ˈhorse-block
1. A small platform, usually of stone, ascended by 3 or 4 steps, for convenience in mounting a horse; also a portable structure of wood, or the like, for the same purpose.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Horse-block, in the manege. 1798 Sporting Mag. XI. 79 Near the gate a horse block, for the conveniency of mounting. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Poet. & Imag. Wks. (Bohn) III. 143 The old horse⁓block in the yard. 1889 C. F. Woolson Jupiter Lights i. 9 A horse-block with a flight of steps attached was brought, and placed in position for the visitor's descent. |
2. ‘A square frame of strong boards, used by excavators to elevate the ends of their wheeling-planks’ (Gwilt Archit. 1842–76).
| 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 12 Lolling about over the horse-blocks, timber, and shingles. |
3. Ship-building. ‘A grating or platform elevated above the deck at the height of the rail, for the use of the officers of the deck’ (Cent. Dict.).