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 ]

. 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 ]

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. one of the two male reproductive glands; a testis; -- usually spelled ballock, and usually used in the plural.
Syn. -- gonad, testicle, ball, nut, egg. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. a pulley-block at the head of a topmast.
Syn. -- bullock block. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. to make a mess of.
Syn. -- botch, fumble, botch up, muff, blow it, flub, screw up, ball up, blunder, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The movable piece which closes the breech of a breech-loading firearm, and resists the backward force of the discharge. It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bully. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She shan't think to bullock and domineer over me. Foote. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. bulluc a young bull. See Bull. ] 1. A young bull, or any male of the ox kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old. Judges vi. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An ox, steer, or stag. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Bull's-eye, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. carlock, fr. Russ. Karlúk'. ] A sort of Russian isinglass, made from the air bladder of the sturgeon, and used in clarifying wine. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Railroads) A block in which two or more trains are permitted to travel, under restrictions imposed by a caution card or the like. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ AS. cerlic; the latter part perh. fr. AS. leác leek. Cf. Hemlock. ] (Bot.) A cruciferous plant (Brassica sinapistrum) with yellow flowers; wild mustard. It is troublesome in grain fields. Called also chardock, chardlock, chedlock, and kedlock. [ 1913 Webster ]

Jointed charlock,
White charlock, a troublesome weed (Raphanus Raphanistrum) with straw-colored, whitish, or purplish flowers, and jointed pods: wild radish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Naut.) Hoisted as high as the tackle will admit; brought close together, as the two blocks of a tackle in hoisting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A large beetle, esp. the European dung beetle (Scarabæus stercorarius). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. clucge bell; akin to D. klok clock, bell, G. glocke, Dan. klokke, Sw. klocka, Icel. klukka bell, LL. clocca, cloca (whence F. cloche); al perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. clog bell, clock, W. cloch bell. Cf. Cloak. ] 1. A machine for measuring time, indicating the hour and other divisions; in ordinary mechanical clocks for domestic or office use the time is indicated on a typically circular face or dial plate containing two hands, pointing to numbers engraved on the periphery of the face, thus showing the hours and minutes. The works of a mechanical clock are moved by a weight or a spring, and it is often so constructed as to tell the hour by the stroke of a hammer on a bell. In electrical or electronic clocks, the time may be indicated, as on a mechanical clock, by hands, but may also be indicated by direct digital readout, with the hours and minutes in normal Arabic numerals. The readout using hands is often called analog to distinguish it from the digital readout. Some clocks also indicate the seconds. Clocks are not adapted, like the watch, to be carried on the person. Specialized clocks, such as atomic clocks, may be constructed on different principles, and may have a very high precision for use in scientific observations. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. A watch, esp. one that strikes. [ Obs. ] Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The striking of a clock. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A figure or figured work on the ankle or side of a stocking. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The phrases what o'clock? it is nine o'clock, etc., are contracted from what of the clock? it is nine of the clock, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alarm clock. See under Alarm. --
Astronomical clock. (a) A clock of superior construction, with a compensating pendulum, etc., to measure time with great accuracy, for use in astronomical observatories; -- called a regulator when used by watchmakers as a standard for regulating timepieces. (b) A clock with mechanism for indicating certain astronomical phenomena, as the phases of the moon, position of the sun in the ecliptic, equation of time, etc. --
Electric clock. (a) A clock moved or regulated by electricity or electro-magnetism. (b) A clock connected with an electro-magnetic recording apparatus. --
Ship's clock (Naut.), a clock arranged to strike from one to eight strokes, at half hourly intervals, marking the divisions of the ship's watches. --
Sidereal clock, an astronomical clock regulated to keep sidereal time. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To ornament with figured work, as the side of a stocking. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To call, as a hen. See Cluck. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the time taken to traverse a measured course; as, it was a world record clocking. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Like a clock or like clockwork; mechanical. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their services are clocklike, to be set
Backward and forward at their lord's command. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. European weed naturalized in the southwestern U. S. and Mexico (Erodium cicutarium), having reddish decumbent stems with small fernlike leaves and small deep reddish-lavender flowers followed by slender pinlike fruits that stick straight up; it is often grown for forage.
Syn. -- redstem storksbill, alfilaria, alfileria, filaree, filaria, pin grass, pin clover, Erodium cicutarium. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. -- of rotatory motion. dextral [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. & adv. in the same direction as the hands of a clock rotate, as viewed from in front of the clock face; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative. Also said of the direction of a spiral, in which case the term right-handed is more common. Opposite of counterclockwise, and left-handed.
Syn. -- right-handed, dextrorotary, dextrorotatory. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The machinery of a clock, or machinery resembling that of a clock; machinery which produces regularity of movement. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. in the direction opposite to the rotation of the hands of a clock; counterclockwise. Opposite of clockwise. [ Also See: sinistral. ]
Syn. -- counterclockwise, anticlockwise. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. & adv. in the opposite direction to that in which the hands of a clock rotate, as viewed from in front of the clock face; -- of rotatory motion or spiral direction. Opposite of clockwise, or right-handed [ Narrower terms: sinistral levororotary, levorotatory ]
Syn. -- left-handed. [ PJC ]

n. [ Dag a loose end + lock. ] A dirty or clotted lock of wool on a sheep; a taglock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A lock which is not self-latching, but requires a key to throw the bolt forward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A counteraction of things, which produces an entire stoppage; a complete obstruction of action. [ 1913 Webster ]

Things are at a deadlock. London Times. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Board is much more likely to be at a deadlock of two to two. The Century. [ 1913 Webster ]

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