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Blocking   /blˈɑkɪŋ/   Listen
Blocking

noun
1.
The act of obstructing or deflecting someone's movements.  Synonym: block.



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"Blocking" Quotes from Famous Books



... it—with so many robots around, they've probably got signals that we couldn't understand, anyway. If we meet anybody it'll mean a battle. Hold it!" Peering through walls with his spy-ray, Costigan had seen two men approaching, blocking an intersecting corridor into which they must turn. "Two of 'em, a man and a robot—the robot's on your side. We'll wait here, right at the corner—when they round it, take 'em!" And Costigan put away his goggles ...
— Triplanetary • Edward Elmer Smith

... Wet made his escape ere the truth was borne in upon the burghers with an iron hand that their doom was sealed. General Rundle's force, which all along had been essentially a blocking force, and not a striking force, made a move on the 23rd of July. All day the cannons spoke to the burghers from Willow Grange, all day long the rifles rippled their leaden waves of death. We could see but little of the enemy; they lay concealed behind the loose rocks, and ...
— Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900) - Letters from the Front • A. G. Hales

... now—the contrast is great. Then the hideous Georgian "three-decker" reared its monstrous form, blocking out the sight of the sanctuary; immense pews like cattle-pens filled the nave. The woodwork was high and panelled, sometimes richly carved, as at Whalley Church, Lancashire, where some pews have posts at ...
— The Parish Clerk (1907) • Peter Hampson Ditchfield

... the 12th all was confusion at Pontlieue. Guns, waggons, horsemen, infantrymen, were congregated there, half blocking up the bridge which connects this suburb with Le Mans. A small force under General de Roquebrune was gallantly striving to check the Germans at one part of the Chemin des Boeufs, in order to cover the retreat. A cordon of gendarmes had been ...
— My Days of Adventure - The Fall of France, 1870-71 • Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

... accident, and one which had perhaps arrested the progress of the excavators. The roots of a large pine-tree growing close to the wall had been evidently loosened by the excavators, and the tree had fallen, with one of its largest roots still in the opening the miners had made, and apparently blocking the entrance. The large tree lay, as it fell—midway across another but much smaller outcrop of rock which stood sharply about fifteen feet above the level of the terrace—with its gaunt, dead limbs in the air at a low angle. To Johnny's boyish fancy it seemed so easily balanced ...
— Openings in the Old Trail • Bret Harte

... loved, some fragment of beauty to be admired. The mother washes and decks out the dirty or careless child, but no one can ask her to wash and deck out a goblin with a heart like hell. No one can kill the fatted calf for Mephistopheles. The cause which is blocking all progress today is the subtle scepticism which whispers in a million ears that things are not good enough to be worth improving. If the world is good we are revolutionaries, if the world is evil we must be conservatives. These essays, futile as they are considered ...
— The Defendant • G.K. Chesterton

... a distressing, hopeless sight, the vessel rising before us like the roof of a house, the deck planks stove in, a horrible jumble of running rigging, booms and spars, blocking the way forward. Aft it was clearer, the top-hamper of the after mast having fallen overboard, smashing a small boat as it fell, but leaving the deck space free. There were three bodies tangled in the wreckage within our sight, crushed ...
— Wolves of the Sea • Randall Parrish

... house the portion of the chamber used for sleeping quarters was covered with a thick mattress of dry "snake-grass," and the whole interior was remarkably clean. After blocking and patching up the hole and covering the place with snow, the hunters threw water over it until it froze into a solid mass, then they removed the stakes from the runways and left the rest of the beavers in peace. Loading their catch upon their ...
— The Drama of the Forests - Romance and Adventure • Arthur Heming

... in the best possible trim. It lacked two hours of nightfall but Dave had plenty to occupy his mind. For over an hour he sat looking over maps and memoranda, and blocking out his course. He had been very explicit and painstaking in questioning the moving picture man. He had made inquiries concerning Anseton and its vicinity down to the smallest detail. From all this Dave had decided on a permanent landing place, a sort of headquarters from which ...
— Dave Dashaway and his Hydroplane • Roy Rockwood

... our division superintendents had received numerous complaints that freight trains were in the habit of stopping on a grade crossing in a certain small town, thereby blocking travel for long periods. He issued orders, but still the complaints came in. Finally he decided to ...
— Toaster's Handbook - Jokes, Stories, and Quotations • Peggy Edmund & Harold W. Williams, compilers

... with his knee and Latham's head went back. His throat was hurting and blocking the air. The knee pressed harder, and it was bad. Then it was very bad. But he wouldn't let go of the power-rapier. The Jovian'll be here! ...
— One Purple Hope! • Henry Hasse

... by extensive elevated sandy downs, covered with heath and short scrub. The course of the river was about 230 degrees. At 1.35 p.m. ascended a remarkable red sandstone hill, with a table summit and steep rocks on all sides nearly blocking up the valley; at 2.15 p.m. resumed a general course of 242 degrees along the bank of the river, and at 4.5 bivouacked in a rich grassy flat thinly ...
— Journals of Australian Explorations • A C and F T Gregory

... into the heating coils, and the kiln is fairly warm, place the first car of material to be dried in the drying room—preferably in the morning—about 25 feet from the kiln door on the receiving or loading end of the kiln, blocking the wheels so that it will ...
— Seasoning of Wood • Joseph B. Wagner

... now rejoice in every experience I have—giving thanks for every apparent set back, and for every "seeming" blocking ...
— The Silence • David V. Bush

... could slip through and get under the Vryheid's stern, she had neatly swung up into the gap, blocking us out, and leaving us to put our helm hard a-port to avoid running in ...
— Kilgorman - A Story of Ireland in 1798 • Talbot Baines Reed

... little fatigued, had witnessed too many such scenes in former days of garrison life to take any interest in the proceeding. "How stupid these people are!" she irritably exclaimed. "Running like mad and blocking the streets to see a soldier arrested for absence from camp without a pass. ...
— Found in the Philippines - The Story of a Woman's Letters • Charles King

... level of a serious problem; I serve an idol whom I have never looked upon as God. She is charming—exquisite, but for some reason now when I am going home, I feel uneasy, as though I expected to meet with something inconvenient at home, such as workmen pulling the stove to pieces and blocking up the place with heaps of bricks. In fact, I am no longer giving up to love a sous, but part of my peace of mind and ...
— The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... crisis some of the soldiers refused to obey Pyrrhus's order to retreat, while others who were willing enough to do so could not stem the tide of men marching in from the gate. At the gate itself too the largest of the elephants had fallen sideways and lay there bellowing, blocking up the way for those who were trying to pass out, while one of the elephants of the reinforcing party, called "the Conqueror," was looking for his master, who had fallen off his back mortally wounded. Charging violently back against the ...
— Plutarch's Lives, Volume II • Aubrey Stewart & George Long

... the rights of a belligerent nation which a neutral is bound to regard, is the right of blockade. Blockade is a blocking up. A war blockade is the stationing of ships of war at the entrance of an enemy's ports, to prevent all vessels from coming out or going in. The object of a blockade is to hinder supplies of arms, ammunition, and provisions from entering, with a view to compel a surrender by hunger and ...
— The Government Class Book • Andrew W. Young

... abruptly and stood facing her, blocking the view over the river and the checkered slopes. "Perhaps I might say ...
— The Reef • Edith Wharton

... shan't not keep me from my Ben's concert!" That was what she said, with a vision of motors blocking the road in front of the little hall. But she had been a laundress best part of a lifetime—before she discovered herself as the mother of a genius—and it had bit into her bone: she could not get finished, and she could not leave ...
— The Best British Short Stories of 1922 • Edward J. O'Brien and John Cournos, editors

... the hotel on one side of the public square of Athens, with the palace and its gardens blocking one end, and yellow houses with red roofs, and gay awnings over the cafes, surrounding it. It was a bright sunny day, and the city was ...
— The Princess Aline • Richard Harding Davis

... driveway. An automobile stopped and she crossed over in the gap of the line of motors it made for her. The machine moved forward again, blocking any sight of her as she went ...
— Spring Street - A Story of Los Angeles • James H. Richardson

... success of the Hudson's Bay, the men of Fort Douglas were so flushed with pride they did not realize the risk of a brush with the Bois-Brules. Much, too, may be attributed to Governor Semple's inexperience; but it was very evident the purpose of the force deliberately blocking our path was not peaceable. If the Hudson's Bay blundered in coming out to challenge us, so did we, I frankly admit; for we regarded the advance as an audacious trick to hold us back till the Fort ...
— Lords of the North • A. C. Laut

... had gathered around the captain, effectually blocking his escape from the field. Frank, suspecting some such design, had tried his best to slip off unobserved; but hundreds of eyes were on him, and even his fellow players showed treachery, handing him over to ...
— The Boys of Columbia High on the Gridiron • Graham B. Forbes

... Indies. None of these movements of troops would have been possible unless we had secured the command of the sea. In addition, our sea supremacy has enabled us to maintain our commerce with the whole of the world, while blocking German commerce wherever we chose to use our power. The British Navy is the force which has determined the final defeat of Germany, and so long as we maintain that force at adequate strength we can face without flinching any danger ...
— A Journey Through France in War Time • Joseph G. Butler, Jr.

... day is torn with clamors, the sky is soiled with man's mounting hatred of man, and long, open wounds lie cruelly across the disputed earth. "Somewhere in France"—my mind goes back to remembered scenes: the crowd blocking the approach to a depot; white faces and staring eyes, eyes that alternately fear and hope, and in the crush a tickling gray line of returning PERMISSIONAIRES. "Somewhere in France"—on such a perfect day as this I see a little village street nestled among the trees, and hear the sound ...
— Defenders of Democracy • Militia of Mercy

... London. I was stopped half a dozen times on my way up the High Street by folks eager for personal details. Outside Prettilove the hairdresser's I held quite a little reception, and instead of moving me on for blocking the traffic, as any of his London colleagues would have done, the local police sergeant sank his authority and by the side of a butcher's boy ...
— The Red Planet • William J. Locke

... superb sergeant-major of the National Guard, newly equipped, a big, full-blooded fellow, with a red beard, the husband of a fashionable dressmaker, who every evening at the beer-house, after his sixth glass of beer would show, with matches, an infallible plan for blocking Paris and crushing the Prussian army like pepper, and was foolish enough ...
— A Romance of Youth, Complete • Francois Coppee

... two lines of the document in his hands, a noise as of a scuffle was heard in the passage way to the ward room. Mr. Baskirk was sent to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and he threw the door wide open. Dave was there, blocking the passage way, and Pink Mulgrum was trying to force his way towards the cabin door. The steward declared that no one must go to the cabin; it was the order of the captain himself. Mulgrum found it convenient not to hear on this occasion. The moment Baskirk appeared, the deaf mute exhibited ...
— On The Blockade - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray Afloat • Oliver Optic

... therein we travel twenty days' journey. Then we issue therefrom and come to a third country, called the Land of the Jnn, where, for stress of the crying of the Jinn and the flaming of fires and the flight of sparks and smoke from their mouths and the noise of their groaning and their arrogance in blocking up the road before us, our ears will be deafened and our eyes blinded, so that we shall neither hear nor see, nor dare any look behind him, or he perisheth: but there horseman boweth head on saddle-bow and raiseth it not for three days. After this, we abut upon a mighty mountain ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8 • Richard F. Burton

... the attempt would be futile, and would expose the blocking force itself to serious risks. There are two interpretations available here. I follow that of Chang Yu. The other is indicated in Ts'ao Kung's brief note: "Draw closer together"—i.e., see that a portion of your own army ...
— The Art of War • Sun Tzu

... city, painted in violet tints against an azure sky, to find it, as we approach, a splendid phantasmagoria. What we deemed citadels, domes and parapets, prove to be the silvery dolomite only: limestone rock thrown into every conceivable form, the imposing masses blocking the horizon; the shadow of a mighty Babylon darkening the heaven; but a Babylon untenanted from its earliest beginning—a phantom capital, an eldritch city, whose streets now for the first time echo with the sound of human ...
— The Roof of France • Matilda Betham-Edwards

... with which he had conquered the Sun, Maui rushed to the scene of danger. Seeing the rock blocking the river he raised his club and struck it a mighty blow. Nothing could resist the magic club! The rock split in two, allowing the strong current to rush unhindered ...
— Legends of Wailuku • Charlotte Hapai

... glanced deliberately around at the backs, slapped the broad back of the center sharply, seized the snapped ball, and made a swift, straight pass to Joel. Then through the Hillton line went the St. Eustace players, breaking down with vigor born of desperation the blocking of their opponents. With a leap into the air the St. Eustace left-guard bore down straight upon Joel; there was a concussion, and the latter went violently to earth, but not before his toe had met the rebounding ball; and the latter, describing a high arc, sailed safely, cleanly ...
— The Half-Back • Ralph Henry Barbour

... forward and on her right hand had caught sight of a black mass, lying almost under the horse's hoofs, and blocking the road. ...
— The Fat and the Thin • Emile Zola

... for him or his agents to suborn the men elected to office. The subservient and venal councilmen whom he now controlled might be replaced by men who, if no more honest, would be more loyal to the enemy, thus blocking the extension of his franchises. Yet upon a renewal period of at least twenty and preferably fifty years depended the fulfilment of all the colossal things he had begun—his art-collection, his new mansion, his growing prestige as a financier, his rehabilitation socially, and the celebration ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... thinly wooded but luxuriantly grassed, until near sunset, when, as we were about descending the brow of a low hill, I found that the Glenelg, having made a sudden turn, was close to us, whilst in our front, and completely blocking up our passage, there was a very large tributary which joined the river from the north-east; I therefore halted the party here for the night, and at once proceeded ...
— Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 1 (of 2) • George Grey

... of some sort was, however, very evident and the demand for it, insistent. If the southern Indians were not soon secured, they were bound to menace, not only Kansas, but Colorado[140] and to help materially in blocking the way ...
— The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War • Annie Heloise Abel

