Noun

(en noun)

Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building; one of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid - supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones.

(nautical) The maximum width of a vessel

This ship has more beam than that one.

The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.

*(rfdate) (Alexander Pope)

The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.

The principal stem of the antler of a deer.

(literary) The pole of a carriage.(rfc-sense)

*

(textiles) A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving and the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven.

The straight part or shank of an anchor.

The central bar of a plow, to which the handles and colter are secured, and to the end of which are attached the oxen or horses that draw it.

In steam engines, a heavy iron lever having an oscillating motion on a central axis, one end of which is connected with the piston rod from which it receives motion, and the other with the crank of the wheel shaft.

A ray or collection of approximatelyly parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body

a beam of light

a beam of energy

* (rfdate) Shakespeare

How far that little candle throws his beams !

* {{quote-news, year=2011

, date=September 22 , author=Nick Collins , title=Speed of light 'broken' by scientists , work=Daily Telegraph citation , page= , passage=A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where they were picked up by giant detectors. }}

(figuratively) A ray; a gleam

a beam of hope, or of comfort

* (rfdate) Keble

Mercy with her genial beam .

One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.

(music) A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.

An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.

Noun

(en noun)

A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.

*

You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year.

A block of ice.

A block of stone.

Anne Boleyn placed her head on the block and awaited her execution.

A group of urban lots of property, several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.

I'm going for a walk around the block .

A residential building consisting of flats.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block' of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the ' block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.}}

A block of flats.

The distance from one street to another in a city that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern.

The place you are looking for is two long blocks''' east and one short '''block north.

(slang) The human head.

I'll knock your block off.

A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn.

* 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby Dick) ,

Next morning, Monday, after disposing of the embalmed head to a barber, for a block , I settled my own and comrade’s bill; using, however, my comrade’s money.

A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.

* Shakespeare

He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block .

A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end.

A block of 100 tickets.

(computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see cluster).

(computing) A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop.

(cryptography) A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message.

(rigging) A case with one or more sheaves/pulleys, used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example, as part of the rigging of a sailing ship.

(chemistry) A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions.

Something that prevents something from passing (see blockage).

There's a block in the pipe that means the water can't get through.

(sports) An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck).

* {{quote-news, year=2011

, date=February 12 , author=Oliver Brett , title=Sunderland 1–2 Tottenham , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The match proved an unedifying spectacle until Spurs won a corner following their first move of real quality, John Mensah making an important block with Jermain Defoe poised to strike. }}

(cricket) A shot played by holding the bat vertically in the path of the ball, so that it loses momentum and drops to the ground.

(volleyball) A defensive play by one or more players meant to deflect a spiked ball back to the hitter’s court.

(philately) A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.

A section of split logs used as fuel.

(UK) Solitary confinement.

A cellblock.

(falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.

(printing, dated) A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.

(obsolete) A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt.

* Shakespeare

What a block art thou!

A section of a railroad where the block system is used.