block ornament

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈblɒk ˌɔː(ɹ)nəmənt/, enPR: blŏk ôrnəmənt

Noun

block ornament (plural block ornaments)

  1. (obsolete, slang, UK, Australia) A small fragment of cheap meat offered for sale by a butcher, particularly one of poor quality. [from 1843]
    • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:
      I ought to add, that the “single fellows,” instead of living on “block ornaments” and the like, live, when doing well, on the best fare, at the “spiciest” cook-shops on their rounds, or in the neighbourhood of their residence.
    • 1885, George Augustus Sala, America Revisited, Vizetelly & Company, page 501:
      It is certain that in the Chinese meat stores you see a number of scraps of meat of the "block ornament" order, the dubious hue of which–usually a dingy greyish purple, with streaks of drab fat– […]
    • 1897, Edward Spencer Mott, Cakes and Ale, page 78:
      [T]ogether with such scraps as may also be purchased, at a penny or twopence the plateful, at the beef and ham emporium, with maybe a "block ornament" or two from the butcher's, in a pie dish, with a superstructure of potatoes, and have the "scrap pie" cooked at the baker's for the Sunday dinner. Poor wretches!
    • 1909 January 7, Westminster Gazette‎[1], page 2:
      [H]ow often, after a search through the old purse they clutch so tightly, they turn away the coveted "block-ornimint" being beyond their means.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see block,‎ ornament.
    • 1833, Asher Benjamin, Practice of Architecture, →ISBN, page 92:
      a presents the elevation, b the section to the block ornament to A, and c shows a vertical section of the block ornament to B […]
    • 1852, Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, page 171:
      The wall plate is finely moulded, and the wooden columns supporting the principals have a curious diamond block ornament.

Derived terms

References

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