† half blockn.
Obsolete.
1. Nautical. A block (block n.1 2) one side of which is formed by the surface to which it is fastened; = cheek-block n. at cheek n. Compounds 2. Cf. cheek n. 9a.
ΚΠ
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 155 Cheek-blocks, or half-blocks, are made of elm plank.
1850 Ordnance Man. for Use of Officers (U.S. Army Ordnance Dept.) (ed. 2) xii. 349 Lift the rear of the bed by handspikes at the rear notches, and place a handspike under it, or support it by the half blocks under the cheeks.
1862 Instr. Heavy Artillery (U.S. War Dept.) xx. 112 The cheek is lowered upon the half block.
1916 A. H. Verrill Bk. Sailboat (2016) iii. 31 Cheek-blocks are half blocks which bolt or attach to a mast, spar, or other object.
2. Hat-making. A type of mould, half of a full block (block n.1 7a), held to a workbench by a metal arm and used in shaping and finishing a hat.
Π
1868 H. Swithenbank Brit. Patent 3604 (1869) 1 I make the potence to receive in addition to a half block which is held stationary whilst in use a whole block which can be turned round whilst the hat is upon it.
1894 Amer. Hatter Sept. 89/1 The workmen in all the manufactories here [sc. London] have acquired great deftness in finishing on the half-block.
1924 C & K Bk. (Publicity Dept. Crofut & Knapp Company) 67/2 The hat is ironed over a solid half-block, touching only a small section at a time to remove all marks left from the joints of the five-piece block previously used.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
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n.1794