block out

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block out (third-person singular simple present blocks out, present participle blocking out, simple past and past participle blocked out)

1. (transitive) to prevent from entering or penetrating.

   Coordinate term: lock out

   High-factor suncream blocks out the sun's rays.

   • 2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 51:

     First Class has curtains throughout, and they are sturdy, dark and block out the light very well.

2. (idiomatic, transitive) to prevent (a thought) from entering one's mind.

   After finding out she had terminal cancer, she tried to block out any thoughts of her own mortality.

3. (transitive) to cover something, so as to make it impossible to see.

   Coordinate term: black out

4. (transitive) to begin to reduce to shape; to mark out roughly; to lay out.

   to block out a plan

• blockout (noun)