n. See Apricot. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + cock. ] In a cocked or turned up fashion. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Prefix a- + cock + bill: with bills cocked up. ] (Naut.) (a) Hanging at the cathead, ready to let go, as an anchor. (b) Topped up; having one yardarm higher than the other. [ 1913 Webster ]

A faucet to allow escape of air. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 a large building at an airport where aircraft can be stored and maintained.
Syn. -- hangar, repair shed [ WordNet 1.5 ]

(aeronautics) A local region in the atmosphere having a downward movement and offering less than normal support for the sustaining surfaces of a flying machine, causing an airplane to drop suddenly. Same as air hole. [ PJC. ]

‖n. [ G.; Alp, gen. pl. Alpen + stock stick. ] A long staff, pointed with iron, used in climbing the Alps. Cheever. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. fld>(Med.) Shock resulting from anaphylaxis{ 2 }. It is a severe form of physiological shock, often having a fatal outcome, and is caused by an extreme immunological reaction to antigens. It is characterized by smooth muscle contraction and capillary dilation throughout the body, initiated by antibodies of the IgE class. It is usually seen when an antigen to which a person has become hypersensitized is injected intravenously or subcutaneously. It is also called generalyzed anaphylaxis or systemic anaphylaxis, and sometimes anaphylaxis. [ Stedman ] [ PJC + AS ]

adj. 1. 1 proceeding without interruption for twenty four hours every day. around-the-clock nursing care
Syn. -- day-and-night, nonstop, round-the-clock, twenty four hours a day. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Perh. for Balderlocks, fr. Balder the Scandinavian deity. ] (Bot.) A large black seaweed (Alaria esculenta) sometimes eaten in Europe; -- also called murlins, honeyware, and henware. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gael. bonnach. ] A kind of cake or bread, in shape flat and roundish, commonly made of oatmeal or barley meal and baked on an iron plate, or griddle; -- used in Scotland and the northern counties of England. Jamieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bannock fluke, the turbot. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A battle in which the Scots under Robert the Bruce defeated the English and assured the independence of Scotland. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A hassock. See 2d Bass, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From F. beau fine + E. cock (the bird); or more prob. fr. OF. baud bold, gay + E. cock. Cf. Bawd. ] A fine fellow; -- a term of endearment. [ Obs. ] “How now, my bawcock ?” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Mining) The solid rock underlying superficial formations. Also Fig. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The front or the back part of the frame of a bedstead. [ Obs. or Dial. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The handle of a beetle. [ 1913 Webster ]

. An oblong, often nearly cubical, block of some tough stone, esp. granite, used as a material for street pavements. Its usual diameter is 5 to 7 inches. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Belocked ] [ Pref. be- + lock: cf. AS. belūcan. ] To lock, or fasten as with a lock. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To mock; to ridicule. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bemock the modest moon. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ G., lit., mountain stick. ] A long pole with a spike at the end, used in climbing mountains; an alpenstock. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A cock or faucet having a bent down nozzle. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The European water rail. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n., or . [ Perh. from bully + cock; that is, cocked like the hats of the bullies. ] A round, low-crowned felt hat; a wideawake. “The undignified billycocks and pantaloons of the West.” B. H. Chamberlain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Little acquiesced, and Ransome disguised him in a beard, and a loose set of clothes, and a billicock hat. Charles Reade. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A stock or handle for holding and rotating a bit; a brace. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Bit a morsel. ] A small bit of anything, of indefinite size or quantity; a short distance. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The male of the European black grouse (Tetrao tetrix, Linn.); -- so called by sportsmen. The female is called gray hen. See Heath grouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. blok; cf. F. bloc (fr. OHG.), D. & Dan. blok, Sw. & G. block, OHG. bloch. There is also an OHG. bloch, biloh; bi by + the same root as that of E. lock. Cf. Block, v. t., Blockade, and see Lock. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A piece of wood more or less bulky; a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more plane, or approximately plane, faces; as, a block on which a butcher chops his meat; a block by which to mount a horse; children's playing blocks, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning. Wither. [ 1913 Webster ]

All her labor was but as a block
Left in the quarry. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay their necks when they are beheaded. [ 1913 Webster ]

Noble heads which have been brought to the block. E. Everett. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. Hence: The pattern or shape of a hat. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A large or long building divided into separate houses or shops, or a number of houses or shops built in contact with each other so as to form one building; a row of houses or shops. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A square, or portion of a city inclosed by streets, whether occupied by buildings or not. [ 1913 Webster ]

The new city was laid out in rectangular blocks, each block containing thirty building lots. Such an average block, comprising 282 houses and covering nine acres of ground, exists in Oxford Street. Lond. Quart. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A grooved pulley or sheave incased in a frame or shell which is provided with a hook, eye, or strap, by which it may be attached to an object. It is used to change the direction of motion, as in raising a heavy object that can not be conveniently reached, and also, when two or more such sheaves are compounded, to change the rate of motion, or to exert increased force; -- used especially in the rigging of ships, and in tackles. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a hindrance; an obstacle; -- also called blockage; as, a block in the way; a block in an artery; a block in a nerve; a block in a biochemical pathway. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Print.) A piece of hard wood (as mahogany or cherry) on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted to make it type high. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

What a block art thou ! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. A section of a railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. In Australia, one of the large lots into which public land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the government surveyors. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

14. (Cricket) (a) The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket. (b) A block hole. (c) The popping crease. [ R. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

15. a number of individual items sold as a unit; as, a block of airline ticketes; a block of hotel rooms; a block of stock. [ PJC ]

16. the length of one side of a city block{ 5 }, traversed along any side; as, to walk three blocks ahead and turn left at the corner. [ PJC ]

17. a halt in a mental process, especially one due to stress, memory lapse, confusion, etc.; as, a writer's block; to have a block in remembering a name. [ PJC ]

18. (computers) a quantity of binary-encoded information transferred, or stored, as a unit to, from, or on a data storage device; as, to divide a disk into 512-byte blocks. [ PJC ]

19. (computers) a number of locations in a random-access memory allocated to storage of specific data; as, to allocate a block of 1024 bytes for the stack. [ PJC ]

A block of shares (Stock Exchange), a large number of shares in a stock company, sold in a lump. Bartlett. --
Block printing. (a) A mode of printing (common in China and Japan) from engraved boards by means of a sheet of paper laid on the linked surface and rubbed with a brush. S. W. Williams. (b) A method of printing cotton cloth and paper hangings with colors, by pressing them upon an engraved surface coated with coloring matter. --
Block system on railways, a system by which the track is divided into sections of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the guidance of electric signals that no train enters a section or block before the preceding train has left it. --
Back blocks, Australian pastoral country which is remote from the seacoast or from a river. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blocked p. pr. & vb. n. Blocking. ] [ Cf. F. bloquer, fr. bloc block. See Block, n. ] 1. To obstruct so as to prevent passage or progress; to prevent passage from, through, or into, by obstructing the way; -- used both of persons and things; -- often followed by up; as, to block up a road or harbor; to block an entrance. [ 1913 Webster ]

With moles . . . would block the port. Rowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

A city . . . besieged and blocked about. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To secure or support by means of blocks; to secure, as two boards at their angles of intersection, by pieces of wood glued to each. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To shape on, or stamp with, a block; as, to block a hat. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. to cause (any activity) to halt by creating an obstruction; as, to block a nerve impulse; to block a biochemical reaction with a drug. [ PJC ]

To block out, to begin to reduce to shape; to mark out roughly; to lay out; to outline; as, to block out a plan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. It. bloccata. See Block, v. t. ] 1. The shutting up of a place by troops or ships, with the purpose of preventing ingress or egress, or the reception of supplies; as, the blockade of the ports of an enemy. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Blockade is now usually applied to an investment with ships or vessels, while siege is used of an investment by land forces. To constitute a blockade, the investing power must be able to apply its force to every point of practicable access, so as to render it dangerous to attempt to enter; and there is no blockade of that port where its force can not be brought to bear. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An obstruction to passage. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (physiology) interference with transmission of a physiological signal, or a physiological reaction. [ PJC ]

To raise a blockade. See under Raise. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blockaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Blockading. ] 1. To shut up, as a town or fortress, by investing it with troops or vessels or war for the purpose of preventing ingress or egress, or the introduction of supplies. See note under Blockade, n. “Blockaded the place by sea.” Gilpin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, to shut in so as to prevent egress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Till storm and driving ice blockade him there. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To obstruct entrance to or egress from. [ 1913 Webster ]

Huge bales of British cloth blockade the door. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. having access obstructed by emplacement of a barrier, or by threat of force.
Syn. -- barricaded, barred. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who blockades. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) A vessel employed in blockading. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of blocking up; the state of being blocked up. [ 1913 Webster ]

A book printed from engraved wooden blocks instead of movable types. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Mach.) A chain in which the alternate links are broad blocks connected by thin side links pivoted to the ends of the blocks, used with sprocket wheels to transmit power, as in a bicycle. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. 1. closed to traffic. Traffic was blocked by an overturned tractor-trailor
Syn. -- out of use(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. at a complete standstill because of opposition of two unrelenting forces or factions.
Syn. -- deadlocked, stalemated. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. unusable because of some obstruction. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Block + head. ] A stupid fellow; a dolt; a person deficient in understanding. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Stupid; dull. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which characterizes a blockhead; stupidity. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Block + house: cf. G. blockhaus. ] 1. (Mil.) An edifice or structure of heavy timbers or logs for military defense, having its sides loopholed for musketry, and often an upper story projecting over the lower, or so placed upon it as to have its sides make an angle wit the sides of the lower story, thus enabling the defenders to fire downward, and in all directions; -- formerly much used in America and Germany. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A house of squared logs. [ West. & South. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of obstructing, supporting, shaping, or stamping with a block or blocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Blocks used to support (a building, etc.) temporarily. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Arch.) The finishing course of a wall showing above a cornice. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a block; deficient in understanding; stupid; dull. “Blockish Ajax.” Shak. -- Block"ish*ly, adv. -- Block"ish*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a block; stupid. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Railroads) One of the danger signals or safety signals which guide the movement of trains in a block system. The signal is often so coupled with a switch that act of opening or closing the switch operates the signal also. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Railroads) A system by which the track is divided into short sections, as of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the guidance of electric, or combined electric and pneumatic, signals that no train enters a section or block until the preceding train has left it, as in
absolute blocking, or that a train may be allowed to follow another into a block as long as it proceeds with excessive caution, as in
permissive blocking. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

See under Tin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. thoroughbred horses (collectively). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A literary lady; a female pedant. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ As explained in Boswell's “Life of Dr. Johnson”, this term is derived from the name given to certain meetings held by ladies, in Johnson's time, for conversation with distinguished literary men. An eminent attendant of these assemblies was a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings. He was so much distinguished for his conversational powers that his absence at any time was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became common, “We can do nothing without the blue stockings.” Hence these meetings were sportively called bluestocking clubs, and the ladies who attended them, bluestockings. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The American avocet (Recurvirostra Americana). [ 1913 Webster ]