block

block1 [ blak ] noun count ***

▸ 1 piece of wood/stone etc.

▸ 2 distance along street

▸ 3 amount/quantity of something

▸ 4 period of time

▸ 5 (large) building

▸ 6 at start of race

▸ 7 something that stops movement

▸ 8 something that stops action

▸ 9 when you cannot think

▸ + PHRASES

1. ) a solid piece of wood, stone, ice, etc. with straight sides:

The baby was playing with wooden blocks.

block of: It's amazing to think that this huge statue was carved from a single block of marble.

2. ) AMERICAN the distance along a city street from where one road crosses it to the next road:

The school was only a few blocks from where she lived.

a ) an area of buildings in a town or city with streets on all four sides:

I was early for the meeting, so I walked around the block a couple of times.

3. ) an amount of something, or a number of individual things that are considered together as a single object:

block of: The company buys blocks of seats from airlines, then sells them to the public.

You can move blocks of text on-screen using the mouse.

a ) COMPUTING an amount of information considered as one unit:

block of: The hard disk contains a block of data known as the boot.

b ) AUSTRALIAN an area of land, especially for building on

4. ) a continuous period of time:

We need to find a two-hour block when we are all free for this seminar.

5. ) a building that is part of a larger building or group of buildings:

The prison's administration block overlooks the exercise yard.

a ) a large building with a lot of different levels:

There's a unit available in the apartment block where I live.

6. ) the blocks plural two pieces of metal or wood that runners use at the start of a race to push their feet against: STARTING BLOCKS

7. ) something that stops movement through a place or along something: BLOCKAGE:

There must be a block in the pipeline.

a ) a movement that stops someone from hitting you or from going forward

8. ) usually singular something that stops you from doing something or being successful:

The issue of vacation pay was the major block in reaching an agreement.

9. ) usually singular a short time when you are unable to think clearly or remember something that you usually know:

mental block: I had a sudden mental block and couldn't remember his name.

=> WRITER'S BLOCK

have been around the block (a couple of/a few times) INFORMAL

to have a lot of experience of something, especially when this means that it is difficult to trick or surprise you

I'll knock your/his etc. block off SPOKEN

used for threatening to hit someone who has annoyed you

on the block

for sale at an AUCTION (=a public sale where people offer money to buy things)

put your head/neck on the block

take a risk by doing or saying something that might damage your reputation, make people criticize you, etc.

=> CHIP1, KID1, STUMBLING BLOCK

block

block 2 [ blak ] verb transitive **

1. ) block or block up to stop something from moving through or along something else:

An old car was blocking the road.

Something is blocking the flow of water through the pipe.

a ) to stop someone from going past you by standing in front of them:

block someone's way/exit/path etc.: A crowd of people blocked his way to the gate.

He stood by the door, deliberately blocking her exit.

b ) to use your body to stop someone from hitting something, or to stop a ball from going somewhere:

In blocking the linebacker, Mario sprained his shoulder.

She expertly blocked all her opponent's punches.

2. ) to use your power to stop something from being done or from succeeding:

She accused him of blocking her promotion.

The plan to build a new nursery school was blocked by local residents.

a ) to stop a natural process from happening:

The drug acts by blocking the release of testosterone.

3. ) to be in front of someone so that they cannot see something or so that light cannot reach them:

Her hat was blocking his view of the screen.

Don't stand in the doorway, you're blocking the light.

4. ) to mark a piece of writing or other information on a computer screen so you can do something with it:

You block a passage of text and hit Control+C to center it on the page.

,block `in phrasal verb transitive

1. ) to stop someone from moving their car out of a place:

When I came back to the parking lot my car was blocked in.

2. ) to completely cover a large area of something such as a painting with one color:

Broad flat brushes are useful when you are blocking in color.

3. ) block in or block out to plan something large or complicated by organizing your general ideas for it:

Just block in the main points for now and we'll sort the details out later.

,block `off phrasal verb transitive

1. ) to cover or close something completely so that nothing can move through it:

Snow had blocked off several streets.

2. ) to completely stop something from happening or progressing

,block `out phrasal verb transitive

1. ) to stop light or sound from reaching something:

That tree in the neighbor's yard blocks out a lot of our light.

2. ) to stop yourself from thinking about or remembering something:

He had always managed to block out the incident.

3. ) same as BLOCK IN 3

,block `up phrasal verb transitive

same as BLOCK 2 1:

We had continual problems with leaves blocking up the gutters.