... the camp, they had constantly to remain on the rampart; that many had been wounded by the immense number of arrows and all kinds of missiles; that the engines were of great service in withstanding them; that Fabius, at their departure, leaving only two gates open, was blocking up the rest, and was adding breast-works to the ramparts, and was preparing himself for a similar casualty on the following day. Caesar, after receiving this information, reached the camp before sunrise owing to the very great ...
— "De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries • Caius Julius Caesar

... been fully informed that the Rebel Army is in the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot but regard our condition as critical, and I earnestly desire, in view of possible contingencies, to lay before your Excellency, for your private consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the ...
— The Great Conspiracy, Complete • John Alexander Logan

... gradually come to a pause while Mr. Dwerrihouse was speaking, and, on putting my head out of the window, I could see the station some few hundred yards ahead. There was another train before us blocking the way, and the guard was making use of the delay to collect the Blackwater tickets. I had scarcely ascertained our position when the ruddy-faced official appeared at our ...
— Stories by English Authors: England • Various

... which ends the central of the three bodies—they are hardly to be called nave and aisles—which make up the church of Laigle. But a Romanesque apse, rich or plain, is not improved by first cutting pointed windows in it and then blocking them up. And the apse, thus sadly mutilated, is further imprisoned. It barely peeps out between the east ends of the northern and southern bodies, of which the northern takes the form of a kind of transept. They are in the worst ...
— Sketches of Travel in Normandy and Maine • Edward A. Freeman

... is to get rid of the poison. How? By assisting it out; but alcohol keeps it in by blocking the doors, just as the doors were blocked in the terrible calamity at Sunderland not long ago. The alcohol makes the heart and circulation labor more. Alcohol not only retains the cholera poison, but retards the action of the heart. Brandy and opium used to be employed, ...
— Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why - What Medical Writers Say • Martha M. Allen

... ground. The chimney had been partly torn away by a cannon-ball. A shell had struck the roof of the building, ripping open quite a gutter in the rafters. A dead horse lay in the little yard directly in front of the house, actually blocking up the doorway, while shot and shell were scattered in every direction about the field in front and rear of this solitary homestead. I dismounted, determined to see who or what was ...
— Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive • Alf Burnett

... could pick out this house from all the others, as it was the only one in which a light was still burning. Mr. Sutherland lost no time in entering upon the scene of tragedy. As his imposing figure emerged from the darkness and paused on the outskirts of the crowd that was blocking up every entrance to the house, a murmur of welcome went up, after which a way was made for him to ...
— Agatha Webb • Anna Katharine Green

... and saw also. For a moment he hesitated, then wheeled round to run across the courtyard. Too late, for as he came the flames burst through the main roof of the house, and the timber front of it, blazing furiously, fell outwards, blocking the doorway, so that the place became a furnace into which none might enter ...
— The Lady Of Blossholme • H. Rider Haggard

... favor of the ordinary civilian's black and white. There is present, however, a military element, after all. Something like eight hundred guests are assembled here, and no little method is needed to enable such a crowd to move about from room to room without confusion and blocking-up of doorways and passages. So a couple of tall Guardsmen have been providently posted in every doorway, who, you will find, allow you readily enough to pass them in one direction, but, once passed, politely prohibit your returning on your steps, and ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 • Various

... from the avenue d'Antin into Rond Point des Champs Elysees, the nose of the pursuing car inched up on his right, effectually blocking any attempt to strike off toward the east, to the Boulevards and the centre of the city's life by night. He had no choice ...
— The Lone Wolf - A Melodrama • Louis Joseph Vance

... to dream of a warless world in which States are still absolutely free to annoy one another with tariffs, with the blocking and squeezing of trade routes, with the ill-treatment of immigrants and travelling strangers, and between which there is no means of settling boundary disputes. Moreover, as between the united States of the world and ...
— What is Coming? • H. G. Wells

... anhedonia, which we shall hear of from time to time, there is a blocking or dropping out of the sense of desire and satisfaction even if through habit one eats, drinks, has sexual relationship, keeps up his work and carries out his plans. This lack of desire for the joys of life is attended by a restlessness, a seeking ...
— The Foundations of Personality • Abraham Myerson

... rascal!" the lad angrily exclaimed. "What do you mean by blocking the sidewalk that way? It's against the law, and I could have ...
— Tom Swift in the City of Gold, or, Marvelous Adventures Underground • Victor Appleton

... it was a winner as soon as I looked at it. I glanced at Bob. He sent a sweeping look-about for police, then nodded his head. I lifted the hat from the Chinaman's head and pulled it down on my own. It was a perfect fit. Then I started. I heard Bob crying out, and I caught a glimpse of him blocking the irate Mongolian and tripping him up. I ran on. I turned up the next corner, and around the next. This street was not so crowded as K, and I walked along in quietude, catching my breath and congratulating myself upon my hat ...
— The Road • Jack London

... the opportunity of stopping at Suez to pay a visit to the grave of his friend and lieutenant, Gessi, who had lost his life and died at Suez from the hardships through which he passed on the Nile, partly owing to the blocking of that river by the "sudd," which had re-formed after Gordon left the Soudan, all precautionary measures having been neglected, and partly owing to the cruel neglect of the authorities, who might have taken more prompt measures for his relief. As his master was ...
— General Gordon - A Christian Hero • Seton Churchill

... a low tone, "'Roberts,' always 'Roberts'! Not 'Darley,' even then." He turned abruptly toward his own rooms, his great shoulders all but blocking the doorway as he passed ...
— The Dominant Dollar • Will Lillibridge

... a glance; he made her a sign that she ought to accept the offer. But she seemed stunned at such a fraud. She was standing there undecided when a policeman told her roughly that she was blocking up the street and that she must ...
— Nobody's Girl - (En Famille) • Hector Malot

... consequently reduced his park to what it issued from—Hounslow-heath: nay, he has hired a meadow next to mine, for the benefit of embarkation; and there lie all the good old corpses of oaks, ashes, and chestnuts, directly before your windows, and blocking up one of my views of the river! but so impetuous is the rage for building, that his Grace's timber will, I trust, not annoy us long. There will soon be one street from London to Brentford; ay, and from ...
— Letters of Horace Walpole - Volume II • Horace Walpole

... man's statement. Connie found, under the snow, evidences of the mouth of a tunnel, and then he saw that the whole face of the ledge had fallen forward, blocking the tunnel at the mouth. The small triangular opening used by the foxes, had originally been a notch in the old face of the ledge. The boy stared at the mass of rock in dismay. Fully twelve feet of solid rock separated the man from the outside world! Once more he placed his mouth ...
— Connie Morgan in the Fur Country • James B. Hendryx

... it Gingerbread House, and imagined wonderful things inside it. One day, hand in hand, the three went up and knocked on the door. The old man opened it. "What do you want, children?" he asked kindly, but blocking the door. Yes, what did they want—none of them knew. And there they ...
— Ditte: Girl Alive! • Martin Andersen Nexo

... after that narrow scrape at the gates the man roused up to peer back through the rear window of the limousine, Sofia heard a harshly sibilant intake of breath between shut teeth, and surmised the discovery that the car which had so narrowly missed blocking their escape had picked up the trail, and was now in ...
— Red Masquerade • Louis Joseph Vance

