block

Etymology 1

From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.

noun

1. A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
   1. A chopping block: a cuboid base for cutting or beheading.
      Anne Boleyn placed her head on the block and awaited her execution.
   2. A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn.
   3. A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.
   4. (printing, dated) A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.
   5. A case or frame housing one or more sheaves (pulleys), used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example as part of lifting gear or a sailing ship's rigging. See also block and tackle.
   6. A section of split logs used as fuel.
      She said, 'I hope I shall not be left to kill myself, but It would be no more sin to kill me, than to put a block on the fire.' 1833, The Gospel Anchor, volume 2, page 371
      "Aye," said the farmer putting another block on the fire as he spoke […] 1803, Mary Tighe, Selena
      Dawn and Shorty would cut this tree into blocks, while Randy and Matt went back for more. Dawn and Shorty made a good team on the crosscut, so when another log arrived, the first was almost completely made into shake wood. 2012, Ron Herrett, Shorty's Story
   7. A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end, forming a cuboid shape.
      a block of 100 tickets
   8. (falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.
2. A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.
   1. (philately) A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.
   2. (viticulture) A discrete group of vines in a vineyard, often distinguished from others by variety, clone, canopy training method, irrigation infrastructure, or some combination thereof.
3. A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
   1. (computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see cluster).
   2. (programming) A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop.
   3. (cryptography) A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message.
   4. (chemistry) A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions.
   5. (rail transport) A section of a railroad where the block system is used.
   6. (computing) A contiguous range of Unicode code points used to encode characters of a specific type; can be of any size evenly divisible by 16, up to 65,536 (a full plane).
      The "Specials" block comprises the sixteen codepoints from U+FFF0 through U+FFFF.
4. A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.
   I'm going for a walk around the block.
   1. The distance from one street to another in a city or suburb that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern.
      The place you are looking for is two long blocks east and one short block north.
      The Witness: Well, I have one that is 8/10 of a mile away; I have one that is just about another 8/10 of a mile away; I have one that is three blocks away; I have one that is four blocks away; I have one that is eight blocks away, and I have one that is about 14 blocks away. 1832, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 423
      This uphill trail is like a battlefield. Anne offers to carry the older woman's backpack. […] I couldn't walk three blocks with the Danish woman's bulging backpack. 2009, Hape Kerkeling, I'm Off Then, page 241
      A county courthouse and a municipal building, located approximately a city block north of the district, were automatically excluded because they were separated from the main CBD by several blocks that did not reach either of the required index values. 2017, Raymond E. Murphy, The Central Business District, page 37
5. A roughly cuboid building.
   a block of flats, a tower block, an office block, a toilet block, a shower block
   He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site. 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess
   1. A cellblock.
6. Something that prevents something from passing.
   1. Interference or obstruction of cognitive processes.
      a mental block
      writer's block
   2. (sports) An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck).
      1. (cricket) A shot played by holding the bat vertically in the path of the ball, so that it loses momentum and drops to the ground.
      2. (cricket) The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket.
      3. (cricket) A blockhole.
      4. (cricket) The popping crease.
      5. (volleyball) A defensive play by one or more players meant to deflect a spiked ball back to the hitter’s court.
   3. A temporary or permanent ban that prevents access to an online account or service, or connection to or from a designated telephone number, IP address, or similar.
      The Wiktionary page-blanking vandal was hit with an indefinite block.
      I've put a block on calls from that number.
7. (slang) The human head.
   I'll knock your block off!
8. (UK) Solitary confinement.
9. (obsolete) A blockhead; a stupid person; a dolt.

verb

1. (transitive) To fill or obstruct (something) so that it is not possible to pass.
   The pipe was blocked by leaves.
   You're blocking the road – I can't get through!
   However, at Manchester the junctions and signals are so close that a train running more slowly over several junctions simply blocks those junctions for longer, preventing other trains moving. January 2 2020, Philip Haigh, “Is there relief to congestion along Castlefield Corridor?”, in Rail, page 23
2. (transitive) To prevent (something or someone) from passing.
   A broken-down car is blocking the traffic.
3. (transitive) To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something).
   His plan to take over the business was blocked by the boss.
   Mr. Ip, who was the chairman of the Yau Tsim Mong district council, became a target of protesters in July after he blocked debate on the extradition bill that incited the protests this summer. November 25, 2019, Austin Ramzy, Tiffany May, Katherine Li, Elaine Yu, “Here’s What 5 of Hong Kong’s Newly Elected Politicians Have to Say”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-11-25
4. (transitive, sports) To impede (an opponent or opponent's play).
   He blocked the basketball player's shot.
   The offensive linemen tried to block the blitz.
5. (transitive, theater) To specify the positions and movements of the actors for (a section of a play or film).
   It was very difficult to block this scene convincingly.
6. (transitive, cricket) To hit with a block.
7. (intransitive, cricket) To play a block shot.
8. (transitive) To bar (a person or bot, etc.) from connecting via telephone, instant messaging, etc., or from accessing an online account or service, or similar.
   I tried to send you a message, but you've blocked me!
   The user who started the edit war was blocked for a day to cool off.
9. (transitive) To bar (a message or communication), or bar connection with (an online account or service, a designated telephone number, IP address, etc.).
   They've blocked all calls to international numbers.
   Most Internet services have been blocked.
10. (programming, intransitive) To wait for some condition to become true.
    When the condition expression is false, the thread blocks on the condition variable.
    Post is a “fire and forget” where the UI thread work is performed asynchronously; Send is synchronous in that the call blocks until the UI thread work has been performed. 2014, Richard Blewett, Andrew Clymer, Pro Asynchronous Programming with .NET, page 25
11. (transitive) To stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape.
    I blocked the mittens by wetting them and pinning them to a shaped piece of cardboard.
12. (transitive) To shape or sketch out roughly.
    When drawing a scene, first block the main features, and then fill in the detail.
13. (transitive, slang, obsolete) To knock the hat of (a person) down over their eyes.

Etymology 2

noun

1. Misspelling of bloc.