ETYM Old Eng. blok; cf. French bloc (fr. Old High Germ.), Dutch and Dan. blok, Swed. and German block, Old High Germ. bloch.
(Homonym: bloc).
1. A three-dimensional shape with six square or rectangular sides; SYN. cube.
2. A rectangular area in a city surrounded by streets and usually containing several buildings; SYN. city block.
3. A number or quantity of related things dealt with as a unit.
4. A sector or group of sectors that function as the smallest data unit permitted.
5. Housing in a large building that is divided into separate units.
6. A solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides).
7. An inability to remember or think of something one normally can do; often caused by emotional tension; SYN. mental block.

1. To interrupt the normal function of by means of anesthesia.
2. To run on a block system.
3. To shape by using a block:.
4. To shape into a block or blocks.
5. To shut out from view.
6. To stamp or emboss a title or design on a book with a block.
7. To support, secure, or raise with a block.

In computing, a group of records treated as a complete unit for transfer to or from backing storage. For example, many disc drives transfer data in 512-byte blocks.
1. Generally, a contiguous collection of similar things that are handled together as a whole.
2. A section of random access memory temporarily assigned (allocated) to a program by the operating system.
3. A group of statements in a program that are treated as a unit. For example, if a stated condition is true, all of the statements in the block are executed, but none are executed if the condition is false.
4. A unit of transmitted information consisting of identification codes, data, and error-checking codes.
5. A collection of consecutive bytes of data that are read from or written to a device (such as a disk) as a group.
6. A rectangular grid of pixels that are handled as a unit.
7. A segment of text that can be selected and acted upon as a whole in an application.
8. In the Java programming language, any code between matching braces constitutes a block. For example, { x = 1; }. See also code, Java.

Herbert Lawrence 1909-2001 Heryblock American editorial cartoonist.

1. To distribute a file over fixed-size blocks in storage.
2. To prevent a signal from being transmitted.
3. To select a segment of text, by using a mouse, menu selection, or cursor key, to be acted upon in some way, such as to format or to delete the segment.