... man in the car turned toward the crowd which was blocking the way to the exit. "Get those men out of the way!" he yelled to the guards. "Drive them along—God damn them, they've got no business in here." And so on, with a string of dynamic profanity, which stung both guards and policemen ...
— Jimmie Higgins • Upton Sinclair

... is wrought iron; truck, on which the front wheel is hung, wrought iron. The axles are cast steel. The engine and pump is a double-acting piston pump direct, without any rotary motion; with a perfect balance valve, it is balanced at all times, and hence the engine remains quiet without blocking, when at work. The engine is mounted on three wheels, which enables it to be turned in a ...
— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne

... wonderfully to have made that depth of covering in about eight hours. For one of Master Stickles' men, who had been out all the night, said that no snow began to fall until nearly midnight. And here it was, blocking up the doors, stopping the ways, and the water courses, and making it very much worse to walk than in a saw-pit newly used. However, we trudged along in a line; I first, and the other men after me; trying to keep my track, but finding legs and strength not up to it. Most of all, John Fry ...
— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

... I didn't," said Lord Newhaven, gently drawing Dick aside, whose back was serenely blocking a stream of new arrivals. "I fancy—in fact, I'm simply delighted to see you. How is the wine getting on? But I suppose there must be other Dick Vernons on my wife's list. Have ...
— Red Pottage • Mary Cholmondeley

... him aside with her feeble strength, but big and burly, he stood in the path like a rock, blocking the way, with the stone entrance walls of the little pleasure-house ...
— Smith and the Pharaohs, and Other Tales • Henry Rider Haggard

... days we stayed on unwillingly in Louvain we were not once out of sight of German soldiers, nor by day or night out of sound of their threshing feet and their rumbling wheels. We never looked; this way or that but we saw their gray masses blocking up the distances. We never entered shop or house but we found Germans already there. We never sought to turn off the main-traveled streets into a byway but our path was barred by a guard seeking to know our business. ...
— Paths of Glory - Impressions of War Written At and Near the Front • Irvin S. Cobb

... couldn't see it. But then poor old Tuppy has never been very hot on the finer shades. He's one of those large, tough, football-playing blokes who lack the more delicate sensibilities, as I've heard Jeeves call them. Excellent at blocking a punt or walking across an opponent's face in cleated boots, but not so good when it comes to understanding the highly-strung female temperament. It simply wouldn't occur to him that a girl might be prepared to give up her life's happiness ...
— Right Ho, Jeeves • P. G. Wodehouse

... Mrs. Brenner's sight as quickly as they could. The other men piled out of the door, blocking the last vision of her son, but his bleating cries came shrilling ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920 • Various

... do you take me for?" Anstey had come to the doorway, but stayed there, blocking the passage. Prescott stepped to the fireplace and stooped as though to look under the loose bricks. Dodge, in a panic, got there before him and pulled ...
— Dick Prescott's First Year at West Point • H. Irving Hancock

... for them Germany has declared the law off, that they will be slaughtered at sight. They know also that despite the Grand Fleet and the armies in France, the Allies and their cause will go down in complete defeat if Germany succeeds in blocking the routes of commerce. The insurmountable obstacle in her path is the simple, old-fashioned dogged courage ...
— The Land of Deepening Shadow - Germany-at-War • D. Thomas Curtin

... in Tonquin effectually ties the hands of France. The announcement of the blocking of Canton harbor is the only important event of the week in ...
— Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 3, January 19, 1884. - A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside • Various

... the parapets. It was ghastly, but you get accustomed to ghastly things out here. You realise that fifty dead bodies are not equal to one living. And these poor fellows, who only a few minutes before had been alive and full of vigour, were now just blocking the trench. And so we simply lifted the bodies out and cast them over the top. By this time the trench was absolutely full of wounded, and our little party was told to act as stretcher-bearers, and to get ...
— One Young Man • Sir John Ernest Hodder-Williams

... had recovered from the first momentary shock I turned and looked behind me. There, close upon me, with his huge form blocking the narrow entrance, stood Rama Ragobah, my rival, his face hideous with malignant triumph! I was trapped, and that, too, by a man whom my hatred, could it have worked its will, would have plunged into the uttermost hell of torment. I felt sure my hour had come, but my assassin should not have ...
— The Darrow Enigma • Melvin L. Severy

... Perched on the top of the load, under a wide-spread umbrella, and fanning himself with his straw hat, was Van Dorn, his face irradiated by a broad smile as he caught sight of Houston. Two of the men walked beside the team, blocking the wheels with rocks, as the horses were occasionally stopped to rest. As they came within speaking distance, ...
— The Award of Justice - Told in the Rockies • A. Maynard Barbour

... Doberschutz,—on the strong ground he held after Hochkirch, while Daun, two years ago, sat watching so quiescent. Daun knows what kind of march these Prussians, blocked out from relief of Neisse, stole on him THEN, and saved their Silesia, in spite of his watching and blocking;—and has plunged off, in the manner of a cart-horse scared into galloping, to avoid the like." What a Sabbath-day's journey, on both sides, for those Sons of War! Nothing in the Roman times, though they had less baggage, comes up to such modern marching: nor is this the fastest of Friedrich's, ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

... like that of St. Alban's shrine, was broken up into many fragments after the dissolution of the monastery. The fragments were built into sundry walls, but many of them were discovered when the walls blocking up the arches at the east end of the Saint's Chapel were removed; they were put together as far as possible, but as the east and north sides are missing, the position the pedestal now occupies is not an unfitting one, as these ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans - With an Account of the Fabric & a Short History of the Abbey • Thomas Perkins

... herds must have passed before the accident had occurred; for there was scarcely room to allow the animals to get by between the cart and the ditch. Just as Mr Strelley's herd arrived at the waggon, over it went, completely blocking ...
— John Deane of Nottingham - Historic Adventures by Land and Sea • W.H.G. Kingston

... his back to the grate, his broad shoulders blocking out the lower half of a picture of the Infant Samuel above the mantel-shelf, he towered over the frail invalid, concerning whose health he asked a few perfunctory questions ...
— Brother Copas • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... "is, in the first place, something you had no business to read; and, in the second, simply the blocking out of an entrancingly beautiful poem. It ...
— The Cords of Vanity • James Branch Cabell et al

... behind. Isolated tenacious detachments full of enthusiasm became convinced themselves of their instability in their first serious clashes with German regulars. This still further lowered the country's spirits. The old army had long ago been hopelessly defeated and was going to pieces, blocking all the roads and byways. The new army, owing to the country's general exhaustion, the fearful disorganization of industries and the means of transportation, was being got together too slowly. Distance was the only serious obstacle in the way ...
— From October to Brest-Litovsk • Leon Trotzky

... invader to the death when they must, they yet preferred, for a while, the policy of embarrassing and impeding him, rather than openly exposing themselves to his attacks. Whole brigades were therefore employed in the work of destroying the bridges, blocking up the roads with fallen trees, and putting every possible obstruction in the way of his advance, so that his delay, where he now lay at Fort Ann, might be protracted till a sufficient force could be gathered to meet him with a more ...
— The Rangers - [Subtitle: The Tory's Daughter] • D. P. Thompson

