brick
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: Brick
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
brick (countable and uncountable, plural bricks)
- (countable) A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building.
- This wall is made of bricks.
- (uncountable) Such hardened mud, clay, etc. considered collectively, as a building material.
- This house is made of brick.
- (countable) Something shaped like a brick.
- a plastic explosive brick
- 2011, Seth Kenlon, Revolution Radio (page 70)
- The handyman considered the question and I knew she had a brick of ground beans in her bag but was considering whether the beds and a hot drink was worth a brick of coffee.
- 2012, Kevin Sampson, Powder (page 34)
- He disentangled himself from the safe door and delved inside. He brought out a brick of banknotes.
- (slang, dated) A helpful and reliable person.
- Thanks for helping me wash the car. You're a brick.
- 1863, Elizabeth Caroline Grey, Good Society; Or, Contrasts of Character[1], page 72:
- “It's easy to see you're a brick!” replied Lady Augusta, and the laugh again became general.
- 1903 Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, ch. 48:
- Theobald's mind worked in this way: "Now, I know Ernest has told this boy what a disagreeable person I am, and I will just show him that I am not disagreeable at all, but a good old fellow, a jolly old boy, in fact a regular old brick, and that it is Ernest who is in fault all through."
- 1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children[2], page 168:
- ‘Somebody had to stay with you,’ said Bobbie.
‘Tell you what, Bobbie,’ said Jim, ‘you’re a brick. Shake.’
- (basketball, slang) A shot which misses, particularly one which bounces directly out of the basket because of a too-flat trajectory, as if the ball were a heavier object.
- We can't win if we keep throwing up bricks from three-point land.
- (informal) A power brick; an external power supply consisting of a small box with an integral male power plug and an attached electric cord terminating in another power plug.
- (computing slang, figuratively) An electronic device, especially a heavy box-shaped one, that has become non-functional or obsolete.
- (firearms) A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, which forms the approximate size and shape of a brick.
- (poker slang) A community card (usually the turn or the river) which does not improve a player's hand.
- The two of clubs was a complete brick on the river.
- The colour brick red.
- (slang) One kilo of cocaine.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
- brick in one's hat
- brick red
- bricks and clicks
- bricks and mortar
- brick shithouse
- drop a brick
- hit the bricks
- like a cat on a hot brick
- like a ton of bricks
- make bricks without straw
- make bricks without straws
- run into a brick wall
- shit a brick
- shit bricks
- take to the bricks
- talk to a brick wall
- thick as a brick
Descendants[edit]
- ⇒ Welsh: brics
Translations[edit]
hardened block used for building
|
|
a building material
|
|
term for a helpful, reliable person
|
an external power supply
a heavy electronic device that has become obsolete
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Adjective[edit]
brick (not comparable)
- (colloquial, African-American Vernacular, New England, of weather) Extremely cold.
- 2005, Vibe (volume 12, number 14, page 102)
- And while the tropics are definitely the place to be when it's brick outside, rocking a snorkel on the beach only works when you're snorkeling.
- 2014, Ray Mack, Underestimated: A Searcher's Story (→ISBN), page 89:
- He was always hanging tight with me and since he had access to a ride . . . it made traveling easier. I mean it was no biggie brain buster to take the train, but when it's brick outside . . . fuck the A train.
- 2017 January 18, Anthony J. Yeung, “Running During Winter Sucks. But It Doesn't Have To.”, in Esquire:
- Read on for tips so you don't freeze your ass off when it's brick outside.
- 2018 January 4, Melissa Hipolit, “HUD: Creighton Court residents without heat being relocated”, in CBS 6 TV:
- "It's brick cold. Could you imagine stepping on this with your bare foot?" Taylor said.
- 2005, Vibe (volume 12, number 14, page 102)
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
made of brick(s)
|
Verb[edit]
brick (third-person singular simple present bricks, present participle bricking, simple past and past participle bricked)
- To build with bricks.
- 1904, Thomas Hansom Cockin, An Elementary Class-Book of Practical Coal-Mining, C. Lockwood and Son, page 78:
- If the ground is strong right up to the surface, a few yards are usually sunk and bricked before the engines and pit top are erected
- 1914, The Mining Engineer, Institution of Mining Engineers, page 349
- The shaft was next bricked between the decks until the top scaffold was supported by the brickwork and [made] to share the weight with the prids.
- To make into bricks.
- 1904 September 15, James C. Bennett, Walter Renton Ingalls (editor), Lead Smelting and Refining with Some Notes on Lead Mining (1906), The Engineering and Mining Journal, page 66
- The plant, which is here described, for bricking fine ores and flue dust, was designed and the plans produced in the engineering department of the Selby smelter.
- 1904 September 15, James C. Bennett, Walter Renton Ingalls (editor), Lead Smelting and Refining with Some Notes on Lead Mining (1906), The Engineering and Mining Journal, page 66
- (slang) To hit someone or something with a brick.
- (computing slang) To make an electronic device nonfunctional and usually beyond repair, essentially making it no more useful than a brick.
- My VCR was bricked during the lightning storm.
- 2007 December 14, Joe Barr, “PacketProtector turns SOHO router into security powerhouse”, Linux.com
- installing third-party firmware will void your warranty, and it is possible that you may brick your router.
- 2016, Alex Hern, Revolv devices bricked as Google's Nest shuts down smart home company (in The Guardian)
- Google owner Alphabet’s subsidiary Nest is closing a smart-home company it bought less than two years ago, leaving customers’ devices useless as of May. […] The company declined to share how many customers would be left with bricked devices as a result of the shutdown.
Antonyms[edit]
- (technology, slang: revert a device to the operational state): unbrick
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
build with bricks
|
|
electronics: to render non-functional
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
brick on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “brick” in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
brick m (plural bricks)
Further reading[edit]
- “brick” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Manx[edit]
Noun[edit]
brick m pl
Mutation[edit]
Manx mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
brick | vrick | mrick |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Scots[edit]
Verb[edit]
brick
- South Scots form of brak (“to break”)
- Make shair ee deh brick yon vase!
- Make sure he doesn't break that vase over there!
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English slang
- English dated terms
- English terms with quotations
- en:Basketball
- English informal terms
- en:Computing
- en:Firearms
- en:Poker
- English terms with usage examples
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English colloquialisms
- African-American Vernacular English
- New England English
- English verbs
- en:Building materials
- en:Ultimate
- French terms derived from English
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- fr:Nautical
- Manx non-lemma forms
- Manx noun plural forms
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs
- South Scots
- Scots terms with usage examples