brick it

English

Etymology

Related to shit a brick.

Pronunciation

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Verb

brick it (third-person singular simple present bricks it, present participle bricking it, simple past and past participle bricked it)

1. (slang, vulgar) To be scared; to be terrified.

   The first time I performed in public I was bricking it.

   • 2020, Louise Curtis with Sarah Johnson, A Nurseʼs Story: My Life in A&E During the Covid Crisis, Pan Books, page 70:

     I always replied with a casual and breezy ‘Iʼll be fine,’ but deep down I was bricking it.

   • 2022 July 11, Harry Taylor, quoting Harry Shimmin, “British tourists survive avalanche in Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     I felt in control, but regardless, when the snow started coming over and it got dark/harder to breathe, I was bricking it and I thought I might die.

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “brick it v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang