BLOCK AND BLOCK. The situation of a tackle when the blocks are drawn
close together, so that the mechanical power becomes arrested until the
tackle is again overhauled by drawing the blocks asunder. Synonymous
with chock-a-block.

BLOCKHOUSE. A small work, generally built of logs, to protect adjacent
ports. Blockhouses were primarily constructed in our American colonies,
because they could be immediately built from the heavy timber felled to
clear away the spot, and open the lines of fire. The ends were simply
crossed alternately and pinned. Two such structures, with a space of 6
feet for clay, formed, on an elevated position, a very formidable
casemated work. The slanting overhanging roof furnished excellent cover
in lieu of loop-holes for musketry.

BLOCK-MAKER. A manufacturer of blocks.

BLOCKS. The several transverse pieces or logs of timber, piled in plane,
on which a ship is built, or to place her on for repair: they consist of
solid pieces of oak laid on the ground-ways.

BLOCKS, FIXED. _See_ FIXED BLOCKS.

BLOOD-SUCKERS. Lazy fellows, who, by skulking, throw their proportion of
labour on the shoulders of their shipmates.

BLOODY FLAG. A large red flag.

BLOOM. A peculiar warm blast of wind; a term used in iron-foundries.

BLORE. An old word for a stiff gale.

BLOUT. A northern term for the sudden breaking-up of a storm. Blout has
been misused for blirt.

BLOW. Applied to the breathing of whales and other cetaceans. The
expired air from the lungs being highly charged with moisture, which
condenses at the temperature of the atmosphere, appears like a column of
steam.

BLOW. A gale of wind.

BLOWE. A very old English word for scold or revile, still in use, as
when a man receives a good blowing-up.

BLOW-HOLES. The nostrils of the cetaceans, situated on the highest part
of the head. In the whalebone whales they form two longitudinal slits,
placed side by side. In the porpoises, grampuses, &c., they are united
into a single crescentic opening.

BLOW HOME. The wind does not cease or moderate till it comes past that
place, blowing continuously over the land and sea with equal velocity.
In a naval sense, it does not blow home when a sea-wind is interrupted
by a mountainous range along shore.

BLOWING GREAT GUNS AND SMALL ARMS. Heavy gales; a hurricane.

BLOWING HARD. Said of the wind when it is strong and steady.

BLOWING THE GRAMPUS. Throwing water over a sleeper on watch.

BLOWING WEATHER. A n