a large solid piece of wood, stone, or other material with flat rectangular sides, as for use in building
2.
any large solid piece of wood, stone, etc, usually having at least one face fairly flat
3.
such a piece on which particular tasks may be done, as chopping, cutting, or beheading
4. Also called: building block
one of a set of wooden or plastic cubes as a child's toy
5.
a form on which things are shaped or displayed
a wig block
6. slang
a person's head (esp in the phrase knock someone's block off)
7. do one's block
8.
a dull, unemotional, or hardhearted person
9.
a large building of offices, flats, etc
10.
a.
a group of buildings in a city bounded by intersecting streets on each side
b.
the area or distance between such intersecting streets
11. Australian and New Zealand
an area of land for a house, farm, etc
12. Australian and New Zealand
a log, usually a willow, fastened to a timber base and used in a wood-chopping competition
13.
an area of land, esp one to be divided for building or settling
14. cylinder block
15.
a.
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
b. British
a letterpress printing plate, esp one mounted type-high on wood or metal
16.
a casing housing one or more freely rotating pulleys
See also block and tackle
17. on the block
18.
the act of obstructing or condition of being obstructed, as in sports
19.
an obstruction or hindrance
20. pathology
a.
interference in the normal physiological functioning of an organ or part
b. heart block
c. nerve block
21. psychology
a short interruption of perceptual or thought processes
22.
obstruction of an opponent in a sport
23.
a.
a section or quantity, as of tickets or shares, handled or considered as a single unit
b.
(as modifier)
a block booking
block voting
24.
a.
a stretch of railway in which only one train may travel at a time
b.
(as modifier)
a block signal
25.
an unseparated group of four or more postage stamps
Compare strip1 (sense 3)
26.
a pad of paper
27. computing
a group of words treated as a unit of data on a tape, disk, etc
28. athletics short for starting block
29. cricket
a mark made near the popping crease by a batsman to indicate his or her position in relation to the wicket
30. a chip off the old block
verb(mainly tr)
31.
to shape or form (something) into a block
32.
to fit with or mount on a block
33.
to shape by use of a block
to block a hat
34. (often foll by up)
to obstruct (a passage, channel, etc) or prevent or impede the motion, flow, or access of (something or someone) by introducing an obstacle
to block the traffic
to block up a pipe
35.
to impede, retard, or prevent (an action, procedure, etc)
to block the publication of a book
36.
to prevent (a person, organization, etc) from performing an action or procedure
to block a nuisance caller
37.
to stamp (a title, design, etc) on (a book cover, etc) by means of a block (see sense 15), esp using gold leaf or other foil
38.
(esp of a government or central bank) to limit the use or conversion of assets or currency
39. (also intr) sport
to obstruct or impede movement by (an opponent)
40. (intransitive)
to suffer a psychological block
41.
to interrupt a physiological function, as by use of an anaesthetic
42. (also intr) cricket
to play (a ball) defensively
Derived forms
blocker (ˈblocker)
noun
Word origin
C14: from Old French bloc, from Dutch blok; related to Old High German bloh
Examples of 'psychological block' in a sentence
psychological block
Here they demonstrated that any psychological block was only temporary.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
On one view, their incapacity for regret is a psychological block: they ought to regret their choices even if in fact they do not.