OBSTRUCT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Obstruct

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/əbstrˈəkt/ Listen

verb

Obstruct v. t. (past & past part. obstructed; pres. part. obstructing)

To block up; to stop up or close, as a way or passage; to place an obstacle in, or fill with obstacles or impediments that prevent or hinder passing; as, to obstruct a street; to obstruct the channels of the body. "'T is the obstructed paths of sound shall clear."

To be, or come, in the way of; to hinder from passing; to stop; to impede; to retard; as, the bar in the harbor obstructs the passage of ships; clouds obstruct the light of the sun; unwise rules obstruct legislation. "Th' impatience of obstructed love."

Synonyms: To bar; barricade; stop; arrest; check; interrupt; clog; choke; impede; retard; embarrass; oppose.

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Etymology of 'Obstruct'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Obstruct" Quotes from Famous Books

... the Prefect of Police, Pasquier. "Napoleon," says Rapp, "was not surprised that these wretches (he means the agents of the police) who crowd the salons and the taverns, who insinuate themselves everywhere and obstruct everything, should not have found out the plot, but he could not understand the weakness of the Duc de Rovigo. The very police which professed to divine everything had let themselves be taken by surprise." The police possessed no foresight or faculty of prevention. Every silly thing that transpired ...

— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... outside the door giving on to the street on the west; and old lady Chia and the other ladies were outside the main entrance of the Jung mansion at the head of the street, while at the mouth of the lane were placed screens to rigorously obstruct the public gaze. They were unable to bear the fatigue of any further waiting when, at an unexpected moment, a eunuch arrived on horseback, and Chia Cheng went up to meet him, and ascertained what tidings he was ...

— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... their way through Nero's prisons, and descend into the Piscina Mirabilis, that vast pilastered cellar like an underground dissenting chapel. They say the Roman fleet was supplied with water from this huge tank; but if this had been the intention of its construction, why obstruct it with more pillars or supports of square masonry than the roof absolutely required, without which incumbrances a reservoir of half its size would have held more water,—and for water it was evidently meant? Ascending the hill we see a man or two working away at a newly-discovered tomb, from ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 360, October 1845 • Various

... been unable to find in the literature of Greece, Egypt or the Orient, any reference to this wonderful insect who embodies in his frail physique so much of the truest philosophy of life, and who, despite the obstacles that seem so persistently to obstruct his path, buzzes blithely ever onward, singing his lovely song and ...

— The Autobiography of Methuselah • John Kendrick Bangs

... vital force is already redirected into healing; it is not available for digestion. It is important to allow a sick body to proceed with healing and not to obstruct the process with unnecessary digestion or suppress the symptoms (which actually are the healing efforts) with drugs. If you have an acute illness, and you stop all food intake except for pure water and herb teas, and perhaps some vegetable broth, ...

— How and When to Be Your Own Doctor • Dr. Isabelle A. Moser with Steve Solomon

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