brick
See also: Brick
English
Etymology
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
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: brĭk, IPA(key): /bɹɪk/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪk
Noun
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) Considered collectively, as a building material.
- This house is made of brick.
- (countable) Something shaped like a brick.
- a plastic explosive brick
- (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.
- 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, figurative) 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
Related terms
Descendants
- ⇒ Welsh: brics
Translations
hardened block used for building
|
a building material
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term for a helpful, reliable person
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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. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Adjective
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
Translations
made of brick(s)
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Verb
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.
- 1904, Thomas Hansom Cockin, An Elementary Class-Book of Practical Coal-Mining, C. Lockwood and Son, page 78
- 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
- (technology, slang: revert a device to nonoperational state): unbrick
Derived terms
Translations
build with bricks
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make into brick
electronics: to render non-functional
See also
Further reading
- brick on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “brick”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
brick m (plural bricks)
Further reading
- “brick”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Manx
Noun
brick m pl
Mutation
Scots
Verb
brick
- Southern Scots form of brak (“to break”)
- Make shair ee deh brick yon vase!
- Make sure he doesn't break that vase over there!
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