the block, on the promenade;
to do the block, to lounge or saunter on the fashionable promenade.
| 1869 M. Clarke Peripatetic Philosopher 13 (Morris), If our Victorian youth showed their appreciation for domestic virtues, Victorian womanhood would ‘do the Block’ less frequently. 1872 ‘Resident’ Glimpses of Life in Victoria 349 A certain portion of Collins Street, lined by the best drapers' and jewellers' shops..is known as ‘The Block’. 1896 Argus 17 July 4/7 (Morris), Just as the busy man, who generally walks quickly, has to go slowly in the crowd on the Block. 1902 Daily Chron. 20 Oct. 5/2 Sundowners..who once enjoyed fat berths in Melbourne, ‘doing the block’ every afternoon in Collins street. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands viii. 96 Man 'n' woman ud come jiggin' erlong in their block clobber. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee! i. 14 When I go to town I'm crowded on the Block, I can't breathe. |
d. Each of the large lots into which land is divided for settlement and development; any (fairly) large area of land; also (
Austral.), a building section or lot. See also
back blocks.
Austral. and
N.Z. (For N.
Amer. examples see
D.A.)
| 1840 in Hist. Rec. Austral. (1924) 1st Ser. XX. 744 If a Person should pay at once for 5,120 Acres or 8 Square Miles, We propose to allow him the privilege of demanding a Survey of that Quantity in one Block in any part of the Colony he may choose. 1841 W. Deans Let. 25 Mar. (1937) 31 We are insured our land, but are bound..to take the 110,000 acres for the principal settlement in one continuous block, round Port Nicholson... The boundaries of the block are now pretty well defined. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Block,..in colonial parlance a piece of land. 1866–7 Acts S. Australia 30 Vict. No. 21 §6 No..lease shall be granted at a lower yearly rent than at the rate of Ten Shillings for every block or Section, and no such block or Section shall exceed one square mile of land therein comprised. 1872 Ibid. 35 & 36 Vict. No. 18 §24 No person shall hold..more than three separate and detached blocks of land; and such area shall..be comprised in one block. 1909 B. R. Wise Commw. Australia 100 Some far-seeing men..would have set aside defined blocks for agricultural settlement. Ibid. 113, 27,000 acres, in forty-acre blocks. Ibid. 127 There has..been some ‘dummying’, but the majority of the block⁓holders are bonâ-fide occupiers. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Jan. 25 My block of 200 acres had previously been sub-divided for cropping. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 293/2 Old fences were removed..and new ones erected to subdivide the run into blocks of convenient size. 1969 Advertiser (Adelaide) 8 Feb. 42/1 (Advt.), Older Style Marino Home and 2 established adjoining building blocks, corner position, all blocks enjoy magnificent coastal views. 1969 Age (Melbourne) 24 May 4/4 Mrs. Smith said that the Normanton Aborigines had a reserve of 82 blocks on a hill overlooking the town, separated by a salt pan. 1969 Northern Territory News 11 July 4/3 (Advt.), Freehold Residential Holiday Sites. N.T. Real Estate Pty. Ltd. have great pleasure in introducing the sale of these excellent freehold blocks. |
† e. A blockhouse.
U.S. Obs.| 1829 J. F. Cooper Wish-ton-wish vii. 108 He that is wise, however, will take but little of the latter, until his head be safely housed within some such building as yon block. 1845 W. G. Simms Wigwam & Cabin Ser. i. 57 As it was only a short mile and a half from the block, and we could hear of no Indians. |
f. A large single building,
esp. one containing a number of flats or offices;
block dweller,
block dwellings: see 23.
| 1849 in Mrs. F. L. Adams Pioneer Hist. Ingham County (1923) 149 A little old ‘corner grocer’ building occupied the corner where Pratt & Millsapugh's block now stands. 1903 G. Gissing Private Papers H. Ryecroft 256 The sixth floor of a ‘block’ in Shoreditch. 1915 J. Buchan 39 Steps i. 13 My flat was the first floor in a new block behind Langham Place. 1933 Discovery Aug. 254/1 The designers of large blocks of flats. 1969 Times 20 Oct. 9/5 Like the great bulk of Glasgow's nineteenth century housing Bernard Street consists of four-storey tenement blocks. |
III. Figurative senses.
15. A person resembling a block or log of wood:
a. in unintelligence: A blockhead.
b. in want of feeling: A hard-hearted person.
| a 1553 Udall Royster D. iii. iii. Ye are suche a calfe, suche an asse, such a blocke. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 40 You Blockes, you stones, you worse than senslesse things. 1682 N. O. tr. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 16 See how the Stupid Block stands mute, and moping! 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 661 In vain we endeavoured to move the compassion of these two blocks in female shape. 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 88 The greatest dunce, the biggest block. |
16. Phrases.
a chip of the (same or) old block: a piece of the same stuff; a descendant reproducing the qualities of a parent or ancestor.
as deaf (etc.) as a block: (see 1 b.)
to cut blocks with a razor: (a metaphor describing absurdly incongruous and futile application of abilities or means: 13).
| 1627 Sanderson Serm. I. 283 Am not I a child of the same Adam, a vessel of the same clay, a chip of the same block, with him? 1655 Lestrange Chas. I, 126 Episcopacy, which they thought but a great chip of the old block Popery. 1774 Goldsm. Retal. 42 'Twas his fate unemployed or in place, sir, To eat mutton cold and cut blocks with a razor. |
IV. Senses from
block v.
† 17. ‘A scheme, contrivance; generally used in a bad sense.’ (Jamieson.)
Sc. Obs.| 1513 Douglas æneis v. xi. 12 Rolling in mynd full mony cankarit bloik. |
† 18. A bargain, bartering, exchange.
Sc. Obs.| 1568 Sempill Ballates (1872) 232 Abydand on sum merchand blok. 1637 Rutherford Lett. cxx. (1862) I. 300 What a sweet block was it by way of buying and selling, to give and tell down a ransome..for grace and glory to dyvours! a 1800 Ballad ‘Fair Isabell’ xvi. in Child Ballads iii. (1885) 216/2 So many blocks have we two made, And ay the worst was mine. |
19. A blocking up.
a. An obstruction or stoppage of traffic or progress.
b. The obstruction of the free passage of a bill through the House of Commons: see
quot.| 1860 W. Clark Vac. Tour 19 Naples is the only continental capital which is liable to blocks. 1863 Cornh. Mag. Feb. Life Man-of-War, It is after you have become lieutenant, that the ‘block’ makes itself felt. 1882 Pall Mall G. 14 July 2/2 What is the practical effect of the notice that a bill will be opposed—which is what is known as a block? Simply this, that it prevents any stage of a bill being taken during (1) the last ten minutes of a morning sitting, or (2) the last fifteen minutes of a Wednesday afternoon sitting, or (3) after half-past twelve o'clock at any other sitting. |
c. block system (on
Railways): a system by which the line is divided into short sections, having at the end of each a signal, and a connexion with the electric telegraph, so worked that no train is allowed to pass into any section till it is wholly clear; thus securing an absolute interval of space between successive trains. So
block signal,
block signalling,
block instrument, etc.
| 1864 Realm 29 June 1 The only remedy for the danger is the adoption of what is technically called the ‘block system.’ 1865 Lond. Rev. 18 Mar. 309 Mr. William Henry Preece..recommends the adoption, in connection with the electric telegraph, of the ‘block system’ of ensuring the safety of railway trains. 1882 Oracle 20 May 313 The method of working electric block-signals..Mr. Tyer produced his first block-signalling instrument in 1852. Ibid. A modification of the single needle as a block instrument. |
d. Neurol. Obstruction of the passage of a nervous or muscular impulse; an instance of this.
Cf. block v. 4 b and
heart-block (
heart n. 56).
| 1882 W. H. Gaskell in Phil. Trans. CLXXIII. 1031 If the section is severe the block will be complete; no contractions will pass. 1883 ― in Jrnl. Physiology IV. 66 The contraction wave is unable to pass, then the ‘block’ is complete... Romanes..has..made use of the term ‘block’ to express any artificial hindrance to the passage of the contraction. I therefore make use of the same term in speaking of the results of experiments on the cardiac muscle which are very similar to those which he performed on the muscle of the Medusa. 1905 Amer. Jrnl. Physiology XIII. p. xxvii, A condition of partial ‘block’ in which the rhythm of the auricle is to the rhythm of the ventricle as 3 is to 1. 1957 Encycl. Brit. I. 864/2 When the local anaesthetic agent is injected so that it blocks the nerve supply, the method is known as ‘block’ or ‘conduction’ anaesthesia. Ibid., Spinal anaesthesia is a special form of block anaesthesia in which the local anaesthetic agent is deposited in the spinal fluid. 1963 G. B. Carter et al. Dict. Midwifery 404/2 P[udendal] block, infiltration of the pudendal nerve with a local anaesthetic..preparatory to forceps delivery or to repair of perineal rupture. |
e. Psychol.,
spec. = blocking vbl. n. 1
f.| 1931 A. G. Bills in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XLIII. 230 The term ‘block’..refers to those periods, experienced by mental workers, when they seem unable to respond and cannot, even by an effort, continue until a short time has elapsed. 1946 W. S. Knickerbocker 20th Cent. Eng. 187 Some ‘block’ in his mental make-up. 1949 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Sept. 38 Occasional breakdowns of response, or ‘blocks’ occurred. 1969 Times (Sat. Rev.) 15 Nov. p. iv/3 Henry James..freeing himself from emotional and work blocks. |
f. Amer. Football. The obstruction of an opponent by interposing one's body.
Cf. block v. 4 e.
| 1931 Collier's Mag. 17 Oct. 61/3 In the ‘Indian block’, as it came to be called, a man left the ground entirely, half turning as he leaped so as to hit an opponent just above the knees with his hip. 1955 Sports Illustr. 7 Nov. 44/3 Brown..has what I like to term ‘second reaction’ — the ability to absorb the initial shock of a block and still make the tackle. 1966 Rote & Winter Lang. Pro Football iii. 104 Block, act of obstructing an opponent by making legal body contact. 1976 Honolulu Star-Bull. 21 Dec. h–1/2 Charley Hannah tipped it and it came right to me. I got a couple of blocks, one I know from Charley. 1984 N.Y. Times 2 Jan. 29/1 He..threw a block when Kenny King scored on a 9-yard run. |
20. Cricket. The position in which a batsman blocks balls; that in which he holds his bat in front of the wicket before striking, otherwise called the
centre; hence
block-hole (or shortly
block), a mark made in the ground to indicate this position. Also, a stroke of the bat to block a ball.
| 1825 New Monthly Mag. XIII. 498, I..admired the dexterity of the block at hand, which frustrated the perilous three-quarter ball. 1837 D. Walker Games & Sports 215 The popping crease..having in its middle..a hole called the block hole. 1845 Wanostrocht Felix on Bat. i. ii. 12, I next recommended him to take the block for the middle stump, about five inches behind the popping crease. 1851 [see work n. 2 b]. 1866 ‘Captain Crawley’ Cricket 8 The block is the spot where the batsman grounds his bat when prepared to play. 1956 N. Cardus Close of Play 11 After he had taken guard and marked his block-hole, he would pat the crease neatly. |
V. attrib. and
Comb. 21. attrib. or adj. Taken in the block, aggregate, lump.
| 1864 Ld. Lyttelton in Morn. Star 22 Jan. 3/6 The first cost requires a block sum, which..is just what the working classes cannot command. |
22. General comb., chiefly
attrib., as
block-coal,
block-ice,
block-shot,
block-stone; (sense 5)
block-maker,
block-pulley,
block-sheave,
block-strop;
block-faced,
block-like adjs.| 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. v. 37 A squinting, *block-faced, chattering piss-kitchen. |
| 1881 Chicago Times 4 June, *Block ice is never created in the river rapids to clog or impede machinery. |
| 1561 J. Heywood Seneca's Hercules (1581) 16 Her head from *blocklyke body gone Is quight. 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 85 Numbers of block-like bergs. |
| a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 78 Many Artisans..are employed upon Shipping: viz. Painters, *Block-makers, Rope-makers. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §122 note, An ingenious blockmaker at Plymouth. 1884 Harper's Mag. Jan. 220/2 The block-maker and sail-maker each a sixteenth. |
| 1864 Chambers Bk. of Days II. 684 [Brunel's] plan for making *block-pulleys for ships by machinery. |
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Cat. 42 Projectile Anchors, Cone *Block Shot to throw Rove Rope or Messenger Line. |
| 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 270 If he used *blockstone..he studied to use [it] so as to look well. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) E iij, It is bound with a sort of rope-ring..which is called a *block strop. |
23. Special comb.
block ball Baseball, a ball, either hit or thrown, which is handled or stopped by a non-player;
block-battery (see
quot.);
block-board, a plywood board having a core of thin wooden strips with the grain at right angles to the adjacent veneers;
block bond Bricklaying (see
quots. and
bond n.1 13 a);
block-brush, a bunch of butcher's-broom, used by butchers to clean the blocks, and borne in the insignia of their Company;
block-buster, an aerial bomb capable of destroying a whole block of buildings; also
transf. and
fig.;
block-busting a., of the nature of a block-buster (
fig.); also as
vbl. n. and attrib.,
U.S. colloq. (see
quot. 1959);
block capital, a capital letter written or printed without serifs;
block chain, an endless chain composed of alternate blocks and links;
block-chopper, a workman who trims a block of stone;
block coal, coal that splits easily into blocks;
spec. an American bituminous furnace coal; also, coal in large lumps;
block coefficient Naval Archit. (see
quot.);
block-cutter, an artificer who cuts in relief the blocks used in printing or engraving (see sense 7);
block diagram, (
a) a type of relief model (see
quot. 1924); (
b) a diagram in which squares and other conventional symbols show the order and arrangement of parts of an apparatus;
block dwellings pl., dwellings consisting of flats for working-class families in large barrack-like buildings several storeys high; hence
block dweller;
block-faulting Geol., faulting which divides a region into blocks;
block-flute (see
quot.);
block-furnace = bloomery;
block lava Geol., a lava field composed of angular blocks;
= aa2;
block letter, (
a) in
pl., printing-types of large size cut out of wooden blocks; (
b)
= block capital;
block-machine, a machine for making the ‘blocks’ associated with ‘tackle’ in ships; so
block-machinery;
block model Shipbuilding, a model of a ship shaped from a block made up of flat pieces of wood fastened together, the lines of junction showing, on a reduced scale, the water-lines of the vessel to be built;
block mountain, a mountain formed by faulting of the earth's crust;
block-ornament (
slang)
= blocker 3;
block-pate = blockhead;
block plan, an outline plan or sketch,
esp. of a building-site;
block plane (see
quots.);
block-printing, printing from wooden blocks, instead of movable types, as in the block-books, now also used for printing calico, paper-hangings, etc.; so
block-printed a.;
block-ship, a ship moored to block the entrance to a harbour, an old man of war used as a store-ship, etc.;
block test (see sense 10 d);
block-tin, see
tin;
block train, a railway train of which the component parts are kept permanently made up;
block universe Philos., the universe conceived as being like a block, as a unitary closed system of interlocking parts in which there is neither genuine plurality nor room for alternative possibilities;
block welding (see
quot. 1952);
† block-wheat, buckwheat;
block working, the working of railway traffic on the block system (see
block n. 19 c).
| 1891 N. Crane Baseball 79 *Block ball, a batted or thrown ball handled by an outsider. |
| 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. (1816) 54/1 *Block-battery, in gunnery, a wooden battery for two or more small pieces mounted on wheels, and moveable from place to place. |
| 1932 A. Mora Plywood 86 (caption) Method of cross cutting core pieces for *block boards. 1936 Archit. Rev. LXXIX. 76/1 The only structural difference between a sheet of three-ply and a laminated board or blockboard is that in both the latter the core is of composite vertical formation instead of being a single or continuous horizontal sheet of veneer. 1939 Ibid. LXXXVI. 129/4 Blockboard plywood, i.e., plywood with an interior composed of strips of solid timber, was first industrially produced by Kümmel's at Rehfelde near Berlin about 1902. |
| 1865 Webster s.v. Bond, English or *block bond. 1901 Sturgis Dict. Archit. s.v. Bond, Block Bond. Same as Flemish Bond. |
| 1942 Time 14 Sept. 29/1 Inside a sturdy observation tower a mile from the exploding *block busters which the Army is now testing. 1943 Times 22 Dec. 4/5 Bombs were falling..many 8,000 lb. and 4,000 lb. ‘block⁓busters’ among them. 1957 G. Smith Friends vi a. 114 One day I had what seemed to me like a block⁓buster of an idea for a musical play. 1967 Spectator 6 Oct. 394/2 The ‘block-buster’ is a figure in American urban life who has yet to emerge in this country. He is a property dealer who by subterfuge introduces black residents into all-white neighbourhoods. |
| 1943 New Statesman 20 Nov. 332/3 Those English Labour M.P.s who in their speeches show only a *blockbusting contempt for Ulster. 1959 Economist 31 Jan. 415/2 Once a single negro moves into a block..the houses on both sides of the street from corner to corner are bound to become..Negro... Such ‘block-busting’ [etc.]. 1961 Nation 7 Oct. 223/2 The block-busting real-estate men show homes in integrated districts..only to prospective Negro buyers. |
| 1902 Combined Training (War Office) 61 Names of places and persons will be written in *block capitals. 1924 Contemp. Rev. Apr. 482, I published an article in the Novoie Vremya under the title ‘Bread’, which appeared in large block capitals. |
| 1896 A. Sharp Bicycles & Tricycles xxvi. 431 The ‘Roller’ has the advantage over the ‘Humber’, or *block chain, that its rubbing surface is very much larger. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict., Block Chain (Cycles). |
| 1883 Stonemason Jan., It is then trimmed (or scalped) into shape by men called ‘*block-choppers’, who adroitly wield heavy axes. |
| 1871 Amer. Naturalist V. 177 A visit will be made to the celebrated *Block-coal field (iron smelting coal). 1874 Amer. Cycl. IV. 726/1 We shall herein denote the prominent varieties as..non-caking or block coal, and caking or coking coals. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m., Block coal. |
| 1901 Feilden's Mag. IV. 421/1 In every case it is advisable also to calculate the value of the ‘*block coefficient’ or so-called coefficient of fineness. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 551/1 The block coefficient is the ratio of the volume of the immersed portion of the ship to the volume of the parallelopipedon. |
| 1859 Chadwick in Smiles Workmen's Earnings (1861) 21 *Block-cutters and printers in calico-printing. |
| 1924 A. K. Lobeck Block Diagrams i. i. 1 A *block diagram presents the relationship between the surface of the ground and the underground structure by representing an imaginary block cut out from the earth's crust. 1944 Electronic Engin. June 24/3 Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of the circuit technique used. 1962 Gloss. Terms Autom. Data Proc. (B.S.I.) 59 Block diagram, a conventional drawing of a system, instrument, computer or program in which all portions are represented by annotated boxes. |
| 1902 C. F. G. Masterman From Abyss iii. 37 No..dreams of impossible millennium will haunt the *block dweller of the future. |
| 1899 Daily News 17 Jan. 3/2 The slums are sickening,..and the *block dwellings often more like warehouses than homes. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 673/2 Slum dwellings have been cleared under Cross's Acts 1875–82, and the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890; and..block dwellings have been erected. |
| 1921 A. W. Grabau Textbk. Geol. I. xxi. 689 *Block faulting, the dropping down or raising of circumscribed blocks, is not uncommon. 1940 E. S. Hills Structural Geol. 63 Regions which are divided by faults into a number of differentially elevated or depressed blocks are said to exhibit block faulting. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. v. 42/1 The schist..must have been steeply tilted by block-faulting in some places. |
| 1852 Seidel Organ 91 *Block-flute..is a flue-register sometimes open, sometimes stopped, and..imitates the tone of a flute. |
| 1914 R. A. Daly Igneous Rocks xiii. 291 The vesiculation of pahoehoe or ropy lava was found to be more evenly developed than in the aa or *block lava. 1920 A. Holmes Nomencl. Petrology 47 Block-lava, a term applied to lava flows which occur as a tumultous assemblage of angular blocks having extremely rough surfaces due to the abundant development of large vesicles; = aa-lava or aphrolithic lava. |
| 1908 Installation News II. 115/2 The cost of current for a large *block-letter sign is frequently six or seven pounds a week. 1929 Humorist 5 Jan. 682 Name and address should be written here in plain block letters. |
| 1901 Feilden's Mag. IV. 426/1 The angle of entrance..may either be measured from the *block-model or calculated. |
| 1896 J. W. Gregory Great Rift Valley xii. 221 (caption) Section across a ‘*Block Mountain’. 1901 C. R. Dryer Lessons Physical Geogr. xiv. 181 Block Mountains, probably the simplest mountains in existence are those of southern Oregon and northern California and Nevada. 1929 L. J. Wills Physiogr. Evolution Brit. i. ii. 11 Differential elevation of a block relative to its surroundings may produce a plateau or a block-mountain. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 52 They buy *block-ornaments..as they call the small dark-coloured pieces of meat exposed on the ..butchers' blocks. |
| 1598 R. Bernard Terence (1607) 251 To be called a *blockpate, a dulhead, an asse, a lumpish sot. |
| 1909 Webster, *Block plan. 1941 City of Oxford Building Byelaws No. 134 A person who intends to erect a building..shall send or deliver to the clerk or surveyor..a block plan of the building. |
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Block Plane, a plane, the bit of which is set at a very acute angle to the working surface, to enable it to plane across the grain of the wood. 1966 A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 66 Block plane, small low-angled (20°) plane, not more than 8 in long, used for cleaning up mitres and end grain. |
| 1816 Singer Hist. Cards 75 note, The Portuguese Missionaries on their first visit to Japan, in 1549, found the art of *block printing in use there. 1883 Standard 26 Jan. 3/2 Mere block-printed papers. |
| 1801 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 113/1 There was not on board their *Block ships a single surgeon. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 154/2 In *block-trains, where the component coaches are permanently coupled together, one dynamo sometimes lights all the carriages. 1963 Times 18 Feb. 6/5 Instead of its being carried in mixed freight trains, the block trains will carry nothing but coal. |
| 1881 T. Davidson Let. 24 Dec. in R. B. Perry Tht. & Char. W. James (1935) I. 736 That last remnant of mythology and scholasticism, viz., theism and a *block-universe. 1884 W. James Will to Believe (1897) 181 Is not the notion of eternity being given at a stroke to omniscience only just another way of whacking upon us the block-universe? a 1910 ― Some Probl. Philos. (1911) xii. 191 It is the famous ‘principle of causality’ which, when combined with the next two principles, is supposed to establish the block universe, and to render the pluralistic hypothesis absurd. |
| 1943 W. G. John in Electr. Welding in Shipbuilding (H.M.S.O.) 187 *Block welding should be used for thicknesses above 5/8{pp}, the blocks starting from the centre of a seam and alternate block welds made from the centre outwards. 1952 Gloss. Welding & Cutting of Metals (B.S.I.) 41 Block welding, welding in which increments of the weld are made by superimposing a number of runs up to the full section before proceeding with the next increment. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Dragee aux chevaux, *blocke-wheat or bolimong. |
| 1904 Westm. Gaz. 19 Jan. 10/2 With *block working, only about 25,000 miles..are at present worked in America on the block-system. |
24. attrib. and
Comb., with the meaning ‘in a block or mass’, ‘inclusive’, ‘solid’, etc.:
block-booking, (
a) (see
quot. 1925); hence
block-booker; (
b) the booking of a block of reservations;
block closure, the legislative closure of the clauses of a measure in a block or in blocks;
block grant, a fixed inclusive grant of money made by the Exchequer to a local authority,
esp. for education; also
attrib. and
transf.;
block heater, see
block-storage heater;
block rate, a uniform rate charged in a given area, etc.;
block release, used
esp. attrib. of a system whereby a person is released from his work for a stated period in order to pursue a course of study;
block (-storage) heater, a heating unit which accumulates warmth during the night and gives it off during the day; so
block-storage heating;
block vote, (
a) the vote of a considerable number of people used for a particular end; (
b) a method of voting at a congress, conference, or the like, whereby a delegate's vote has the value of the number of members he represents; such a vote; so
block voting.
| 1927 Daily Express 25 July 6 The Wicked ‘Block-booker’. |
| 1925 Weekly Westm. 29 Aug. 444/3 Block-booking is the system whereby American producers refuse to let the English exhibitors have one important film unless they take also a ‘block’ of others, which they may never have seen. 1926 Manch. Guardian Weekly Mar. 221/3 The Government are prepared to remove the block-booking grievance by legislation if necessary. 1939 J. Phillips in T. Harrisson & C. Madge War begins at Home (1940) ix. 237 The B.B.C. gradually took back the bands. They started off with block bookings. 1960 Guardian 17 Mar. 9/1 Sorting out a ‘double’ block booking in the dress circle. 1963 Ibid. 23 Jan. 7/7 Among the first block bookings [on a car ferry] was one for a party of 1,300 French Boy Scouts. |
| 1901 Daily Chron. 14 Aug. 3/6 There was a block closure to which the Government could resort. |
| 1900 Westm. Gaz. 24 Mar. 2/2 Schools earning the very highest grants will suffer because their block grant will be less than the old variable grant. 1901 Daily Mail Year Bk. 226/2 The Code for 1900 created a revolution in the method by which grants had been paid to schools... This is called the ‘block grant system’. 1928 Block grant [see percentage]. 1966 Rep. Comm. Inquiry Univ. Oxf. I. 424 The total block grant for libraries should be allocated between the libraries by the General Board. |
| 1958 Engineering 4 July 32/3 The houses will be equipped..with block heaters in the living room. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 1 Mar. 10/3 The insurance offices are reducing the block rate of {pstlg}1 per cent. that has been charged in the fire-zone of the City. |
| 1958 Engineering 28 Feb. 279/3 The theoretical side of apprentice training can best be covered by block-release courses instead of by part-time day releases. 1963 Higher Educ. (Cmnd. 2154) 318 Students who are released by their firms to take a series of short periods of full-time study..are counted..as part-time day students. Their courses are known as block releases. |
| 1960 Engineering 17 June 810/2 Block storage heaters are growing in popularity in the United Kingdom. 1962 Ibid. 5 Oct. 460/2 Block storage heating is being installed in many offices. The principle is simple: a large block of refractory material is heated by an element during the night and gives off heat to the surroundings during the day. |
| 1901 Daily Chron. 15 July 7/3 Welsh miners, who, by the block vote, were enabled to return a Welshman to the Victorian Parliament. 1955 Times 12 July 9/3 Resolutions from the branches are critical of the way in which the block vote of the union is used at the Trades Union Congress and Labour Party conferences. |
| 1928 Daily Sketch 10 Aug. 2/1 Glasgow Corporation, through block voting by Labour members, had to refuse a civic welcome to the officers. |
b. Mus. Applied to a succession of chords in which all the parts change in the same rhythm.
| 1934 Webster, Block chords. 1942 E. Blom Mus. in Engl. i. 17 It may have..made use of its harmony vertically, in block chords. Ibid. v. 81 The choruses that often move impressively in solid block harmony. 1948 Down Beat 19 May 14 The final chorus is git [sc. guitar] and block chords. 1955 G. Abraham in H. van Thal Fanfare for E. Newman 15 Block changes of harmony at each half-bar are now avoided. Ibid. 22 Chromatic and diatonic passing-notes..are used to break up some of the earlier block-chords. 1967 Listener 2 Mar. 288/2 In the glee, one voice had the tune, and the others accompanied it, mainly in block chords. |
Add:
[V.] [23.] block party U.S., a party,
usu. one held outdoors, given by and for all the residents of a block or neighbourhood.
| 1919 Red Cross Mag. Oct. 79/2 The *block party idea had just struck Waterbury in the middle of the summer but it seems to have struck hard. 1935 C. F. Ware Greenwich Village 1920–1930 iv. 101 Such general forms of block organization..as the block parties which the political organizations used to stage had entirely disappeared by 1930. 1949 M. Mead Male & Female xv. 307 The block-party for the only family that got into the new housing project. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 21 May b60/7 (caption) An old fashion block party was held last week in penthouse apartment of Tremont-on-the-Common. 1992 Buffalo (N.Y.) News 23 Aug. c1/1 Mrs. Gates and a dozen or so neighbours decided to throw a block party on Saturday to thank the police and firefighters who serve them. |
[24.] c. In the sense ‘affecting a predefined block of text or data’,
esp. in
block delete,
block move.
| 1962 Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 25 Block transfer, the process of transferring a block of data as a single operation. 1981 EDN XXVI. 171/1 This word-processing package offers several features not found in similar products:..Column block moves, [etc.]. 1983 D. Goodman Word Processing on IBM PC xi. 155 This also gives you the option of changing the order of sections without doing repeated block moves. 1985 Which Computer? Apr. 8/2 The decision gives versatile editing commands such as block move, insert and delete. 1990 Metals & Materials July 437/1 Spreadsheets are available for processing and transformation of data using mathematical and block editing functions. |
▪ II. block, v. (
blɒk)
[a. F. bloque-r (15th c. in Littré), of same meaning, f. bloc block n., the orig. sense being apparently to put ‘blocks’ in a way; but in later senses, 8–11, directly from block n.] 1. a. trans. To obstruct or close with obstacles (a passage). Predicated either of the personal agent, or of the obstructions. Also
fig.| [c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. Prol. 21 Swa my wan-wyt..A matere gud suld block or spyle.] 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. v. 24 All his ways Are blokt with troubles. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xi. 208 The mouth of the cave was blocked by huge stones. 1881 Chicago Times 12 Mar., The Illinois Central Road is again blocked. |
b. with
up.
| 1580 North Plutarch (1656) 926 They shut and blocked up all the ways from the one sea to the other, with mighty great pieces of timber across. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. iv. 65 I blocked up the door..with some boards. 1833 H. Martineau Br. Creek iv. 91 Were the avenues of the temple blocked up? |
2. To shut
up or
in by obstructing ingress and egress, to prevent access to or exit from. Predicated of the agent or the obstruction, as in 1.
| 1630 Prynne God No Impostor 9 Blocking vp their hearts against the Lord. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows ii. §22. 160 Blocking up people within narrow compasses. 1733 Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 187 We are throwing down a parcel of walls, that blocked us up every way. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxii. (1856) 178 Our little harbor was completely blocked in by heavy masses [of ice]. |
3. spec. a. To blockade, invest. [So F.
bloquer.]
| 1591 Sir H. Unton Corr. 30 All Poictou is reduced..excepte Poictiers, by the Prince Conty, who hath also blocked that. 1796 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 228, I ought not to have less than four Vessels to block the Port. 1871 Browning Balaust. 103 Back must you, though ten pirates blocked the bay! |
b. usually with
up.
| 1639 Massinger Unnat. Combat i. i, Our navy should be blocked up. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 40 ¶10 The Blockade of Olivenza was continued..it is at present so closely blocked up that, etc. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 334 The British fleet..bombarded and blocked it up by sea. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 303 The danger of being defeated and blocked up in Salamis. |
c. Draughts. To force (one's opponent's men) into such a position that they cannot move.
| 1850 H. G. Bohn Handbk. Games 408 The game is won by him who can first succeed in capturing, or blocking up, all his adversary's men. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VII. 445/2 The game [sc. draughts] proceeds until one of the players has all his men and kings taken, or has all those left on the board blocked. |
d. Cards. (See
quots.)
| 1884 W. B. Dick Dick's Games of Patience 7 Available cards.—Those which are not ‘covered’ or ‘blocked’ by other cards; that is, not forbidden by the particular rules of each game to be used. 1885 ‘Cavendish’ Whist Devel. Pref. p. x, All good players know that it is disadvantageous to block their partner's long suit. Ibid. 57 If the lead was from ace, queen, knave, ten only, B would block his own suit. 1898 C. J. Melrose Scientific Whist 24 The retaining of a high card against a partner's command is termed ‘blocking’ or ‘obstructing’ his suit. 1901 ‘Tarbart’ Games of Patience 1 A Patience is said to be blocked when, before completion, no further card is playable. |
4. a. To obstruct the way or course of.
| 1844 G. W. Kendall Santa Fé Exped. II. xiii. 260 Soon after [he] ordered his own men to leave the gambling cot of the leper, and by this means ‘blocked the game’. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iii. iii. 238 One [attribute in God] totally blocking another, and refusing to allow a step of movement till it has gotten its complete satisfaction. 1875 J. Heath Croquet-player 16 A ball is blocked when another ball lies in the way. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 20 Dec. 2/2 Their little game was blocked. |
b. Neurol. To obstruct the passage of a nervous or muscular impulse.
Cf. block n. 19 d.
| 1876 Proc. R. Soc. XXIV. 148 At whatever point in a contractile strip that is being progressively elongated by section the contractile wave becomes blocked, the blocking is sure to take place completely and exclusively at that point. 1877 Ibid. XXV. 483 Anæsthetics block spasmodic waves [in Medusæ]. 1906 [see heart-block s.v. heart n. 56]. 1957 [see block n. 19 d]. |
c. to block off: to stop, to head off.
U.S. colloq.| 1893 W. K. Post Harvard Stories 86 The two opposing crowds..swept across the diamond ‘blocking off’ the owners of the two dogs. 1899 A. H. Quinn Pennsylv. Stories 190, I tried to fix up two or three things with Miss Fitzgerald and she blocked me off each time, very nicely, it is true, but still she blocked me off. |
d. To restrict the use or conversion of currency or other assets.
Cf. freeze v. 5 e.
| 1932 Economist 30 Jan. 221/2 Unsecured cash advances may be converted into ‘blocked’ investments in Germany. 1937 E. Ambler Uncommon Danger i. 30 At that time all German bonds were ‘blocked’ and not negotiable abroad. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. VII. 689/1 This is the ‘blocked’ currency. This method exerts pressure on the foreigner to buy goods from the blocking country which he would not otherwise wish to take at the price. |
e. Amer. Football. To obstruct (an opponent,
esp. a defensive player) by interposing one's body. Also
absol. or intr.| 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1891 W. Camp Amer. Football 64 They [sc. guards] must be taught to block securely until the ball is on its way to the runner or kicker. 1896 Camp & Delaud Football v. 108 It is wise to get as close as possible to the man you wish to block. 1957 Encycl. Brit. IX. 479/1 Most young football players are decidedly upset if they have been taught to block a given defender on a given play and then suddenly discover that the foe is not there to be blocked. 1976 Webster's Sports Dict. 44/2 Offensive players block defensive players to prevent their reaching the ballcarrier or the passer or in order to drive the defensive player out of position to create a hole for the ballcarrier. 1984 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 14/4 Certain players can have wonderful seasons.., yet never get their hands on the ball. This is the likelihood for the men on the line who block and protect. |
5. Cricket. To stop (a ball) with the bat, so as merely to protect the wicket, without attempting to hit so as to score runs; also
absol. and with wicket as
obj.| 1772 in H. T. Waghorn Dawn of Cricket (1906) 35 As the lame man could only block his wicket. 1773 Gentl. Mag. Nov. 568 The modern way of blocking every ball at play. 1827 E. Neale Living & Dead 165 I've heard of him. Blocked well—best long stop in England. 1837 Dickens Pickw. (1847) 55/1 He blocked the doubtful balls, missed the bad ones, took the good ones. 1879 W. G. Grace in Cricketer's Ann. 32 When you hit, hit hard; when you block, do not be deterred from using vigour even in this movement. |
6. Parliament. To prevent or postpone the passage of a bill;
spec. to give notice of opposition to a bill in the House of Commons, which prevents it from being taken after half past twelve (midnight). (See
block n. 19 b.)
| 1884 Mr. Speaker in Times 4 Apr. 6 The term ‘blocking’ is a colloquial expression recognized in this House. 1884 Duke of St. Albans in Contemp. Rev. Aug. 171 The House of Lords, by blocking the Bill, has denied to two million persons the right of having votes. |
7. intr. To bargain.
Sc.| c 1570 Leg. Bp. St. Andrews in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 334 Eftir that he had long tyme blockit, With grit difficultie he tuik thame. 1637 Rutherford Lett. cvi. (1862) I. 269 God forbid that there were buying and selling and blocking for as good again, betwixt Christ and us. |
8. a. trans. To shape on a block: see
block n. 4.
| 1622 Rowlands Gd. Newes & Bad 33 His hat new block'd. [1637 Heywood Roy. King iii. iii, The haberdasher will sooner call us blockheads than block us.] |
b. To hammer smooth or into a particular shape on a block.
| 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 338 The saw is once more submitted to the hammer..but it is now termed blocking. 1884 Law Times Rep. LI. 274/2 The hammering carried on in the process of tin blocking. Mod. Blocking-down, in silver manufacture, is the first process when the article has to be made from a flat piece of metal. |
c. To emboss the covers of books by pressure with a device from a block.
| 1869 G. Dodd Dict. Manuf. 38 In blocking, the tools are fixed into a frame to form a device for the whole cover of a book; it receives the name of gold blocking or blind blocking according as gold is or is not used. |
9. a. To sketch out, mark out roughly (work to be finished afterwards); to lay out, plan. Now usually with
out; also
in.
| 1585 James I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 55, I tuke earnist and willing panis to blok it [this short treatise]. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 264 Which designe, though intended, essayed, and blocked by many others. 1753 Washington Diaries (1925) I. 59 They..told 50 [canoes]..besides many others which were blocked-out, in Readiness to make. 1829 Massachusetts Spy 16 Dec. (Th.), There are portions [of the message] which bear the marks of having been ‘blocked out’ by General Jackson. 1837 Lockhart Scott (1839) III. 15 The latter Cantos having..been merely blocked out when the first went to press. 1881 Academy 8 June 33/2 The head..seems scarcely to belong to the rather rudely blocked limbs; but it is a nice little picture. 1884 Lady Majendie Out of Element I. viii. 111 Pictures blocked in roughly. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed iv. 49, I wish you would block out a series of articles..designed to prepare the public mind for a thorough-going reform. |
b. Theatr. (See
quots. 1961.) Also without
out.
| 1961 A. Berkman Singers' Gloss. Show Bus. Jargon 9 In a stage play the director blocks the scene when he designates the position and action of each of the players, as well as the location on stage of all the props. 1961 Bowman & Ball Theatre Lang. 32 Block out, to work out the principal business, positions and movements of actors, including their entrances and exits, during rehearsals. 1967 P. McGerr Murder is Absurd vi. 73 Wednesday Warren finished blocking the first act. 1967 Listener 24 Aug. 240/1 At the first rehearsal..we were blocking out the moves. |
10. a. To cut
out or make into blocks.
| 1863 Smiles Indust. Biog. 305 Making wooden wedges used in pitwork, and blocking out segments of solid oak required for walling the sides of the mine. Mod. Coal is always blocked from the bottom of the seam. |
b. Drapery. To make into a block (
block n. 6 f).
| 1905 H. G. Wells Kipps i. iii. §2 With hands much exercised in rolling and blocking. Ibid. iii. iii, One whole piece most exquisitely blocked of every possible width of tape. |
11. a. To support or fit with blocks of wood.
| 1881 Mechanic §765 When the top of any table of this kind is a fixture, it is generally blocked, that is to say rectangular blocks of wood..are glued at short intervals into the angle formed by the meeting, etc. |
b. To pave (a street) with blocks.
| 1891 Argus (Melbourne) 25 Nov. 7/8 Only those streets in which the most traffic takes place will be blocked. |