block

block

1. See cylinder block

2. a casing housing one or more freely rotating pulleys

3. Pathol

a. interference in the normal physiological functioning of an organ or part

b. See heart block

c. See nerve block

4. Psychol a short interruption of perceptual or thought processes

5. Computing a group of words treated as a unit of data on a tape, disk, etc

6. Athletics short for starting block

7. Cricket a mark made near the popping crease by a batsman to indicate his position in relation to the wicket

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Block

A large piece of stone, taken from the quarry to the mill for sawing and further working.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

block

[bläk]

(computer science)

A group of information units (such as records, words, characters, or digits) that are transported or considered as a single unit by virtue of their being stored in successive storage locations; for example, a group of logical records constituting a physical record.

The section of a computer memory or storage device that stores such a group of information units. Also known as storage block.

To combine two or more information units into a single unit.

A contiguous group of text characters that is marked for moving, copying, saving, deletion, or some other word-processing operation.

(design engineering)

A metal or wood case enclosing one or more pulleys; has a hook with which it can be attached to an object.

cylinder block

(mining engineering)

A division of a mine, usually bounded by workings but sometimes by survey lines or other arbitrary limits.

In quarrying, a large portion of rock that is removed from the quarry as a solid mass for further processing at a mill.

(petroleum engineering)

The subdivision of a sea area for the licensing of oil and gas exploration and production rights.

(statistics)

In experimental design, a homogeneous aggregation of items under observation, such as a group of contiguous plots of land or all animals in a litter.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

block

block, 6

1. A masonry unit; a concrete block.

2. (Brit.) A walling unit which exceeds in length, width, or height the dimensions specified for a brick.

3. A solid piece of wood or other material.

4. A plank or timber which serves as bridging between joists or the like.

5. In quarrying, the large piece of stone, generally squared, that is taken from the quarry to the mill for sawing, slabbing, and further working.

6. A mechanical

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

block

1. <unit> A unit of data or memory, often, but not exclusively, on a magnetic disk or magnetic tape.

Compare record, sector.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

block

(1) A group of bytes that is transmitted or processed as a single unit. See block storage.

(2) A group of text characters marked for moving, copying or saving.

(3) A group of blockchain transactions. Blockchains store all transactions in blocks that are linked to each other. See blockchain.

(4) A rectangular group of pixels that is processed as a unit.

(5) A group of program statements that is treated as a unit based on the results of a comparison.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Block

 

in engineering:

(1) A unit of a mechanism in the form of a wheel with a groove around its circumference over which a cable or chain is drawn. It is used to change the direction of a tractive force and to obtain a force or velocity advantage; more rarely, to transfer a torque. Depending on their function, blocks are known as guide, balance, runner, and driving (for imparting rotary motion to a shaft) pulleys. In order to achieve a large force or velocity advantage, a lifting mechanism made up of a combination of blocks (a block and tackle) is used.

(2) A subassembly of a machine, consisting of several identical parts, such as a block of cylinders in an internal combustion engine or the spindle block in a multiple-spindle machine.

(3) A stone (concrete or ceramic) of large size (appreciably larger than a brick) used in the construction of buildings and for road surfacing.

N. IA. NIBERG

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.