vbl. sb. [f. BLOCK v. or sb. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the vb. BLOCK.
1637. [see BLOCK v. 7].
1659. in Rushw., Hist. Coll., I. 69. The besieging of Manheim, and the blocking of Frankendale.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 4242/1. Orders … for the close blocking up of that Place.
1850. ‘Bat,’ Cricket Manual, 31. It was totally useless for blocking.
1864. Times, 13 Oct. 9/3. Crowded with some hundreds of passengers and others detained by the blocking up of the line.
1870. Daily News, 6 Sept., 5. The blocking of Bazaine at Metz.
attrib. 1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 7 April, 3/1. Mr. Warton … has returned to his blocking habits.
2. The product of this action; the thing blocked.
1585. James I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 21. I haue put in, the French on the one side of the leif, and my blocking on the other.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xvii. (1856), 130. The square blocking of the rugged precipices.
3. Carpentry, etc. (see quots. and cf. BLOCK v. 11.)
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 192. With blockings glued in the internal angles.
1876. Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., Gloss., Blockings, small pieces of wood fitted in and glued to the interior angle of two boards or other pieces, for the purpose of giving additional strength to the joint.
1883. W. C. Conant, in Harper’s Mag., 937/2. The blocking is knocked away.
4. Blocking-course or blocking: ‘the plain course of stone which surmounts the cornice at the top of a Greek or Roman building: also a course of stone or brick forming a projecting line without mouldings at the base of a building.’ Gloss. Goth. Archit., 1845.
1760. Raper, in Phil. Trans., LI. 815. The height of the blocking was probably intended for 2 Roman feet.
1859. Encycl. Brit., III. 508. Blocking course, a deep but slightly projecting course in an elevation, to act as cornice to an arcade, or to separate a basement from a superior story.