... shielded, better protection can be provided by blocking the entrance way with 8-inch concrete blocks or an equivalent thickness of sandbags, bricks, earth or other shielding material, after all occupants are inside the shelter. A few inches should be left open at the top for air. After particles have stopped falling, the outside door may ...
— In Time Of Emergency - A Citizen's Handbook On Nuclear Attack, Natural Disasters (1968) • Department of Defense

... anywhere are more beautiful than the San Juan group, blocking the entrance to the Straits of Georgia, rivaling as they do the Thousand Isles of the St. Lawrence or the classical Grecian Archipelago. There are 172 of them, including 122 with names suggesting their own ...
— The Beauties of the State of Washington - A Book for Tourists • Harry F. Giles

... it was ordered to take position on the right of Ludlow's brigade at 11.30, when Capron's battery ceased its firing for the fifty minutes. "We were detained in reaching our position by troops in our front blocking the road," says the brigade commander. "We came into action directly in front of the stone blockhouse at 12.30, and from that hour until about 4.30, when the command 'cease firing' was given, the blockhouse having been captured, ...
— The Colored Regulars in the United States Army • T. G. Steward

... of our near neighbours which a thousand years or so ago had a name if nothing else, but that name has come down to present time with less change than is usual, and, possibly through the Calthorpe estate blocking the way, the parish itself has changed but very slowly, considering its close proximity to busy, bustling Birmingham. This apparent stagnation, however, has endeared it to us Brums not a little, on account of the many pleasant ...
— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

... Evesham stood a grange, which had for some time been disused, the ground belonging to it having been sequestrated and given to the lord of an adjoining estate, who did not care to have the grange occupied. In this ten men, headed by Cnut, took up their residence, blocking up the window of the hall with hangings, so that the light of the fire kindled ...
— The Boy Knight • G.A. Henty

... sheer boldness succeeds in warfare; here was a small body of troops marching forty miles en l'air through the enemy's fastnesses, and at the weary end unknown thousands blocking the way. With scarce a halt, horse and foot plodded on and on, till evening came and darkness fell, and still they marched along the dimly marked track. Near midnight the lights of Kabul and Sherpur ...
— The Story of the Guides • G. J. Younghusband

... days of the past it had claimed much more—goods, and cattle, and tribute of the traffic going northward—as the loop-holed quadrangle for impounded stock, and the deeply embrasured tower, showed. At the back of the house rose a mountain spine, blocking out the westering sun, but cut with one deep portal where a pass ran into Westmoreland—the scaur-gate whence the house was named; and through this gate of mountain often, when the day was waning, a bar of slanting sunset entered, like a plume of golden dust, and hovered on a broad black patch ...
— Mary Anerley • R. D. Blackmore

... enormous blocks to the valley below. There they lie, the road passing between, in the wildest and most indescribable confusion. Here a heap piled one above another, there a mighty shoulder split in twain by a conical fragment which rests in the breach that it made; some towering above the road, others blocking the river below, a few isolated and many half-buried; but all combining to form as wild and wonderful a chaos as the eye could wish to gaze on, but which the pen must fail to describe. Far away ...
— Twixt France and Spain • E. Ernest Bilbrough

... another of the principal sea-ports of the States. It is the largest town in South Carolina, and is situated at a low point of land at the confluence of two rivers. It is the stronghold of slavery. One of the most recent events connected with it is that of the Northerners blocking up the harbour by sinking several ships, laden with stones, at the entrance. This is a very barbarous act, as it closes—perhaps for ever—one of the first ports ...
— Peter Parley's Tales About America and Australia • Samuel Griswold Goodrich

... saw was a large log blocking the channel. The propellers were pounding against it, and one ...
— Boy Scouts in an Airship • G. Harvey Ralphson

... Jew! there's a slap in the face for you," said, in an audible whisper, one of the train, who had been standing in front of all the friends, blocking out the view. As for Lady Mariamne, she stared more straight than ever into Mrs. Dennistoun's eyes, but for the moment did not seem to find anything to say. She was left in the hall with her band while the mistress of the house went into the drawing-room, followed by all ...
— The Marriage of Elinor • Margaret Oliphant

... There had not elapsed sufficient time since the commission of the offense for the other firm to secure the issuance of this interesting document, so it was at once evident that the whole affair had been pre-arranged by the up-river firm for the purpose of blocking off Thorpe's drive. After serving the injunction, ...
— The Blazed Trail • Stewart Edward White

... of the animals and the trampling of their hoofs upon the rocks grew fainter in the distance, and the golden nimbus that overhung them was lost to sight among the thick pines, while down in the road beneath the tide of vehicles and pedestrians was flowing still as strong as ever, blocking the passage of the troops, and as they drew near Belfort the men had to be brought to a halt again and again, so irresistible was the force ...
— The Downfall • Emile Zola

... "The colon being the part of the bowel involved in obstruction due to fecal accumulation, it may be further assumed that the blocking of the gut will most usually concern its lower or terminal parts. Accumulation of feces is most common in the rectum and sigmoid flexure, and then in the cecum. Masses of feces may block the colon at any point, and more particularly at the flexures of the bowel. Still, ...
— Intestinal Ills • Alcinous Burton Jamison

... they constitute one of the beauties most picturesque in old England, make sad deductions from produce; great trees, overshadowing the corn and harbouring the birds; little patches of rough sward left to waste; and angles of woodland running into fields, exposing them to rabbits and blocking out the sun. These and such like blots on a gentleman-farmer's agriculture, common-sense and Giacomo had made clear to the acute comprehension of Leonard. No such faults were perceptible in Richard Avenel's domain. The fields lay in broad divisions, the hedges were clipped and narrowed ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... evacuation of the tuberculous pus, with careful antiseptic measures. The opening should be in as dependent a position as possible in order that the drainage may be thorough. If tension recurs after opening has been made, as by the blocking of the tube, or by its imperfect position, or by its being too short, there is likely to be a fresh formation of pus, and without delay the whole procedure must be gone through again. ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... did not immediately descend. It led her levelly to an almost circular green space; then it became enclosed again and soft to the feet with grass; and just ahead of her, blocking her way, she saw two figures, those of a woman and a man. Their backs were towards her, but there was no mistaking Aunt Rose's back. It was straight without being stiff, her dress fell with a unique perfection and the little hat ...
— THE MISSES MALLETT • E. H. YOUNG

... wandering in circles, looked across the wilderness of women's hats at Shiela Cardross, but a dozen men surrounded her, and among them he noticed the graceful figure of Malcourt directly in front of her, blocking any signal ...
— The Firing Line • Robert W. Chambers

... stormy night sky above. A moon was glowing faintly behind scudding clouds, and the gray-black of flying shadows formed an opening as they watched, a wind-blown opening like a doorway to the infinity beyond, where, blocking out the stars, was a something that brought a breath-catching shout ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930 • Various

... ambition in that direction and to take up the study of theology. At this writing he is a popular preacher, who will always believe it was a most providential thing for our country that turned him aside from blocking the entrance of George Dewey to the Naval ...
— Dewey and Other Naval Commanders • Edward S. Ellis

... showed a strong disposition to lionize Clint for his blocking of Cherry Valley's drop-kick, and when he entered the dining hall that evening he received more applause than, any of the other players. It was his first experience of being clapped to his seat and he found himself heartily ...
— Left Tackle Thayer • Ralph Henry Barbour

... began cursing at the trickle of smoke under the motor frame. It was nothing—a child could have put it out with a bucket of sand. But upon it fell Tedge and the engineer, stamping, shouting, shoving oil-soaked waste upon it, and covertly blocking off the astounded black deckman when he rushed ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1921 • Various

... and arrived near Blackwood Camp. This meant that our way near Gourjsberg had been cut off. All we could do was to keep the road along Poortjesnek well defended, for if the enemy were to succeed in blocking that as well, we would be in a trap ...
— My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War • Ben Viljoen

... chair and gazed up at the ceiling, again collecting his data in his mind. He had dictated before to Miss Kennard and knew how Mern wanted his names and his facts. "Subject, the spring drives on the Noda water. Object, hanging up or blocking the independent ...
— Joan of Arc of the North Woods • Holman Day

... say, instead of Bible crimes that had been committed centuries ago, he dwelt strong and as if his hull heart wuz in his words on that terrible national crime back of most all the other sins and crimes of to-day. That stands a huge black shape blocking up the world's progress, that we ort to try our best to fight aginst, and how we had a Helper. And his idee wuz that good men, clergymen and such, who are wont to stand off and look down on the battlefield, ort to buckle on their armor and join in ...
— Samantha at Coney Island - and a Thousand Other Islands • Marietta Holley

... back on the water front, and across the end of the two entrances to its wide space they drew some heavy wagons, which had been set there in readiness, blocking them. One could only see now and then what was being done, as the wind drifted the black smoke aside, for now every house ...
— A King's Comrade - A Story of Old Hereford • Charles Whistler

... was the quaint group of choristers Hogarth had so admirably sketched, headed by the Sexton Mortefee, grimacing dreadfully as he leads on his terrible band to discord. A square, ugly church enough, with the great Devonshire pew—a small parlour with the roof off—half blocking up the chancel: a thing to be forgiven then, for the lovely Duchess sat there, and the sight of her angel head was surely enough to give new zest to the congregation's prayers and praises. A church such as Hogarth often drew, with its 'three-decker' ...
— Art in England - Notes and Studies • Dutton Cook

... dark stone image Henry stood, his hand upon the open door, his eyes fastened upon the man blocking the way. ...
— Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter • Lawrence L. Lynch

... world's greatest hope for peace, has come through a year of trial stronger and more useful than ever. The free nations have stood together in blocking Communist attempts to tear ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Harry S. Truman • Harry S. Truman

... day arrived. From first light the whole of Terascon was afoot, blocking the Avignon road and the approaches to the little house of the baobab. There were people at windows, on roofs, up trees. Bargees from the Rhone, stevedores, boot-blacks, clerks, weavers, the club members, in fact the whole town. Then there were people from Beaucaire who had come across ...
— Tartarin de Tarascon • Alphonse Daudet

... and bowed and went his way hurriedly, his pale lips working nervously with the excitement that filled him. The mountain of difficulty was there, implacably blocking the way. But beyond was the door of opportunity, and the door was ajar. There must, thought Peter, be some way to pass the mountain and ...
— Starr, of the Desert • B. M Bower

... is a terrible lion blocking up the way of every undertaking, and never does he appear so formidable as at the outset of school teaching, unless it is in writing a story. I cast about in my mind for various models, as a sort of guide; but the only spirits that emerged ...
— Continental Monthly , Vol IV, Issue VI, December 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... German hosts marched down Chestnut Street they came to Independence Hall and here, blocking the way on their sorrel horses with two white mounted trumpeters, was the First City Troop, sixty-five men under Captain J. Franklin McFadden, in their black coats and white doeskin riding-breeches, ...
— The Conquest of America - A Romance of Disaster and Victory • Cleveland Moffett

... come up from the hull at any moment and stop us. The duty man over us gazed down, his huge head and shoulders blocking the small signal room window. Brotow called up in Martian, telling him to let us come. He scowled, but when we reached the trap in the room floor grid, we found him standing aside ...
— Brigands of the Moon • Ray Cummings

... larger midshipman. He plunged in, heavily and blindly, blocking one of Darrin's blows by wrapping both ...
— Dave Darrin's Second Year at Annapolis - Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters" • H. Irving Hancock

... before," he said. "They'll have learned their lesson from Hal Dozier. They'll take the telephone and rouse the towns all along the mountains. In two hours, Andy, two hundred men will be blocking every trail and closin' ...
— Way of the Lawless • Max Brand

... leaves and the huge brilliant blossom of a strange plant whose twisted stem projects from right front. Nothing is seen except this plant and its shadow. A violent wind is heard. A moment later a buzzer. It buzzes once long and three short. Silence. Again the buzzer. Then from below—his shadow blocking the light, comes ANTHONY, a rugged man past middle life;—he emerges from the stairway into the darkness of the room. Is dimly seen taking ...
— Plays • Susan Glaspell

... Joe was busy; we could hear him urging his crowd to be quiet and peaceful. Newman pushed through our crowd until he was fairly into the port foc'sle, and there he stood, filling the doorway, and effectually blocking any attempt on the part of those behind ...
— The Blood Ship • Norman Springer

... the corner he saw Jimmie's heels half blocking a cellar window. Thick smoke was oozing out around him, and Frank and Jack were trying to pull ...
— Boy Scouts on Motorcycles - With the Flying Squadron • G. Harvey Ralphson

... of the ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS, I gave an account of a terrible cyclone which visited the north-eastern coast of Queensland in the autumn of 1866, nearly destroying the small settlements of Cardwell and Townsville, and doing an infinity of damage by uprooting heavy timber, blocking up the bush roads, etc. Amongst other calamities attendant on this visitation was the loss of a small coasting schooner, named the 'Eva', bound from Cleveland to Rockingham Bay, with cargo and passengers. Only those who ...
— Australian Search Party • Charles Henry Eden

... glanced about her, hoping to catch sight of those whom she sought. She did not look in vain, for almost immediately the giant, Curling Smoke, uncurled his tall form from a deep chasm in the cliff close by and towered high above her, blocking the way. ...
— The Shadow Witch • Gertrude Crownfield

... leading his horse, slowly advanced a few paces. He saw a dully bright object—a gun—before he discovered the man who held it. A few more steps showed a dark figure blocking the trail. Here ...
— The Lone Star Ranger • Zane Grey

... preparations there are to fortify Sheernesse and the yard at Portsmouth, and forces are drawing down to both those places, and elsewhere by the seaside; so that we have some fear of an invasion; and the Duke of York himself did declare his expectation of the enemy's blocking us up here in the River, and therefore directed that we should send away all the ships that we have to fit out hence. Sir W. Pen told me, going with me this morning to White Hall, that for certain the Duke of Buckingham is brought into ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... smaller and more concentrated than in India and the racial divisions hinder its unity. Egypt is nominally under the suzerainty of Turkey, though occupied by Great Britain, and now that Turkey has set up a Constitution and a Parliament, patriotic Egyptian politicians are impatient at the blocking out by the British authorities of ...
— The Rise of the Democracy • Joseph Clayton

