blockade

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The isolation of a nation, area, city, or harbor by hostile ships or forces in order to prevent the entrance and exit of traffic and commerce.
• noun The forces used to effect this isolation.
• transitive verb To set up a blockade against.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The shutting up of a place, particularly a port, harbor, or line of coast, by hostile ships or troops, so as to stop all ingress or egress, and to hinder the entrance of supplies of provisions, ammunition, or reinforcements.
• noun Hence A hindrance to progress or action caused by obstructions of any kind.
• To subject to a blockade; prevent ingress or egress from by warlike means.
• Hence To shut in by obstacles of any kind; block; obstruct.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The shutting up of a place by troops or ships, with the purpose of preventing ingress or egress, or the reception of supplies.
• noun An obstruction to passage.
• noun (physiology) interference with transmission of a physiological signal, or a physiological reaction.
• noun See under Raise.
• transitive verb To shut up, as a town or fortress, by investing it with troops or vessels or war for the purpose of preventing ingress or egress, or the introduction of supplies. See note under blockade, n.
• transitive verb Hence, to shut in so as to prevent egress.
• transitive verb To obstruct entrance to or egress from.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The physical blocking or surrounding of a place, especially a port, in order to prevent commerce and traffic in or out.
• noun By extension, any form of formal isolation of something, especially with the force of law or arms.
• noun nautical The ships or other forces used to effect a naval blockade.
• noun chess Preventing an opponent's pawn moving by placing a piece in front of it
• verb transitive To create a blockade against.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb obstruct access to
• verb render unsuitable for passage
• verb hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
• noun a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy
• noun prevents access or progress
• verb impose a blockade on