BLOCK


Meaning of BLOCK in English

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a block grant American English (= money given by the central government to state governments in order to pay for services such as the police, roads etc )

Congress approved block grants for education, health, and social services.

a block of flats (= a large building divided into separate flats )

At the time, I lived in a block of flats in St John’s Wood.

a block of ice

The fish were packed in blocks of ice, ready for transportation.

a block of wood

I used a block of wood to knock the pole into the ground.

a group booking/block booking (= a booking for a large number of seats, rooms etc )

There's a 20% discount for group bookings.

a road is blocked

The main road was blocked for an hour while police cleared the accident.

apartment block

block a pipe

It is likely that fat or grease is blocking the waste pipe.

block an entrance

A large stone blocked the entrance to the tomb.

block and tackle

block capitals

Complete the form in block capitals.

block letters

block party

block sb’s view

A pillar blocked my view of the stage.

blocked drain

The flood was caused by a blocked drain .

blocked (= so that you cannot breathe easily )

My nose is really blocked and I can't smell anything.

building block

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.

cinder block

new kid on the block informal (= the newest person in a job, school etc )

It’s not always easy being the new kid on the block.

starting blocks

stumbling block

The main stumbling block to starting new research is that we lack qualified people.

tenement building/house/block

tower block

writer's block

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

concrete

The most popular materials for raised beds are bricks and concrete walling blocks .

There was another little room, the Quiet Room, plain concrete block walls without chairs or windows.

Most likely to suffer are concrete block houses built in the Twenties and Thirties and earlier buildings where shuttered concrete was employed.

This building also will be made of structural steel and concrete blocks .

Meanwhile, powerful United States Army helicopters continued dropping massive concrete blocks to hinder the lava flow.

Rusted metal, bits of concrete and cinder block , patches of burnt, weedy turf.

The concrete block shell was in place by early 1992 ready for the 25-week facing brickwork stage to begin.

Since then, her head has felt like a concrete block .

main

The gabled main block is stone-built.

The money she received went towards the building of the main hospital block in Shantinagar.

Today, the main blocks of the complex remain, externally altered little.

The joint venture is also planning a hotel and an office building next to the main apartment block .

Access to the dining room in the north-east corner of the main block was then made via a short flight of stairs.

He speculated that Rhyl platform clearances would be the main stumbling block .

Old classrooms in the main block were refurbished and brought back into use for Sociology and Philosophy.

The main block of the mill is practically empty but the older part now houses grain storage bins.

major

The issue of taxation was the major block in reaching agreement.

Economic reform, or rather the lack of it, is proving the other major stumbling block .

This is the major stumbling block to experimental realisation of the Lorenz system in lasers.

mental

Most of the blocks mentioned here are at the physical level, but the emotional and mental blocks are equally important.

Spring focus: 2B Chuck Knoblauch claims he received help during the offseason with his mental block on routine throws.

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that he has a mental and emotional block about competing with his compatriots.

Beware of becoming so fixated on this one position that you acquire a mental block against progressing further.

She developed a complete mental block against her pregnancy, and concealed it until four days before she went into labour.

Their mocking faces caused a mental block - or a block somewhere else.

stumbling

The possible stumbling blocks would be financial and attitudinal barriers to these learners.

In the autumn of 1987, Conran ran into a potentially more serious stumbling block to his plans.

It is still foolishness and a stumbling block .

Defence cuts could also be a stumbling block .

Combining motherhood and her career proved no stumbling block for the indomitable Marian.

Do you feel that the language problem is a fundamental stumbling block for art historians?

Other stumbling blocks include differences in the regulations of individual stock exchanges on voting rights of shares in take-over targets.

Richard Moon retired from the Board in 1891, removing the main stumbling block to progress in design of coaching stock.

wooden

In it, there are three wooden blocks labelled A, B and C, and a table.

Two, which hold wooden blocks , are on rolling coasters, and they are permanently available.

Lay out the small, smooth wooden blocks or small boxes where the living compartments for the ants are to be.

Tripped on the wooden blocks painted to look like ice, the doll careening away from her down between the blocks.

Teacher: Mark, go and get the heaviest wooden block that you can find.

Straight in at Number 12, it consists of a tower of wooden blocks .

This one had electric lights on either side of the mirror and two on a wooden block along the top.

They put the catapult into position and placed wooden blocks in front of the wheels to stop it rolling into the sea.

■ NOUN

apartment

The joint venture is also planning a hotel and an office building next to the main apartment block .

This time she took him to a room in a large apartment block set near factories and oil-storage tanks.

To Katherine, a New Yorker, used to apartment blocks and intimate brownstones, it was trebly impressive.

On the outskirts of Tabor there were long rows of multi-storey apartment blocks of an extraordinary ugliness; many flats looked empty.

He must go now, to the apartment block , and make his calls on the tenants.

A quiet street and the beard stood in the shade of an apartment block doorway.

Damian got out, his arm around Domino, and they ran into an apartment block .

Dozens of people were seen leaping from windows in the apartment blocks .

building

He stresses that formal planning can only be one of the many building blocks which determine corporate strategy.

Analogue design remains important because it accommodates and defines the basic building blocks of electronics.

What modules of data were already available as building blocks for computer programs without a major investment in new software? 2.

The word is made up of three parts, stuck together like building blocks .

They formed gases and ultimately amino acids, the so-called building blocks of life.

The building blocks of matter are the atoms which were originally thought to be indivisible.

cinder

They passed a Baptist church set on cinder blocks .

The room is maybe six feet square, with cinder block walls.

Three small houses, made of painted cinder block and aluminum, faced the hotel from across the street.

His bookshelves were plywood and cinder blocks .

If the foundation is made of cinder blocks , they need to be set in a bed of mortar on the concrete.

In Colonia Anapra, homes are made from plywood sheets, wooden pallets, unpainted cinder blocks and cardboard.

exemption

The block exemptions are subject to review, since they have expiry dates written in, but no substantial change is imminent.

Similarly, franchise agreements are granted block exemption under Regulation 4087/88.

But this point is already clearly recognized in the legal framework through such elements as the block exemptions .

grant

Arts and Sports Councils established under Acts of Parliament and funded by block grant offer a further instance.

Thus by the sixth year about half of all the block grant money would be distributed on a discretionary basis.

More fundamentally, in the early 1980s a new system of local-government support was introduced - the block grant .

One aspect of the block grant other than program decisions and performance audits would require HUD-local interaction.

Transport does not appear as a separate item, but as part of the overall block grant to regional authorities.

Such geographic constraints were initially absent from the block grant program.

The meeting was complete with a slide show prepared by the National League of Cities that explained the block grant program.

Under a block grant approach, each state would receive a lump sum to be divided any way the state chose.

letter

The surname should be written or typed in block letters followed by the title of the guest, and then the initials.

The files contained a single document, his lob application, filled out in block letters and unsigned.

The lines, mainly in block letters , wander and slant across the page.

This is what it says, high above a doorway, in big block letters , at Pasadena's Clearwater Seafood.

office

The fireball destroyed a prefabricated office building before setting a four-storey office block ablaze.

The first program for the office block was enormously different from its eventual design.

A modern multi-storey office block is a very simple design.

They have permission to turn it into a pub, a small office block or a complete three storey office.

The next morning Tony parked his car and walked slowly towards the newly completed office block .

The arched gateway disappeared and an office block was erected alongside the entrance.

Read in studio Fire has badly damaged an office block in Gloucester.

Jagged blue lightning stabbed through one of the ragged gaps and found the only thing in the office block that was moving.

road

More than 12 vans and cars were stopped during the 35 minutes the road block was in position.

Take off he does, avoiding road blocks .

Peacekeeping troops set up road blocks and conducted house-to-house searches.

Just as we were crossing Chelsea Bridge we were stopped by the police at a road block .

These involved road blocks , interrupting rail services and police controlling the route to the airport.

Stirred up by this incident, nationalists took to the streets in several parts of Yerevan, setting up road blocks .

Near Perth, they burst through a police road block , put in place for another enquiry.

The New Forest had become virtually a fortress of barbed wire and road blocks .

tower

Competition entrants are asked to look at how to transform the tower block typology into a new type of community.

A spokesman for the Housing Department would only say that the tower blocks had seemed a good idea at the time.

And even more amazing that he can still squeeze through chimneys and central heating air vents in tower blocks .

Only from the windows of a derelict tower block squatted by women was there any deliberately hostile response.

And new cars shed their value faster than a Steinway falls from the top of a tower block .

The tower block , the demolition, and Hugh bad now and dying in his bed.

Glasgow certainly needs a modern landmark - something to deflect the eye from the miserable tower blocks of the 1960s.

Maybe they had lived in one of his tower blocks .

vote

It is rather like a Labour Party conference, without the block vote .

Administrative means - like the block vote-have been used to solve political problems.

That can now change - indeed, if the block vote goes, it will have to change.

In the end the pro-democracy motion was defeated-crushed under the boot of the union block vote .

The rumbling row with the unions over ending the block vote is a classic example of its suicidal tendencies.

Although that would reduce the union block vote more drastically than other options, it would also give both sides a veto.

A composite motion demanding the straight forward abolition of the block vote was defeated on a show of hands.

Millions of trade unionists could not simply be represented by the casting of a block vote once a year.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

I'll knock your head/block off

be a chip off the old block

"That daughter of yours has a great sense of humour." "Yes, I like to think she's a chip off the old block!"

building blocks

mental block

Beware of becoming so fixated on this one position that you acquire a mental block against progressing further.

Most of the blocks mentioned here are at the physical level, but the emotional and mental blocks are equally important.

She developed a complete mental block against her pregnancy, and concealed it until four days before she went into labour.

Spring focus: 2B Chuck Knoblauch claims he received help during the offseason with his mental block on routine throws.

Their mocking faces caused a mental block - or a block somewhere else.

With the uh, mental block.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

an apartment block

Concrete blocks were used by most builders in the 1960s when constructing office buildings.

His studios are on the tenth floor of an office block overlooking the river.

It's three blocks to the store from here.

Many of the families on our block are Hispanic-Americans.

She lived three blocks away from me when we were kids.

The fish were lying on huge blocks of ice to keep them cold.

The house at Number 14 was replaced by a block of flats.

The ice was cut into blocks and stored in a special shed.

There's another new office block going up behind the station.

To the east is a landscape of concrete tower blocks.

We went for a walk around the block .

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Beware of becoming so fixated on this one position that you acquire a mental block against progressing further.

But with a deli on every other block purveying all sorts of ethnic breads, l never baked a single loaf.

During the first Cold War years, the capitalist block was indeed seeking the downfall of the war-exhausted Soviet Union.

Moulded, splinter-proof cutting blocks, called Barboards, are also available.

One stumbling block can be the kind of computer you own.

Only from the windows of a derelict tower block squatted by women was there any deliberately hostile response.

The Cannon halted rush-hour traffic as it rattled the windows of every car and skyscraper for blocks around.

II. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

action

Each group is used for a different purpose, to inactivate bacteria or block the action of viruses, for example.

Corin Redgrave has blocked out the key action vividly, indicating the threatening turmoil of war and revolt.

Self-pity tends to block taking action that will be truly effective in reversing the downward spirals of primary and family diseases.

He has hinted that he will block action on it indefinitely.

Tried and trusted for generations, Drapolene's special formula won't block the action of disposable nappies.

bill

Sadly, however, a few Opposition Members sought to block the Bill as it neared the end of its passage through Parliament.

The vote came after majority Nationalist Party officials said today the party would use parliamentary procedures to block implementation of the bills .

Mrs Cresson has already several times hinted that parliament may be dissolved if the conservative opposition tries to block government bills .

Forty senators could block the bill because Senate rules require 60 votes to take up a conference committee report.

The majority Nationalists introduced an alternative tax bill Tuesday to block the opposition bill.

Dole often seemed frustrated and unsure of himself as Democrats blocked many of the bills he tried to move through Congress.

And they say they don't believe Wellstone has the votes to sustain a filibuster to block the bill .

But the blocked spending bills are pawns in a larger debate over the parties' competing seven-year balanced-budget plans.

entrance

The travellers had already been thwarted by Gloucestershire police, who blocked entrances to a site in the Forest of Dean.

The rubble had temporarily blocked the entrance to the cavern below the Horseshoe Falls.

They have defied bailiffs by blocking the entrance to the building.

Five were arrested on a charge of trying to block an entrance to the Treasury Building.

The stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb was placed there for a purpose.

In London, two skips and six barrels full of toxic waste blocked the front entrance to the environment building.

They blocked the entrances in protest at what they claim is the unnecessary culling of badgers organised from the base.

We arrived at one which blocked one of the entrances to Debenham.

escape

He realized his mistake too late and when he turned back to the entrance Sabrina was already there, blocking his escape .

Harsh fortresses of prickly pears and shard grass and dead branches block off all escape .

Mr Letts tried to block their escape route and was mown down.

They are now both in front of her on the road, blocking any escape .

Swarms of wolf riders are often deployed ahead of the army's line of march to scout and block any route of escape .

Behind them a huge force of Orcs moved to block their escape .

exit

Two of them blocked her exit from the car park while the third smashed the car window to grab her handbag.

People loaded with shopping shoved her aside: she was blocking the exit of a big supermarket.

We had been coming on to the main road at about five miles an hour when three men had blocked our exit .

It blocked the exit to the driveway.

She quickly slipped ahead of the trolley pushers as one of them blocked the exit , manoeuvring his way through.

flow

It can also cause cold spots along the bottom of the radiator, without completely blocking the flow .

Strokes occur when blood vessels become clogged, blocking the flow of oxygen to an organ such as the brain.

There is a filter on the inlet side of the fuel pump which may be partially blocked and obstructing fuel flow .

Such an obstruction blocks the flow of bile from the gallbladder into the small intestine.

The other is how to define their offence without blocking the flow of information from companies to investors.

The Wall is designed to block the flow of information legitimately acquired by one department, to other departments.

light

Archie suddenly loomed over me, his bloated Zeppelin figure blocking out what little light there was.

You need something to block the light .

So, again, suppose A is blocking up B's light .

The sun floods in, young plants shoot upwards and the struggle starts anew as the winners block light from their inferiors.

The house is kept in almost total darkness with a special membrane to block out ultra-violet light covering all the windows.

The belly continued to grow, blocking out the light .

passage

But senators opposed to the bases vowed to block its passage , calling it illegal.

A high Grand Coulee Dam, however, would block their passage for ever.

But this interruption also blocks the passage of ideas by shifting emphasis away from the signified.

Mike Lieberman was trying to block its passage .

A crowd had gathered, blocking the passage .

Many of his sperm do not even try to fertilize her eggs but instead either attack other sperm or block their passage .

This extreme version of the distrust of government has often been manipulated by the corporate sector to block passage of government regulation.

path

He then walked out of the shop, despite the efforts of staff to block his path .

Investigators said this included having some one fall in front of the candidate to block his path .

The person or creature is blocking your path , so walk up and speak with it.

When such costs are taken seriously, the resulting fear effectively blocks the path to minimizing and blaming.

There are few trees, and fewer houses, to block its path .

I could see the muzzle flashes in the tree line fifty yards away, which blocked our take-off path .

She was moving slowly along the edge of the pavement when a car door swung open in front of her, blocking her path .

Edwards had a dream in which many of his friends and relatives were blocking the path down the triple-jump runway.

plan

Standing Room Only researchers can find no rules or regulations to block Newbon's revolutionary plan .

But several problems, including a marked lack of support from other countries, are blocking the plan .

South Pasadena residents repeatedly blocked plans to run the freeway through their city.

I have had friends whose girlfriends' families actively blocked their marriage plans .

His widow has blocked all plans to complete the story.

road

So ferocious was the wind that the trees blew down and blocked the roads and railways.

The accident, which left wreckage spread over a wide area, blocked the road causing severe traffic disruption.

Wives of rocket forces troops in Siberia blocked the road to the missile silos in 1998 to protest unpaid wages.

Suddenly, cars swerved to block the road , and dozens of security officers fanned out through the crowd.

She heard the sound of another car behind her, and saw that she was blocking the narrow road .

Even after the first attacks numerous destroyed, burning vehicles would have blocked the road .

We reached to within 200m of the Centre until we were faced with lines of riot police blocking the roads .

The crash at High Craigton, around 8am, blocked the road for several hours.

shot

A police car emerged from the other alleyway and screeched to a halt ten yards in front of Whitlock, blocking his shot .

He can make shots , he can block shots....

His one chance came just before half-time when a defender's shins blocked his shot .

He can go through a slump and still block shots .

Six minutes from the end Murdoch again came to the visitors' rescue when he dived to block a shot from Hateley.

McCoy returned a few minutes later and quickly hit two mid-range jumpers and blocked two Bryant Boston shots in succession.

Five minutes later Hislop blocked a shot from Andy Cole, and Sheringham wafted the rebound over the bar.

And any time the Cardinal ventured into the lane, McCoy was there to block or alter shots .

street

Maintaining a bella figura at all costs can cause problems greater than a partially blocked street .

There will also be close, searched boats, blocked streets and all the other inconveniences of a major political convention.

They had blocked the street off, rather as if an armed siege was in progress.

In the Santa Cruz neighborhood, witnesses said a building several stories high collapsed, blocking the street .

Barricades blocked the main streets and were erected in many neighbourhoods.

A large delivery van was almost blocking the narrow street , its high sides nearly shutting off the daylight from her windows.

The buildings block out the street lighting.

view

They block the rear view of the road and make our quest to recover the tabs all the more difficult.

For a few seconds the squirrel was behind a few pine twigs that were blocking its view towards me.

Last night the piano had blocked his view , but he knew roughly where to look.

Perches should be placed so that the birds can see over a wide section without anything blocking their view .

Her main fun was watching television, and she threw things at people who blocked her view .

The soldiers so blocked spectators' view that the onlookers cheered, thinking the president was in the carriage.

The huge building across the street blocked my view of the horizon.

Yoyo stood before both of them, blocking their view of the soldiers in helicopters landing amid silenced gun reports and explosions.

way

The chaprassi spotted the newcomer and stood up, blocking the way to the offices within.

A Secret Service agent blocked his way .

The first trolley was still stuck, its owner now flustered, aware that he was blocking everyone else's way .

Two uprooted palm trees blocked their way at the foot of the stairs.

Moss wiped their faces as they fought the live-oak branches that blocked their way .

Two black guys block our way .

The desire to be right is a stumbling block in a way .

■ VERB

threaten

Secretions which block or threaten to block his airway have to be removed by suction.

Republicans had threatened to block consideration of the Castle-Tanner substitute, authored primarily by Rep.

Some local politicians, led by Mr Antonovich, are threatening to block the necessary implementing regulations.

Yesterday the border farmers threatened to block the council scheme unless their own scheme was sanctioned.

try

Mr Letts tried to block their escape route and was mown down.

Mike Lieberman was trying to block its passage.

Tom was one of several demonstrators who tried to block round a horsebox at the end of the meeting.

We are going to try to block them in a variety of ways and keep them guessing.

Razdolnoye's residents tried to block the Trans-Siberian railway line, and demonstrators filed through Vladivostok.

The Boyle goons tried to block the door or stuff cards into their hands.

Carla would curl up on his lap and hold her hands over her ears desperately trying to block out their arguing.

Daily protests involving hundreds of arrests were made as blacks tried to block the trucks.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

be a chip off the old block

"That daughter of yours has a great sense of humour." "Yes, I like to think she's a chip off the old block!"

building blocks

mental block

Beware of becoming so fixated on this one position that you acquire a mental block against progressing further.

Most of the blocks mentioned here are at the physical level, but the emotional and mental blocks are equally important.

She developed a complete mental block against her pregnancy, and concealed it until four days before she went into labour.

Spring focus: 2B Chuck Knoblauch claims he received help during the offseason with his mental block on routine throws.

Their mocking faces caused a mental block - or a block somewhere else.

With the uh, mental block.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a blocked currency

A big truck had turned over on its side, and it was blocking the road.

Britain has threatened to block new EU legislation on human rights.

Hundreds of protesters blocked the entrance to the President's palace.

The accident has blocked two lanes of traffic on the freeway.

The city council blocked the idea for a new shopping mall.

The deal was blocked by the chairman, who was unwilling to commit so much company money to a risky investment.

The sink is blocked again.

The view was blocked by two ugly high-rise apartment buildings.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

But you may find the road blocked.

Drugs that block acetylcholine interfere with memory.

Having blocked two attacking techniques, the defender counters with a double punch to his opponent's face.

Some small villages in the northern Andes were left isolated as roads were blocked by slides.

Which of these have blocked your growth?

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.