bed-blocking n (Medicine) Brit the use of hospital beds by elderly patients who cannot leave hospital because they have no place in a residential care home ?bed-?blocker nCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014