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Block vs Close - What's the difference?

block | close |

Close is a synonym of block.



In lang=en terms the difference between block and close

is that block is the human head while close is the interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed.

In obsolete terms the difference between block and close

is that block is a blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt while close is out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.

As nouns the difference between block and close

is that block is a substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance while close is an end or conclusion.

As verbs the difference between block and close

is that block is to fill (something) so that it is not possible to pass while close is to remove a gap.

As an adjective close is

closed, shut.

block

English

(wikipedia block)

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.
  • Synonyms

    * See also * city block

    Derived terms

    ; cuboid * * * * ; group of buildings * * * * * ; computing * ; distance * ; cutting base * * ; prevent passage * * * * * * ; rigging * * ; human head * * * ; volleyball * * * ; miscellaneous * * * * *

    Synonyms

    * (volleyball) stuff, roof, wall

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fill (something) so that it is not possible to pass.
  • The pipe is blocked .
  • To prevent (something or someone) from passing.
  • You're blocking the road – I can't get through.
  • To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something).
  • His plan to take over the business was blocked by the boss.
  • (sports) To impede an opponent.
  • He blocked the basketball player's shot.
    The offensive linemen tried to block the blitz.
  • (theater) To specify the positions and movements of the actors.
  • It was very difficult to block this scene convincingly.
  • (cricket) To hit with a block.
  • (cricket) To play a block shot.
  • To disable communication via telephone, instant messaging, etc., with an undesirable someone.
  • I tried to send you a message, but you've blocked me!
  • (computing) To wait.
  • When the condition expression is false, the thread blocks on the condition variable.
  • To stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape.
  • I blocked the mittens by wetting them and pinning them to a shaped piece of cardboard.

    close

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (clos)
  • (label) To remove a gap.
  • # To obstruct (an opening).
  • # To move so that an opening is closed.
  • #* (Lord Byron) (1788-1824)
  • What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?
  • #*
  • #*:If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
  • # To make (e.g. a gap) smaller.
  • # To grapple; to engage in close combat.
  • #* (1796-1859)
  • They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest.
  • (label) To finish, to terminate.
  • # To put an end to; to conclude; to complete; to finish; to consummate.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • One frugal supper did our studies close .
  • # To come to an end.
  • # (label) To make a sale.
  • # To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.
  • # To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.
  • To come or gather around; to enclose; to encompass; to confine.
  • * Bible, (w) ii. 5
  • The depth closed me round about.
  • * (George Herbert) (1593-1633)
  • But now Thou dost Thyself immure and close / In some one corner of a feeble heart; / Where yet both Sinne and Satan, Thy old foes, / Do pinch and straiten Thee, and use much art / To gain Thy thirds' and little part.
  • (label) To have a vector sum of 0; that is, to form a closed polygon.
  • Synonyms
    * close off, close up, cover, shut, shut off * shut * (put an end to) end, finish, terminate, wind up, close down * narrow * (terminate a computer program) close out, exit
    Antonyms
    * open * open * (put an end to) begin, commence, initiate, start * extend, widen * (terminate a computer program) open, start
    Derived terms
    * autoclosing * case closed * close down * close in * close off * close one's eyes * close out * close ranks * close the door on * close the face * close up *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An end or conclusion.
  • We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close .
  • * Macaulay
  • His long and troubled life was drawing to a close .
  • The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.
  • * Chapman
  • The doors of plank were; their close exquisite.
  • A grapple in wrestling.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • (music) The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.
  • * Dryden
  • At every close she made, the attending throng / Replied, and bore the burden of the song.
  • (music) A double bar marking the end.
  • Synonyms
    * (end) end, finale
    Antonyms
    * (end) beginning, start

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) clos, from (etyl) clausum, participle of (m).

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Closed, shut.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew chapter 8:
  • There is nothinge so close , that shall not be openned, and nothinge so hyd that shall not be knowen.
  • * Dryden
  • From a close bower this dainty music flowed.
  • Narrow; confined.
  • a close''' alley; '''close quarters
  • * Charles Dickens
  • a close prison
  • At a little distance; near.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close -packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close . This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
  • Intimate; well-loved.
  • # (legal) Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.
  • Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • If the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and doors, the one maketh the air close , and the other maketh it exceeding unequal.
  • Hot, humid, with no wind.
  • (linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.
  • Strictly confined; carefully guarded.
  • a close prisoner
  • (obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.
  • * Bible, 1 Chron. xii. 1
  • He yet kept himself close because of Saul.
  • * Spenser
  • her close intent
  • Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced.
  • a close contest
  • Short.
  • to cut grass or hair close
  • (archaic) Dense; solid; compact.
  • * John Locke
  • The golden globe being put into a press, the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal.
  • (archaic) Concise; to the point.
  • close reasoning
  • * Dryden
  • Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass.
  • (dated) Difficult to obtain.
  • Money is close .
    (Bartlett)
  • (dated) Parsimonious; stingy.
  • * Hawthorne
  • a crusty old fellow, as close as a vice
  • Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact.
  • a close translation
    (John Locke)
  • Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict.
  • The patient was kept under close observation.
    Synonyms
    * (at a little distance) close by, near, nearby * (intimate) intimate * muggy, oppressive * (articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate) high
    Antonyms
    * (at a little distance) distant, far, far away, far off, remote * (intimate) aloof, cool, distant * (articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate) open
    Derived terms
    * close call * closely * closeness * close shave * close-up * thisclose

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An enclosed field.
  • (British) A street that ends in a dead end.
  • (Scotland) A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.
  • (Scotland) The common staircase in a tenement.
  • A cathedral close.
  • * Macaulay
  • closes surrounded by the venerable abodes of deans and canons.
  • (legal) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed.
  • (Bouvier)
    Synonyms
    * (street) cul-de-sac

    Statistics

    *