block
pronunciation
How to pronounce block in British English:
UK [blɒk]
How to pronounce block in American English:
US [blɑːk]
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- Noun:
- a solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides)
- a rectangular area in a city surrounded by streets and usually containing several buildings
- a three-dimensional shape with six square or rectangular sides
- a number or quantity of related things dealt with as a unit
- housing in a large building that is divided into separate units
- (computer science) a sector or group of sectors that function as the smallest data unit permitted
- an inability to remember or think of something you normally can do; often caused by emotional tension
- a simple machine consisting of a wheel with a groove in which a rope can run to change the direction or point of application of a force applied to the rope
- a metal casting containing the cylinders and cooling ducts of an engine
- an obstruction in a pipe or tube
- a platform from which an auctioneer sells
- (American football) the act of obstructing someone's path with your body
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- Verb:
- render unsuitable for passage
- hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
- stop from happening or developing
- interfere with or prevent the reception of signals
- run on a block system
- interrupt the normal function of by means of anesthesia
- shut out from view or get in the way so as to hide from sight
- stamp or emboss a title or design on a book with a block
- obstruct
- block passage through
- support, secure, or raise with a block
- impede the movement of (an opponent or a ball)
- be unable to remember
- shape by using a block
- shape into a block or blocks
- prohibit the conversion or use of (assets)
Word Origin
- block
- block: [14] English borrowed block from Old French bloc, but its ultimate origin appears to be Germanic; French acquired it from Middle Dutch blok ‘tree trunk’. The derived verb block ‘impede’ first crops up in the early 15th century, but was not established until the later 16th century; it originally meant ‘put blocks [of wood] or obstacles in the way of’. Blockade was coined in the 17th century, perhaps on the model of ambuscade, a contemporary synonym of ambush.=> blockade
- block (n.)
- "solid piece," c. 1300, from Old French bloc "log, block" of wood (13c.), via Middle Dutch bloc "trunk of a tree" or Old High German bloh, from a common Germanic source, from PIE *bhlugo-, from *bhelg- "a thick plank, beam" (see balk). Meaning "mould for a hat" is from 1570s. Slang sense of "head" is from 1630s. Extended sense of "obstruction" is first recorded 1640s. In cricket from 1825; in U.S. football from 1912. The meaning in city block is 1796, from the notion of a "compact mass" of buildings; slang meaning "fashionable promenade" is 1869. BLOCK. A term applied in America to a square mass of houses included between four streets. It is a very useful one. [Bartlett]
- block (v.)
- "obstruct," 1590s, from French bloquer "to block, stop up," from Old French bloc (see block (n.)). Meaning "to make smooth or to give shape on a block" is from 1620s. Stage and theater sense is from 1961. Sense in cricket is from 1772; in U.S. football from 1889. Related: Blocked; blocking.
Example
- 1. Jammers might also block radio and television transmissions .
- 2. It is threatening legal action to block it .
- 3. I watched two buildings on my block burn down .
- 4. Anything that makes your text block more visually attractive .
- 5. Mountain ranges block potential pipe routes to the sea .