... from a blocking off of the blood vessels that drain the leg, a condition which has very serious possibilities. He weighed these possibilities, says Dr. Richard S. Austin, but like most patients he figured there was always the chance that he might not have to pay the price. He was like the physician who when ...
— Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati • Warren C. Herrick

... upon them the necessity of building forts on the two carrying-places between the Hudson and Lakes George and Champlain, thus blocking the path of war-parties from Canada. They would do nothing, insisting that the neighboring colonies, to whom the forts would also be useful, ought to help in building them; and when it was found ...
— A Half-Century of Conflict, Volume II • Francis Parkman

... two surprises when you meet a bear. You have one, and he has the other. On your tramps and camps in the big woods you may be on the lookout for Mooween; you may be eager and even anxious to meet him; but when you double the point or push into the blueberry patch and, suddenly, there he is, blocking the path ahead, looking intently into your eyes to fathom at a glance your intentions, then, I fancy, the experience is like that of people who have the inquisitive habit of looking under their beds nightly for a burglar, and at last find him there, stowed away snugly, just where they always ...
— Wood Folk at School • William J. Long

... funny—It may not seem particularly so now, but when you think that for months past we had only had dealings with French and Belgian soldiers, you will understand how it amused us. Outside an Estaminet was a horse and cart partly across the road, and just sufficiently blocking it. The driver called out to a Tommy lounging outside the Inn to pull it over a little. He gave a truly British grunt, and went to the horse's head. Nothing happened for some seconds, and we waited impatiently. Presently ...
— Fanny Goes to War • Pat Beauchamp

... of the transport, which had been sent along the direct road from Meerzicht to Amersfoort, broke down in a bad drift, thus blocking the remainder. No wagons arrived in Amersfoort that night, and the men after their long tramp, a continuous march without a halt from 7.30 a.m. till about 8.30 at night, were without greatcoats or blankets. The night was ...
— The Record of a Regiment of the Line • M. Jacson

... forward. Jimmy moved toward them. Jimmy was never quite good enough to make the varsity team in his four years at college. But he had tried for four years and he had always been on the squad. His coach had, what amounted to a phobia, in the matter of blocking. Thus Jimmy, if he learned nothing else, had learned how to block. His coach had said repeatedly that no man can become a football player unless he learn to block. He had blocked and tackled big, fast, bruising varsity players ...
— Death Points a Finger • Will Levinrew

... is the last town of France on the Gulf of Lions, a few miles from the Spanish border. From it you can see the great white monster of Le Canigou, the pride of the Eastern Pyrenees, far, far away, blocking up the valley of the Tet, which flows sluggishly past the little town. The Quai Sadi-Carnot (is there a provincial town in France which has not a something Sadi-Carnot in it?) is on the left bank of the Tet; at one end is the modern Place Arago, at the other Le Castillet, a round, castellated ...
— The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol • William J. Locke

... left-hand side, was spinning away through Chatham, and down the straight road to Canterbury. They slowed up going through Sittingbourne and Faversham, which were already in the hands of the Allied forces, thanks to John Castellan's precautions in blocking all railroads to Dover, and the German flag was saluted by the garrisons, much to Lord Kitchener's quietly-expressed displeasure, but he knew they were playing for a big stake, and so he just touched his cap, as they swung through the narrow streets, and ...
— The World Peril of 1910 • George Griffith

... no noise but the brawling and babbling of the stream, making its way among the stones, and pouring in a little cataract round one side of the mouldering dam. Looking up the brook, there was a long vista,—now ripples, now smooth and glassy spaces, now large rocks, almost blocking up the channel; while the trees stood upon either side, mostly straight, but here and there a branch thrusting itself out irregularly, and one tree, a pine, leaning over,—not bending,—but leaning at an angle over the brook, rough and ragged; birches, alders; the tallest of all the trees ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 101, March, 1866 • Various

... non-combatants and increased the confusion. The advance of the previous day was now the rear-guard. After plundering the abandoned baggage, the Afghans set to harassing the rear-guard, whose progress was delayed by the disorderly multitude blocking the road in front. The three mountain guns, temporarily separated from the infantry, were captured by a sudden Afghan rush. In vain Anquetil strove to rouse the 44th to make an effort for their recapture. Green was more successful ...
— The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80 • Archibald Forbes

... principal products of the manufacturing industry. To the north of the town is the monument of the Kirk-lar, or "forty heroes," who fell defending Daghestan against the Arabs in 728; and to the south lies the seaward extremity of the Caucasian wall (50 m. long), otherwise known as Alexander's wall, blocking the narrow pass of the Iron Gate or Caspian Gates (Portae Albanae or Portae Caspiae). This, when entire, had a height of 29 ft. and a thickness of about 10 ft., and with its iron gates and numerous watch-towers formed a valuable ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 - "Demijohn" to "Destructor" • Various

... stretched between lamp posts. Blue-coated men on horses began blocking streets. Old women with wooden boxes, children with flashing eyes, men in rich suits and tattered suits ...
— Celebrity • James McKimmey

... with the enemy.[281] On the 20th of the month he reported that "five sail were now anchored between Point Peninsula and Stoney Island, about ten miles from the harbor, and two brigs between Stoney Island and Stoney Point, completely blocking both passes." He added, "This is the first time that I have experienced the mortification of being blockaded on the lakes."[282] The line thus occupied by the enemy covered the entire entrance to ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 2 • Alfred Thayer Mahan

... signalling, which had recently been introduced on part of the line, necessitated constant attention, and a series of acts, which gave the signalman no rest, during certain periods of his watch, for more than two minutes at a time, if so long. The block system is the method of protecting trains by "blocking" the line; that is, forbidding the advance of trains until the line is clear, thus securing an interval of space between trains, instead of the older and more common method of an interval of time. ...
— The Iron Horse • R.M. Ballantyne

... Thursday last—and attempt something like an abstract of its memorabilia. This may appear for us a toilsome task, but if the reader be not fatigued also, our time will not be misspent. Begin "at the beginning" with the old English title, broken by the royal arms—like a blocking-course; and the No. and date in a sort of typographical entablature. The first side is filled by 188 advertisements, for the most part, classed ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 13, - Issue 368, May 2, 1829 • Various

... visible answer to my last question I saw the infernal Thing blocking my path in the twilight. The dead travel fast, and by short cuts unknown to ordinary coolies. I laughed aloud a second time and checked my laughter suddenly, for I was afraid I was going mad. Mad to a certain extent I ...
— Indian Tales • Rudyard Kipling

... we reached a door, set in a rough stone wall, stretched across and completely blocking up the Cave; which was no sooner opened, than our lamps were extinguished by the violence of the wind rushing outwards. An accurate estimate of the external temperature, may at any time, be made, by noting the ...
— Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844 - By a Visiter • Alexander Clark Bullitt

