brick

American  

[brik] / brɪk /

noun

1. a block of clay hardened by drying in the sun or burning in a kiln, and used for building, paving, etc.: traditionally, in the United States, a rectangle 2.25 × 3.75 × 8 inches (5.7 × 9.5 × 20.3 centimeters), red, brown, or yellow in color.

   A couple of bricks, picked up at a demolition site, made fine bookends.

2. blocks of hardened clay collectively as used for building, or the material of which they are made.

   The house is made of brick, but the porch is wooden.

   Clay brick can be returned to the earth without harm.

3. any block or bar having a size and shape similar to that of the small, rectangular block of hardened clay commonly used for building.

   He kept a gold brick in his safe.

   Let’s buy a brick of ice cream to have with our strawberries.

   Agents recovered 58 bricks of cocaine in the raid.

4. the length of a brick as a measure of thickness, as of a wall.

   one and a half bricks thick.

5. Basketball. a missed shot, especially one that hits the rim or backboard badly.

   His first two foul shots were bricks, but the third bounced off the backboard and went in.

6. Informal.

   1. an electronic device that has become completely nonfunctional.

      As soon as I leave the country, my phone turns into a brick.

      A hard enough impact will make your shiny new laptop become a very expensive brick.

   2. an old, heavy cell phone with limited capability (often used attributively).

      My very first cell phone was a Motorola brick.

      These brick phones only allowed people to make and receive calls and didn't even store phone numbers.

7. power brick.

8. Informal: Older Use. an admirably good or generous person.

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verb (used with object)

1. to pave, line, wall, fill, or build with brick.

   He bricked our driveway and our patio, and did a great job.

2. Informal. to cause (an electronic device) to become completely nonfunctional.

   I bricked my phone while doing the upgrade.

   Who’d have thought that just adding new fonts on a tablet would brick it?

3. Basketball. to shoot a ball in such a way that it hits the rim or the backboard badly and does not go into the basket.

   She had four shots this period and bricked all but one.

adjective

1. made of, constructed with, or resembling bricks.

   My grandparents lived in a small brick house.

verb phrase

1. brick up

   1. to fill in or close up with bricks.

      They bricked up the tunnel at both ends so no one could use it.

   2. to enclose behind bricks.

      The car had been bricked up behind a false wall to hide it from the Germans during World War II.

idioms

1. thick as a brick, very stupid or slow-witted.

   You’d have to be thick as a brick to fall for such an obvious scam.

2. hit the bricks, Sometimes take to the bricks.

   1. to go out to look for a job, do research, shop for a desired item, etc..

      After I was laid off, there was nothing for it but to hit the bricks with copies of my resume.

      Fans hit the bricks last week to purchase the latest installment of the video game.

   2. to go on strike.

      With contract talks stalled, workers are threatening to hit the bricks.

   3. move on; leave; scram.

      Security guards told the loiterers to hit the bricks or they’d be charged with trespassing.

3. drop a brick, to make a social gaffe or blunder, especially an indiscreet remark.

   Whenever the sovereign dropped a brick in public, a functionary would explain that “His Majesty was badly advised.”

4. make bricks without straw,

   1. to perform a task without the necessary resources.

      We're doing the best we can in the face of cutbacks, but we can't make bricks without straw.

   2. to create something that will not last.

      To form a government without the consent of the people is to make bricks without straw.

   3. to plan or act on a false premise or unrealistic basis.

brick British  

/ brɪk /

noun

1. 1. a rectangular block of clay mixed with sand and fired in a kiln or baked by the sun, used in building construction

   2. ( as modifier )

      a brick house

2. the material used to make such blocks

3. any rectangular block

   a brick of ice

4. bricks collectively

5. informal a reliable, trustworthy, or helpful person

6. a child's building block

7. short for brick red

8. informal to make a tactless or indiscreet remark

9. informal (used esp of the manner of punishing or reprimanding someone) with great force; severely

   when he spotted my mistake he came down on me like a ton of bricks

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verb

1. to construct, line, pave, fill, or wall up with bricks

   to brick up a window

   brick over a patio

2. slang to attack (a person) with a brick or bricks

brick More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing brick

• drop a brick
• hit the bricks
• like a cat on a hot brick
• like a ton of bricks
• make bricks without straw
• run into a stone (brick) wall

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Other Word Forms

• brickish adjective
• bricklike adjective
• unbricked adjective

Etymology

Origin of brick

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English brike, brik(ke), from Middle Dutch bricke; akin to break

Example Sentences

Hemsley has taken a keen interest in the ancestral home, funding and leading a nonprofit that bought and restored the 7,000-square-foot brick house.

From The Wall Street Journal

And that is when they realised something as mundane as the exposed brick wall in Lucy's bedroom could give them a lead.

From BBC

A brick factory that once served oil producers shuttered long ago.

From Los Angeles Times

Other reforms include giving a "default yes" to planning applications near railway stations, including on green belt land, and a requirement that new builds include nature-friendly features, such as installing swift bricks, to support wildlife.

From BBC

Hours later, a person wearing a ski mask passed under the brick arc outside her front door and approached her Nest camera.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cinder block
• slab
• stone