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.

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

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

   to block out a plan