What a block art thou !
Shak.
12. A section of a railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below.
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.
Block (&?;), 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.
With moles . . . would block the port.
Rowe.
A city . . . besieged and blocked about.
Milton.
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.