BLOCK (from the Fr. bloc, and possibly connected with an Old Ger. Block, obstruction, cf. "

See also:

• BAULK, or BALK (a word common to Teutonic languages, meaning a ridge, partition, or beam)

baulk ")  , a piece of wood . The word is used in various senses, e.g. the block upon which people were beheaded, the block or mould upon which a hat is shaped, a pulley-block, a printing-block, &c . From the sense of a solid mass comes the expression, a "block " of houses, i.e. a rectangular space covered with houses and bounded by four streets . From the sense of "obstruction" comes a "block" in traffic, a block in any proceedings, and the block system of signalling on railways .