brickbat

[brik-bat]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR brickbat ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a piece of broken brick, especially one used as a missile.

any rocklike missile.

an unkind or unfavorable remark; caustic criticism: The critics greeted the play with brickbats.

Origin of brickbat

First recorded in 1555–65; brick + bat¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for brickbat

harassment, indignity, affront, insult, innuendo, accusation, put-down, smear, gibe, jeer, ridicule, derision, barb, jab, objection, denunciation, provocation, slight, mockery, scorn

Examples from the Web for brickbat

Historical Examples of brickbat

Well, Pat, Jimmy didn't quite kill you with a brickbat, did he?
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;
Various
There is no more soul in him than there is in a brickbat, mother.
Make or Break
Oliver Optic
I said, just now, he might be at once outshone by a brickbat.
Love's Meinie
John Ruskin
But he came back with a brickbat and hammered like a blacksmith at the spring.
Frank of Freedom Hill
Samuel A. Derieux
There isn't a mineral in Louisiana, unless it is a brickbat.
Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty
J. W. de Forest

British Dictionary definitions for brickbat

brickbat

noun

a piece of brick or similar material, esp one used as a weapon

blunt criticismthe critic threw several brickbats at the singer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for brickbat

mid-16c., piece of brick (half or less) used as a missile, from brick (n.) + bat (n.1). Figurative use, of comments, insults, etc., is from 1640s.