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Hence, speechless; mute. "What tongueless blocks were they! would they not speak" Shak.

A plug, or conical block of wood, with longitudital grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.

for easy transit of trams or wagons, by forming the wheel tracks of smooth beams of wood, blocks of stone, or plates of iron.

A rope passing through a block, used in managing or dragging a trawlnet.

A small trough or wooden vessel, sometimes scooped out of a block of wood, for various domestic uses, as in making bread, chopping meat, etc.

A stone, block of wood, or anything else, placed under a wheel or barrel to prevent motion; a scotch; a skid. [Eng.] Wright.

A blockhead, or stupid person; a dunderhead. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

To withdraw, or take out, as a rope from a block, thimble, or the like.

to that described in the first definition above, or the representation of one in a solid block of stone, or the like, used for an ornament, as on a terrace or in a garden. See Illust. of Niche.

urface around a vent. -- Vent piece. (Gun.) (a) A bush. See 4th Bush, n, 2. (b) A breech block.

The block through which a messenger passes. [Written also viol, and voyal.]

One destitute of wit or sense; a blockhead; a fool. [Obs.] Shak.

rs, etc. -- Watch tackle (Naut.), a small, handy purchase, consisting of a tailed double block, and a single block with a hook.

ned by pulling on a rope wound around larger drum on the same axle. -- Whip gin. See Gin block, under 5th Gin. -- Whip grafting. See under Grafting. -- Whip hand, the hand with which the whip is used; hence, advantage; mastery; as, to have or get the whip hand of a person. Dryden. -- Whip ray (Zoöl.), the European…

se is wound or wrapped. -- Winding tackle (Naut.), a tackle consisting of a fixed triple block, and a double or triple movable block, used for hoisting heavy articles in or out of a vessel. Totten.

od spirit. (Chem.) See Methyl alcohol, under Methyl. -- Wood stamp, a carved or engraved block or stamp of wood, for impressing figures or colors on fabrics. -- Wood star (Zoöl.), any one of several species of small South American humming birds belonging to the genus Calothorax. The male has a brilliant gorget of blu…

ubmit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus." Macaulay. (b) In some American colleges, the lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship.…

Clumsily; stupidly; blockishly. R. North.

Quality of being wooden; clumsiness; stupidity; blockishness. We set our faces against the woodenness which then characterized German philology. Sweet.

ss; was never seen such rule In any place but here, at bonfire, or at Yule. Drayton. Yule block, or Yule log, a large log of wood formerly put on the hearth of Christmas eve, as the foundation of the fire. It was brought in with much ceremony. -- Yule clog, the yule log. Halliwell. W. Irving.