blok, blokim

English: ‘block’.

Mihalic gives a precise meaning for blok as asection of land as ‘a square in a coconut plantation formed by four palms, approximately ten yeards square’. This was too narrow, as large scale agricultural and drainage schemes had already created blok and peopled them with settlers in the 1960s.

See first Mihalic entry. See second Mihalic entry.

Noun forms

  1. Tools, machines, instruments: a block and tackle, a pulley

  1. Everyday item: a pad of stationery or writing paper

  1. Agriculture: a clearly marked out garden plot; a portion of land cultivated by a person, a family or ethnic group, usually bounded by drainage ditches lines of trees or other physical features or markers.
    ol Tari i save sutim draipela baret na wokim blok long graun bilong ol the Tari people dig deep ditches and turn their land into blocks
    papa i gat sikspela meri, na olgeta i gat gaden blok bilong ol yet the old man has six wives, and each has her own garden block

  1. Agriculture: a re-settlement block or agricultural allotment
    ples bilong mipela i kol, mi save planim kopi long blok bilong mi long Kindeng our own land is cold, I grow coffee on my block at Kindeng (man speaking of his frost-susceptible tribal land at Mul Council)

  1. Society: the settlers who live in a re-settlement block ® pasindia
    mipela i no stil, ol blok tasol we don’t steal, only the block settlers

Transitive verb forms

  1. to block or obstruct someone’s initiatives
    ol memba i blokim nupela lo the MPs blocked the legislation

  1. to obstruct by standing in someone’s way
    mipela kam olsem na raskol i bin blokim mipela we came this way and rascals stood in our way

  1. to corner or bail up person or animal, to leave a person or animal with no means of escape
    sapos yu go olsem, na mi go olsem, yumi bai blokim kapul long namel rot if you you go that way and I go this way, we’ll trap the possum in the middle

© Revising the Mihalic Project, 26 Jan 2005 [Home]