Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Block system \Block system\ (Railroads)
   A system by which the track is divided into short sections,
   as of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the
   guidance of electric, or combined electric and pneumatic,
   signals that no train enters a section or block until the
   preceding train has left it, as in

   {absolute blocking}, or that a train may be allowed to follow
      another into a block as long as it proceeds with excessive
      caution, as in

   {permissive blocking}.



      The best way to learn any science, is to begin with a
      regular system, or a short and plain scheme of that
      science well drawn up into a narrow compass. --I. Watts.

   2. Hence, the whole scheme of created things regarded as
      forming one complete plan of whole; the universe. ``The
      great system of the world.'' --Boyle.

   3. Regular method or order; formal arrangement; plan; as, to
      have a system in one's business.

   4. (Mus.) The collection of staves which form a full score.
      See {Score}, n.

   5. (Biol.) An assemblage of parts or organs, either in animal
      or plant, essential to the performance of some particular
      function or functions which as a rule are of greater
      complexity than those manifested by a single organ; as,
      the capillary system, the muscular system, the digestive
      system, etc.; hence, the whole body as a functional unity.

   6. (Zo["o]l.) One of the stellate or irregular clusters of
      intimately united zooids which are imbedded in, or
      scattered over, the surface of the common tissue of many
      compound ascidians.

   {Block system}, {Conservative system}, etc. See under
      {Block}, {Conservative}, etc.

Block \Block\, n. [OE. blok; cf. F. bloc (fr. OHG.), D. & Dan.
   blok, Sw. & G. block, OHG. bloch. There is also an OHG.
   bloch, biloh; bi by + the same root as that of E. lock. Cf.
   {Block}, v. t., {Blockade}, and see {Lock}.]
   1. A piece of wood more or less bulky; a solid mass of wood,
      stone, etc., usually with one or more plane, or
      approximately plane, faces; as, a block on which a butcher
      chops his meat; a block by which to mount a horse;
      children's playing blocks, etc.

            Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke, And Christmas
            blocks are burning.                   --Wither.

            All her labor was but as a block Left in the quarry.
                                                  --Tennyson.

   2. The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay
      their necks when they are beheaded.

            Noble heads which have been brought to the block.
                                                  --E. Everett.

   3. The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.
      Hence: The pattern or shape of a hat.

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

   4. A large or long building divided into separate houses or
      shops, or a number of houses or shops built in contact
      with each other so as to form one building; a row of
      houses or shops.

   5. A square, or portion of a city inclosed by streets,
      whether occupied by buildings or not.

            The new city was laid out in rectangular blocks,
            each block containing thirty building lots. Such an
            average block, comprising 282 houses and covering
            nine acres of ground, exists in Oxford Street.
                                                  --Lond. Quart.
                                                  Rev.

   6. A grooved pulley or sheave incased in a frame or shell
      which is provided with a hook, eye, or strap, by which it
      may be attached to an object. It is used to change the
      direction of motion, as in raising a heavy object that can
      not be conveniently reached, and also, when two or more
      such sheaves are compounded, to change the rate of motion,
      or to exert increased force; -- used especially in the
      rigging of ships, and in tackles.

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

   8. Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a
      hindrance; an obstacle; as, a block in the way.

   9. A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work.

   10. (Print.) A piece of hard wood (as mahogany or cherry) on
       which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted to
       make it type high.

   11. A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. [Obs.]

             What a block art thou !              --Shak.

   12. A section of a railroad where the block system is used.
       See {Block system}, below.

   {A block of shares} (Stock Exchange), a large number of
      shares in a stock company, sold in a lump. --Bartlett.

   {Block printing}.
       (a) A mode of printing (common in China and Japan) from
           engraved boards by means of a sheet of paper laid on
           the linked surface and rubbed with a brush. --S. W.
           Williams.
       (b) A method of printing cotton cloth and paper hangings
           with colors, by pressing them upon an engraved
           surface coated with coloring matter.

   {Block system} on railways, a system by which the track is
      divided into sections of three or four miles, and trains
      are so run by the guidance of electric signals that no
      train enters a section or block before the preceding train
      has left it.