In America a Block Is a Unit of Distance
A block is a solid piece, or a section of a town. Americans use it to measure walking distance, which confuses visitors from grid-free cities.
A block is a solid piece of material, or the area of a town bounded by four streets. The American habit of counting distance in blocks depends on the grid: *three blocks north* is a usable instruction in Manhattan and useless in a city that grew without a plan, which is why British cities give directions by landmark instead. The word covers a great deal else, from writer's block to blocking a road.
- A solid piece. *A block of wood.*
- A town section. *Two blocks away.*
- A building. *A block of flats.*
- To obstruct. *The road was blocked.*
- Writer's block — inability to write. *Months of writer's block.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | block | A concrete block. |
| Plural | blocks | Four blocks. |
| Verb | block | Block the exit. |
| Noun | blockage | A blockage in the pipe. |
| Adjective | blocked | A blocked drain. |
- It's four blocks down on the left.American directions.
- They live in a block of flats.British housing.
- He has had writer's block since January.Coined in 1947.
Block in different contexts
- Theatre — blocking is planning actors' movements
- Publishing — a block quote is set apart from the main text
- Sport — blocking is obstructing an opponent legally
- Computing — a block is a fixed-size unit of storage
- Social media — blocking prevents someone contacting you
Old French *bloc*, from Middle Dutch *blok*, a tree trunk. English has used it since the 1300s, and the town sense is American, from the 1790s.
How long is a block?
It varies by city. In Manhattan a north-south block is short, around eighty metres, while a cross-town block is several times longer.
Who coined writer's block?
The psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler, who described and named the condition in 1947.