block vs cant

block

noun
  • A roughly cuboid building. 

  • A temporary or permanent ban that prevents access to an online account or service, or connection to or from a designated telephone number, IP address, or similar. 

  • A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn. 

  • A case or frame housing one or more sheaves (pulleys), used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example as part of lifting gear or a sailing ship's rigging. See also block and tackle. 

  • A cellblock. 

  • The popping crease. 

  • A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit. 

  • A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message. 

  • A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see cluster). 

  • Solitary confinement. 

  • A section of split logs used as fuel. 

  • A blockhole. 

  • A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions. 

  • Something that prevents something from passing. 

  • A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular. 

  • A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape. 

  • An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck). 

  • A contiguous range of Unicode code points used to encode characters of a specific type; can be of any size evenly divisible by 16, up to 65,536 (a full plane). 

  • The perch on which a bird of prey is kept. 

  • A defensive play by one or more players meant to deflect a spiked ball back to the hitter’s court. 

  • A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance. 

  • A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. 

  • A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop. 

  • A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets. 

  • The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket. 

  • A chopping block: a cuboid base for cutting or beheading. 

  • The distance from one street to another in a city or suburb that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern. 

  • The human head. 

  • A shot played by holding the bat vertically in the path of the ball, so that it loses momentum and drops to the ground. 

  • A discrete group of vines in a vineyard, often distinguished from others by variety, clone, canopy training method, irrigation infrastructure, or some combination thereof. 

  • Interference or obstruction of cognitive processes. 

  • A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end, forming a cuboid shape. 

  • A section of a railroad where the block system is used. 

verb
  • To hit with a block. 

  • To wait for some condition to become true. 

  • To specify the positions and movements of the actors for (a section of a play or film). 

  • To prevent (something or someone) from passing. 

  • To bar (someone undesirable) from connecting via telephone, instant messaging, etc., or from accessing an online account or service, or similar. 

  • To play a block shot. 

  • To stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape. 

  • To shape or sketch out roughly. 

  • To fill or obstruct (something) so that it is not possible to pass. 

  • To impede (an opponent or opponent's play). 

  • To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something). 

  • To bar (a message or communication), or bar connection with (an online account or service, a designated telephone number, IP address, etc.). 

cant

noun
  • A corner (of a building). 

  • An outer or external angle. 

  • A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute or function) of the bearer, canting arms. 

  • Slope, the angle at which something is set. 

  • A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask. 

  • Whining speech, such as that used by beggars. 

  • A movement or throw that overturns something. 

  • A parcel, a division. 

  • A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group. 

  • A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta. 

  • An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup. 

  • Empty, hypocritical talk. 

  • An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt. 

  • A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so given. 

  • A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads. 

  • An unfinished log after preliminary cutting. 

  • A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel. 

adj
  • Lively, lusty. 

verb
  • To give a sudden turn or new direction to. 

  • To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty manner. 

  • To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup. 

  • To speak in set phrases. 

  • To set (something) at an angle. 

  • To bevel an edge or corner. 

  • Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms. 

  • To overturn so that the contents are emptied. 

How often have the words block and cant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )