block out

present singular third person blocks out · participle present blocking out · participle past blocked out · past blocked out

1. transitiveTo prevent from entering or penetrating.

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

   1 more example

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

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

2. idiomatictransitiveTo 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.

   1 more example

   Wow, way to go, baby! I gotta block out how much better you are than me...

   2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Glitzville

3. transitiveTo cover something, so as to make it impossible to see.
4. transitiveTo begin to reduce to shape; to mark out roughly; to lay out.

   to block out a plan