Block , n.
1. In Australia, one of the large lots into which public land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the government
surveyors.
2. (Cricket) (a)
The position of a player or bat when
guarding the wicket.
(b) A block hole. (c) The popping crease. [R.]
Back blocks,
Australian pastoral country which is remote from the seacoast or from a river.
Block (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blocked (&?;);
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.
With moles . . . would block the port.
Rowe.
A city . . . besieged and
blocked about.
Milton.
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.
3. To shape on, or stamp with, a block;
as, to block a hat.
To block out, to begin to reduce to shape; to mark out roughly; to lay out; as, to block out a plan.
Block (&?;), 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.]
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.
Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning.
Wither.
All her labor
was but as a block
Left in the quarry.
Tennyson.
2. The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay their necks when they are
beheaded.
Noble heads which have been brought to the block.
E. Everett.
3.
The wooden mold on which
hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. Hence: The pattern or shape of a hat.
He
wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block.
Shak.
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.
5. A square, or portion of a
city inclosed by streets, whether occupied by buildings or not.
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.
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.
7. (Falconry) The perch on which a bird
of prey is kept.
8. Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a hindrance; an obstacle; as, a block in the way.
9. A piece of box or other
wood for engravers' work.
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.
11. A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. [Obs.]
What a block art thou !
Shak.
12. A section of a
railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below.
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.
Hear it pronounced