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herbert lawrence (herblock) 1909–2001, u.s. cartoonist.
noun
a large solid piece of wood, stone, or other material with flat rectangular sides, as for use in building
any large solid piece of wood, stone, etc, usually having at least one face fairly flat
such a piece on which particular tasks may be done, as chopping, cutting, or beheading
also called building block. one of a set of wooden or plastic cubes as a child’s toy
a form on which things are shaped or displayed: a wig block
(slang) a person’s head (esp in the phrase knock someone’s block off)
(austral & nz, slang) do one’s block, to become angry
a dull, unemotional, or hardhearted person
a large building of offices, flats, etc

a group of buildings in a city bounded by intersecting streets on each side
the area or distance between such intersecting streets

(austral & nz) an area of land for a house, farm, etc
(austral & nz) a log, usually a willow, fastened to a timber base and used in a wood-chopping compet-tion
an area of land, esp one to be divided for building or settling
see cylinder block

a piece of wood, metal, or other material having an engraved, cast, or carved design in relief, used either for printing or for stamping book covers, etc
(brit) a letterpress printing plate, esp one mounted type-high on wood or metal

a casing housing one or more freely rotating pulleys see also block and tackle
(mainly us & canadian) on the block, up for auction
the act of obstructing or condition of being obstructed, as in sports
an obstruction or hindrance
(pathol)

interference in the normal physiological functioning of an organ or part
see heart block
see nerve block

(psychol) a short interruption of perceptual or thought processes
obstruction of an opponent in a sport

a section or quant-ty, as of tickets or shares, handled or considered as a single unit
(as modifier): a block booking, block voting

a stretch of railway in which only one train may travel at a time
(as modifier): a block signal

an unseparated group of four or more postage stamps compare strip1 (sense 3)
a pad of paper
(computing) a group of words treated as a unit of data on a tape, disk, etc
(athletics) short for starting block
(cricket) a mark made near the popping crease by a batsman to indicate his position in relation to the wicket
(informal) a chip off the old block, a person who resembles one of his or her parents in behaviour
verb (mainly transitive)
to shape or form (something) into a block
to fit with or mount on a block
to shape by use of a block: to block a hat
(often foll by up) to obstruct (a p-ssage, channel, etc) or prevent or impede the motion or flow of (something or someone) by introducing an obstacle: to block the traffic, to block up a pipe
to impede, r-t-rd, or prevent (an action, procedure, etc)
to stamp (a t-tle, design, etc) on (a book cover, etc) by means of a block (see sense 12), esp using gold leaf or other foil
(esp of a government or central bank) to limit the use or conversion of -ssets or currency
(also intransitive) (sport) to obstruct or impede movement by (an opponent)
(intransitive) to suffer a psychological block
to interrupt a physiological function, as by use of an anaesthetic
(also intransitive) (cricket) to play (a ball) defensively
n.

block. a term applied in america to a square m-ss of houses included between four streets. it is a very useful one. [bartlett]

v.

v. blocked, block·ing, blocks
to arrest p-ssage through; obstruct.block’age (blŏk’ĭj) n.
block and tackle
(blŏk)
an arrangement of pulleys and ropes used to reduce the amount of force needed to move heavy loads. one pulley is attached to the load, and rope or chains connect this pulley to a fixed pulley. each pulley may have multiple grooves or wheels for the rope to p-ss over numerous times. pulling the rope or chain slowly draws the load-bearing pulley toward the fixed one with high mechanical advantage.
see:

chip off the old block
knock someone’s block off
on the block
stumbling block