... so dear and precious as time," rejoice in this one long, golden day in Angers. I am writing after our second dejeuner. We have all spent the morning in the most strenuous sightseeing, going to the cathedral first, which is quite near, its apse blocking the street on which the Cheval Blanc stands. From the west front of the cathedral, which is very narrow in proportion to its height, the ground suddenly descends to the river, a long, broad flight of steps taking the place of a street. There are, on the facade, ...
— In Chteau Land • Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

... in the driveway, blocking it, stood a red motor car—a little runabout affair; and at the steering-wheel sat a woman—a lady's maid by her cap and narrow apron, and an ...
— The Green Mouse • Robert W. Chambers

... by tears, she indulged herself at last in violent abuse of the entire day. It had been miserable from start to finish; first, the service in the chapel; then luncheon; then Evelyn; then Miss Allan; then old Mrs. Paley blocking up the passage. All day long she had been tantalized and put off. She had now reached one of those eminences, the result of some crisis, from which the world is finally displayed in its true proportions. She disliked the look of it immensely—churches, ...
— The Voyage Out • Virginia Woolf

... hill, you see Mr Concannan's mansion—Castle Concannan, we call it, you'll remember—and a pretty dacent castle it is, with its high, thick walls and courtyard; it would take a pretty strong earthquake to shake it down. He has made it stronger still, by blocking up some of the ...
— The Young Llanero - A Story of War and Wild Life in Venezuela • W.H.G. Kingston

... he could muster, Clee concentrated on one simple, strong thought. He hardly heard the triumphant cries of the slaves as they felt the blocking furniture give before their efforts; all his energy was being expended in the will to ...
— Astounding Stories, July, 1931 • Various

... I ought not to be standing here, blocking the way!" John admitted to himself. "I wonder is London always like this, ...
— The Foolish Lovers • St. John G. Ervine

... He saw James' carriage blocking the pavement in front of 'The Bower.' So they had got there before him—cackling about having seen him, he dared say! And further on, Swithin's greys were turning their noses towards the noses of James' bays, as though in conclave ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... in advance, the gunboats following in line ahead. The enemy began with heavy musketry and two field pieces, by which the Warner's rudders were disabled; she continued on a short distance till a bend was reached, and here, being unable to make the turn, she went ashore, blocking also the channel to the two armed vessels. A heavy force of infantry with artillery now opened on the three, the gunboats replying for three hours, when the Warner hoisted a white flag. Lieutenant Lord of the Covington still kept up his fire and sent to burn the ...
— The Gulf and Inland Waters - The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3. • A. T. Mahan

... go no further, young ladies," she said, her ample form blocking their progress. "There is an important meeting up-stairs, and no one ...
— Peggy Owen and Liberty • Lucy Foster Madison

... the other as best befitted his age and each regarding himself as the equal of the other in respect of qualities, refused to give the way to the other. And at this juncture Narada appeared there, and beholding what had happened, the celestial Rishi asked, 'Why is it that ye both stand here blocking each other's way?' And thus questioned both of them spoke to Narada saying, 'O holy one, do not speak so. The sages of old have declared that the way should be given to one who is superior or to him that is abler. We, however, ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... by the remainder of the dogs. The noble beasts, both of which were apparently young animals, and but barely full-grown, evidently intended to make for fresh cover in the ravine, but, finding Grosvenor blocking the way, came to a sudden halt, upon which the dogs instantly gathered round them, yapping and snarling furiously, while individual members made sudden feints of dashing in, only to retreat precipitately with their tails between their ...
— The Adventures of Dick Maitland - A Tale of Unknown Africa • Harry Collingwood

... the Government, and come triumphantly even through the window-breaking episode. For if that episode was followed by the rejection of the second reading of the woman suffrage Bill, second readings, like the oaths of the profane, had come to be absolutely without significance, and the blocking of the Bill beyond this stage has been assured long before by the tactics of Mr. Redmond, whose passion for justice, like Mr. Asquith's passion for popular government, is so curiously monosexual. The only discount from the Union's winnings is that it gave mendacious M.P.'s, anxious to ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 21 - The Recent Days (1910-1914) • Charles F. Horne, Editor

... interests lay in winning elections; dividing the offices among the party workers; distributing profitable contracts for public work; procuring the passage of legislation desired by industrial or railroad companies, or blocking measures objected to by them. A vivid picture of the activities of the boss in New York, drawn by Elihu Root, will serve to portray conditions in many states and cities from ...
— The United States Since The Civil War • Charles Ramsdell Lingley

... generally very low and massive; and the exterior, especially of the upper story, was often decorated with arcades of blank semicircular and intersecting arches; the parapet consisted of a plain projecting blocking-course, supported ...
— The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed. • Matthew Holbeche Bloxam

... hummock or ridge of ice lay in front of the man, blocking his view of the horizon in that direction. It had probably been heaved up by one of the convulsions of the previous autumn, and was broken into a chaotic mass. Here he stopped and looked up, with a sigh. But the sinking of the heart was momentary. ...
— Red Rooney - The Last of the Crew • R.M. Ballantyne

... the blinded monster dashed forward, missed the circular door, and, butting his head against the stone wall to the left, fell completely stunned, effectively blocking the doorway with its huge body. One enormous hind leg, fully ten feet long, and equipped with three razor-like claws, projected into the cell and lashed aimlessly back and forth, forcing the two prisoners ...
— Astounding Stories, March, 1931 • Various

... from accomplishing the programme laid out for him. Its impracticability was demonstrated early on the 27th, and Hancock's soldierly instincts told him this the moment he unexpectedly discovered Kershaw blocking the New Market and Charles City roads. To Hancock the temptation to assault Kershaw's position was strong indeed, but if he carried it there would still remain the dubious problem of holding the line necessary ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... are Miss Todd's orders," answered Miss Beverley briskly. "Your names are on cards pinned on to the doors of your new rooms. Pass along at once, and find your quarters and begin to unpack. Don't stand here blocking up the passage! Yes, Betty? Miss Hampson wants to speak to me? Tell her ...
— A harum-scarum schoolgirl • Angela Brazil

... droves of sheep we met were more polite than non-Devonshire sheep, for instead of blocking our way obstinately, keeping just in front so that we could pass on neither side, they thoughtfully charged into village inns and cottage gardens. But, of course, you can't expect pink sheep to act like ordinary mutton-hood. These Devonshire creatures look exactly ...
— Set in Silver • Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

... tell the magistrate then!" shouted the official, "and don't stay blocking up the ...
— Reginald Cruden - A Tale of City Life • Talbot Baines Reed

... a mere crawl at first, I was flying at a shocking velocity, while something, tongue in cheek, seemed to whisper me: 'There must be other trains blocking the lines, at stations, in yards, and everywhere—it is a maniac's ride, a ride of death, and Flying Dutchman's frenzy: remember your dark five-deep brigade of passengers, who rock and bump together, and will suffer in a collision.' But with mulish stubbornness ...
— The Purple Cloud • M.P. Shiel



Words linked to "Blocking" :   obstruction, parry, trap block, interference



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