Dictionary

block booking en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌblɑk ˈbʊkɪŋ/ (General-American)
• /ˌblɒk ˈbʊkɪŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From block (“apportionment or grouping of like things treated together as a unit”, noun) + booking (noun).

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The reservation of a large number of hotel rooms, tickets, or other items at one time; (countable) an instance of this.
   • Our next trip is the 1440 to North Berwick. Our train is formed of a three-car Class 385 and is full to the point that not everyone gets a seat. Partly that appears to be down to a block booking, but it seems that plenty of people know that a nice coastal town is just half an hour from Edinburgh city centre. 2025 March 19, “Investment pays off in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 1031, page 56:
   • The restaurant has a block booking for Saturday night.
2. (US, historical, uncountable) The sale of multiple films by a film studio to a theater as a unit, without the latter knowing much about them, allowing the studio to package less popular films with more popular ones. The Supreme Court of the United States determined the practice to be in violation of antitrust law in 1948.

Forms

Deriveds

block-book

Translations (2)

fi nippumyynti (sale of multiple films by a film studio to a theater as a unit) · fi iso varaus (reservation of a large number of hotel rooms, tickets, or other items at one time; an instance of this)