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brickbat

[brik-bat]
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noun
  1. a piece of broken brick, especially one used as a missile.
  2. any rocklike missile.
  3. an unkind or unfavorable remark; caustic criticism: The critics greeted the play with brickbats.
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Origin of brickbat

First recorded in 1555–65; brick + bat1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

harassmentindignityaffrontinsultinnuendoaccusationput-downsmeargibejeerridiculederisionbarbjabobjectiondenunciationprovocationslightmockeryscorn

Examples from the Web for brickbat

Historical Examples

  • 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.

British Dictionary definitions for brickbat

brickbat

noun
  1. a piece of brick or similar material, esp one used as a weapon
  2. blunt criticismthe critic threw several brickbats at the singer
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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

n.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper