Word Confusion: Bloc versus Block

Plural: blocs

Plural for the noun: blocks
Gerund: blocking

Third person present verb: blocks
Past tense or past participle: blocked
Present participle: blocking

• A group of legislators, usually of both major political parties, who vote together for some particular interest

• A sturdy, flat-topped block used as a work surface, typically for chopping food
• [Chiefly British] A set of sheets of paper glued along one edge, used for drawing or writing on
• [Usually blocks] Any of a set of solid cubes used as a child’s toy
• [Usually blocks] A starting block
• [Printing] A piece of wood or metal engraved for printing on paper or fabric
• [Printing] The base on which a plate is mounted to make it type-high
• A projection left on a squared stone to provide a means of lifting it
• A mold or piece on which something is shaped or kept in shape
• [Automotive; cylinder block or engine block] The main body of an internal combustion engine, containing the pistons

[British] A large single building subdivided into separate rooms, apartments, or offices

• [With modifier] A building or part of a complex used for a particular purpose
• [North American] The area bounded by four streets in a town or suburb
• [North American] The length of one side of a town block, typically as a measure of distance

A large quantity or allocation of things regarded as a unit

• [Computing] A large piece of text processed as a unit
• [Computing] A group of data stored as a unit on an external storage medium and handled as a unit by the computer for input or output
• [Computing] A section of storage locations in a computer allocated to a particular set of instructions or data
• [Computing] A group of consecutive machine words organized as a unit and guiding a particular computer operation, especially with reference to input and output
• [On a flow chart] A symbol representing an operation, device, or instruction in a computer program
• [Philately] An unseparated unit of at least four postage stamps in at least two rows, generally a group of four

An obstacle, obstruction, or hindrance to the normal progress or functioning of something

• The state or condition of being obstructed
• [Sports] A hindering or stopping of an opponent’s movement or action
• [Tennis] A shot in which the racket is held stationary rather than being swung back, especially a stop volley
• A chock for stopping the motion of a wheel
• [Pathology] An obstruction, as of a nerve

An obstruction or stoppage in mental processes or speech, especially when related to stress, emotional conflict, etc.

• Short for mental block
• Short for nerve block
• Short for writer’s block

A flat area of something, especially a solid area of color

A pulley or system of pulleys mounted in a case

[Informal] A person’s head

A short length of plank serving as a bridging, as between joists

A stump or wooden structure on which a condemned person is beheaded

[Falconry] A low perch to which a falcon is tethered outdoors

[Geology] Any large, angular mass of solid rock

[In Canada] A wild or remote area of land that has not yet been surveyed

[Glassmaking] A wooden or metal cup for blocking a gather

[Railroads] Any of the short lengths into which a track is divided for signaling purposes

A platform from which property is sold at auction

Verb, intransitive:
[Sports] To act so as to obstruct an opponent, as in football, hockey, and basketball

[Theater; a.k.a. staging; often followed by out] To determine how characters travel from one place to another onstage but also their spatial relationships to one another in a play, act, scene, stage, etc.

To suffer a block

Verb, transitive:
Make the movement or flow in (a passage, pipe, road, etc.) difficult or impossible

• Put an obstacle in the way of something proposed or attempted
• Restrict the use or conversion of currency or any other asset
• [Sports] Hinder or stop the movement or action of an opponent, a ball, etc.
• [Bridge] Play in such a way that an opponent cannot establish a long suit
• [Medicine] Produce insensibility in (a part of the body) by injecting an anesthetic close to the nerves that supply it

Impress text or a design on a book cover

Shape or reshape (a hat) using a wooden mold

To shape or prepare on or with a block

To join (the ends of boards or the like) by fastening to a block of wood

[Also block out] Design or plan the movements of actors on a stage or movie set

Early in 1920 the sell price for farm produce went so far below the cost of producing it that farmers were going out of business and hence rose the farm bloc to protect the farmers.

The former Soviet bloc countries included Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine.

It is to be expected that each of the world’s blocs have their own interests and will try to protect them.

The parliamentary members tended to coalesce in blocs, which were alliances in support of particular philosophies.

Parties and electoral blocs were free to organize, with few exceptions, and a large number managed to register.

Individual member states were also in other, competing political and economic blocs, which made integration no easier.

A sculptor starts with a block of marble.

She took out a large knife from the cutting block and sliced a piece of cheese, promptly eating one.

Always incorporate a section of butcher block as part of your countertop.

Don’t forget your sketching block.

I’m looking forward to playing blocks with my nieces and nephews.

The sprinters came out of the blocks like they were on fire.

The goal is to provide practical experience about block printing and registration of blocks.

The engine block and cylinder head are made of cast aluminum.

Once wooden blocks were used for printing books.

It’s best to use a wig block after washing your wig.

This whole neighborhood is filled with apartment blocks.

He’s in cell block H.

Ours was the ugliest house on the block.

She went for a run around the block.

He lives a few blocks away from the museum.

She sold a block of shares yesterday.

Can we buy a block of seats for the performance?

Block grants are a fixed amount that cannot respond to a faltering economy.

When speaking about hypertext, it refers specifically to blocks of text connected by hyperlinks.

This file has 20 records per block.

Magnetic tape and disk drives are external block devices.

“Other potential directives include statements to let the assembler know where to find the first program instruction, how to set up memory, and whether blocks of code are procedures” (Null).

A simple flowchart, constructed with just rectangular blocks and flowlines, gets most jobs done.

I would like to give you a little more information about the block of stamps I have up for sale.

Substantial demands for time off may constitute a block to career advancement.

Your daughter is suffering an emotional block.

Marshall’s shot drew a fine block from the goalkeeper.

Young players are infatuated with rejecting a shot with a block, and they pay for it continuously.

I must have formed a block on the exact details.

Nonsurgical nerve blocks involve injection of a medication around a specific nerve or a bundle of nerves.

Make sure you have a jack that will lift the trailer (with horses inside) or a wheel block to pull one trailer tire onto to get the other one off the ground.

You could always cover the eyelid with a neutral block of color.

All we need is a simple pulley block.

“I’ll knock your block off,” he said.

Nail the lumber block between the two joists using 16d nails on each side of the blocking.

Mary Stuart went bravely to the block.

The patient presented with a block.

Falcons need different types of blocks in different situations.

He was suffering from writer’s block and needed another cup of coffee.

“Fault-block mountains are formed by the movement of large crustal blocks when forces in the Earth’s crust pull it apart” (Cain).

Nobody knows what’s in the Peace River block.

Soak your block in water before using it to give your molten glass a spherical shape.

The signal block isn’t working. Get some men out there with flags!

It went on the block and sold for nearly three million dollars.

Use a backer block to avoid tear-out.

Verb, intransitive:
He doesn’t get many baskets, but he sure can block.

The director will block tomorrow.

I blocked on his name.

Hey, my view is blocked!

The exit is blocked!

Verb, transitive:
Block up the holes with sticky tape.

A police cordon blocked off roads.

He stood up, blocking her escape.

The administration tried to block an agreement on farm subsidies.

In his evidence, he said that if the acquisition was blocked, it would have been a waste of a “tremendous amount of time and energy”.

Knight did well to block Soloman’s shot.

A common mistake by beginners is that when your best suit proves to be blocked by the opponent to switch and try each other suit in turn.

The gene would still be there, but the drug blocks the body from turning on the disease process.

That building will block our view, honey.

It has the original blue cloth, spine lettered, and blocked in gold.

Nobody cleans and blocks old felt hats any more.

Don’t forget to leave drying time to block that sweater.

A butt block joint is the fastest way to join plywood.

The stage version clearly needs blocking as there is a limited space on which to do the entire show.