block

noun

1. any large, solid piece of wood, stone, or metal, often with flat surfaces
2. a blocklike stand or platform on which hammering, chopping, etc. is done a butcher's block, headsman's block
3. ☆ an auctioneer's platform
4. 1. a mold upon which things are shaped, as hats
   2. the shape of a hat
5. anything that stops movement or progress; obstruction, obstacle, or hindrance
6. a pulley or system of pulleys in a frame, with a hook, loop, etc. for attachment
7. any solid piece of material used to strengthen or support
8. 1. an oblong building unit of concrete, larger than a brick and usually not solid
      in full concrete block
   2. a similar unit of glass or other material
   3. such units collectively
9. a toy brick, typically cubic, of wood or plastic
10. ☆ Now Brit. a large building with many units in it, or a group of buildings regarded as a unit
11. ☆
    1. an area bounded by streets or buildings on four sides; city square
    2. the distance along one side of such an area
12. any number of persons or things regarded as a unit a block of tickets
13. the metal casting that houses the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine; engine block
14. Slang a person's head
15. Comput. a unit of memory, consisting of one or more contiguous words, bytes, or records
16. Med.
    1. an interruption of normal function in a part of the body heart block, kidney block
    2. an interruption of the passage of impulses through a nerve by means of pressure or anesthetics
17. Printing a piece of wood, linoleum, etc. engraved with a design or picture
18. Psychiatry a sudden interruption in speech or thought processes, resulting from deep emotional conflict, repression, etc.
19. Railroading a length of track governed by signals
20. ☆ Sports an interruption, restraining, or thwarting of an opponent's play or movement
21. Philately a set of four or more unseparated stamps forming a rectangle
22. Track & Field starting blocks

Etymology: ME blokke < OFr bloc & MDu block < IE *bhlugo- < base *bhel-, a thick plank, beam > balk, Gr phalanx, L fulcrum

transitive verb

1. to impede the passage or progress of; obstruct
2. to blockade
3. to create difficulties for; stand in the way of; hinder
4. 1. to shape or mold on or as on a block
   2. to stamp with a block
5. to form into blocks
6. to strengthen or support with blocks
7. to restrict or prohibit the use, conversion, or flow of (currency, assets, etc.)
8. to sketch or outline with little or no detail: often with out
9. Games, Sports to hinder (an opponent or his play), whether legally or as a foul
10. Med. to prevent the transmission of impulses in (a nerve), esp. by anesthetizing
11. Theater to plan or direct (the movements on stage of actors)

Etymology: Fr bloquer < the n.

intransitive verb

1. to have a mental block (on)
2. ☆ Sports to block an opponent

adjective

1. made or formed in a block or blocks block coal
2. set out like or involving a city block
3. Stenography having no indentation in address, heading, or paragraphs

Etymology: after Adriaen Block, 17th-c. Du navigator who explored it