| Block 1. (n.) 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. 2. (n.) The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay their necks when they are beheaded. 3. (n.) The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. 4. (n.) The pattern or shape of a hat. 5. (n.) 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. 6. (n.) A square, or portion of a city enclosed by streets, whether occupied by buildings or not. 7. (n.) 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. 8. (n.) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept. 9. (v. t.) Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a hindrance; an obstacle; as, a block in the way. 10. (n.) A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work. 11. (n.) A piece of hard wood (as mahogany or cherry) on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted to make it type high. 12. (n.) A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. 13. (n.) A section of a railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below. 14. (n.) 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. 15. (n.) 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. 16. (n.) To shape on, or stamp with, a block; as, to block a hat. Thesaurus Entries Boeotian, Dutch auction, afterthought, agate, agnosia, apply to, aquatint, arm, arrest, auction, auction block, auction sale, autolithograph, ax, balk, ball, bar, barricade, barrier, baseball bat, bat, batch, battery, battledore, bauble, beat off, bind, blank wall, blanket, blind alley, blind gut, block out, block print, block up, blockade, blockage, blocking, blocks, blot out, board lot, body, bolt, bottleneck, brake, brick, bring to, bring up short, bulk, bung, bung up, bureaucratic delay, cake, canopy, catch, caulk, cecum, censorship, check, checkerboard, checkmate, chessboard, chink, chock, choke, choke off, choke up, choking, choking off, chromolithograph, chunk, city block, cloak, clod, clog, clog up, clos, close, close off, close tight, close up, clothe, cloud, club, clump, cluster, cockhorse, color print, concrete, concretion, confine, congest, congestion, conglomerate, conglomeration, constipate, constipation, constrict, conversion, cope, copperplate, copperplate print, cordon, cork, costiveness, counter, cover, cover up, cowl, crayon engraving, cricket bat, croft, cross, crowd, cube, cue, cul-de-sac, curtain, cut, cut off, cut short, dam, dam up, dead end, deadlock, death chair, death chamber, debar, defense mechanism, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, delirium, delusion, delusion of persecution, deny, design, detain, detention, determent, deterrent, difficulty, dimwit, disorientation, dog, doll, doll carriage, dolt, donkey, dope, double take, drag, dragging, drawback, drive back, drop, dullard, dumb cluck, dumbbell, dummy, dummy share, dunce, eclipse, electric chair, eliminate, ell, embolism, embolus, enclave, engravement, engraving, erase, etching, even lot, exclude, extension, fend, fend off, field, fill, fill up, film, flight of ideas, forty, foul, fractional lot, freeze, full lot, gallows, gallows-tree, gas chamber, gewgaw, gibbet, gimcrack, gob, golf club, gorge, gowk, graphotype, guillotine, hallucination, hallucinosis, halt, halter, hamper, hang-up, hazard, hemp, hempen collar, hinder, hindrance, hitch, hobbyhorse, hold at bay, hold back, hold off, hold up, holding, holdings, holdup, hood, hot seat, hunk, hurdle, impasse, impede, impediment, impress, impression, imprint, infarct, infarction, inhibition, interim, jack-in-the-box, jacks, jackstones, jackstraws, jam, jobbernowl, joker, keep at bay, keep back, keep off, kickshaw, kit, knickknack, knot, kraal, lackwit, lag, lagging, lamebrain, lay on, lay out |