"block" ~= street, and the OED?

[Wilson Gray]

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 9:34 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> "I live two blocks from him"

as opposed to:

"The bombs called 'blockbusters' were given that name because one of
them was powerful enough to destroy an entire block"

wherein _block_ easily meets the definition:

"A compact or connected mass of houses or buildings, with no
intervening spaces; (esp. in U.S. and Canada) the
quadrangular mass of buildings included between four streets, or two
'avenues' and two streets at right angles to them"

to a greater degree than does the _block_ in Joel's example.

FWIW, IMO, Joel is correct WRT the need for additional definition. In
Joel's example, _two blocks_ can be represented simply by two lines
joined so as to form an angle of any kind or even by two lines joined
so as to form a straight line and not only so as to express a right
angle. That's not possible, if we're restricted to the OED definition.


--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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