off-the-wall

[ awf-th uh-wawl, of- ]

/ ˈɔf ðəˈwɔl, ˈɒf- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR off-the-wall ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective Informal.

markedly unconventional; bizarre; oddball: an unpredictable, off-the-wall personality.

Nearby words

Origin of off-the-wall

First recorded in 1970–75

wall

[ wawl ]

/ wɔl /

noun

any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.

Usually walls. a rampart raised for defensive purposes.

an immaterial or intangible barrier, obstruction, etc., suggesting a wall: a wall of prejudice.

a wall-like, enclosing part, thing, mass, etc.: a wall of fire; a wall of troops.

an embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall.

the outermost film or layer of structural material protecting, surrounding, and defining the physical limits of an object: the wall of a blood cell.

Soccer. a line of defenders standing shoulder to shoulder in an attempt to block a free kick with their bodies.

Mining.

the side of a level or drift.
the overhanging or underlying side of a vein; a hanging wall or footwall.

adjective

of or relating to a wall: wall space.

growing against or on a wall: wall plants; wall cress.

situated, placed, or installed in or on a wall: wall oven; a wall safe.

verb (used with object)

to enclose, shut off, divide, protect, border, etc., with or as if with a wall (often followed by in or off): to wall the yard; to wall in the play area; He is walled in by lack of opportunity.

to seal or fill (a doorway or other opening) with a wall: to wall an unused entrance.

to seal or entomb (something or someone) within a wall (usually followed by up): The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake.

Origin of wall

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English w(e)all < Latin vallum palisade, derivative of vallus stake, post; see wale¹; (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun

SYNONYMS FOR wall

2. battlement, breastwork, bulwark, barrier, bastion. 5. dike. 14. immure.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR wall ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formswall-less, adjectivewall-like, adjectiveun·wall, verb (used with object)

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

British Dictionary definitions for off the wall

wall

/ (wɔːl) /

noun

a vertical construction made of stone, brick, wood, etc, with a length and height much greater than its thickness, used to enclose, divide, or support
(as modifier)wall hangings Related adjective: mural

(often plural) a structure or rampart built to protect and surround a position or place for defensive purposes

anatomy any lining, membrane, or investing part that encloses or bounds a bodily cavity or structureabdominal wall Technical name: paries Related adjective: parietal

mountaineering a vertical or almost vertical smooth rock face

anything that suggests a wall in function or effecta wall of fire; a wall of prejudice

bang one's head against a brick wall to try to achieve something impossible

drive to the wall or push to the wall to force into an awkward situation

go to the wall to be ruined; collapse financially

drive up the wall slang to cause to become crazy or furious

go up the wall slang to become crazy or furious

have one's back to the wall to be in a very difficult situation

See off-the-wall

See wall-to-wall

verb (tr)

to protect, provide, or confine with or as if with a wall

(often foll by up) to block (an opening) with a wall

(often foll by in or up) to seal by or within a wall or walls

Derived Formswalled, adjectivewall-less, adjectivewall-like, adjective

Word Origin for wall

Old English weall, from Latin vallum palisade, from vallus stake

off-the-wall

adjective

(off the wall when postpositive) slang new or unexpected in an unconventional or eccentric wayan off-the-wall approach to humour

Word Origin for off-the-wall

C20: possibly from the use of the phrase in handball and squash to describe a shot that is unexpected

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 off the wall

wall

"to enclose in a wall," late Old English *weallian, from the source of wall (n.). Related: Walled; walling.

wall

Old English weall "rampart" (natural as well as man-made), also "defensive fortification around a city, side of a building, interior partition," an Anglo-Frisian and Saxon borrowing (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wal) from Latin vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes," apparently a collective form of vallus "stake." Swedish vall, Danish val are from Low German.

In this case, English uses one word where many languages have two, e.g. German Mauer "outer wall of a town, fortress, etc.," used also in reference to the former Berlin Wall, and wand "partition wall within a building" (cf. the distinction, not always rigorously kept, in Italian muro/parete, Irish mur/fraig, Lithuanian muras/siena, etc.).

Phrase up the wall "angry, crazy" is from 1951; off the wall "unorthodox, unconventional" is recorded from 1966, American English student slang. Wall-to-wall (adj.) recorded 1953, of carpeting; metaphoric use (usually disparaging) is from 1967.

Medicine definitions for off the wall

wall

[ wôl ]

n.

An investing part enclosing a cavity, chamber, or other anatomical unit.

Idioms and Phrases with off the wall

off the wall

Eccentric, unconventional, as in That idea of opening a 100-seat theater is off the wall. This expression probably originated in baseball or some other sport in which the ball can bounce off a wall in an erratic way. [Colloquial; 1960s]

wall

In addition to the idioms beginning with wall

walls have ears, the

also see:

back to the wall
beat one's head against the wall
between you and me and the lamppost (four walls)
climb the walls
drive someone crazy (up the wall)
fly on the wall
go to the wall
handwriting on the wall
hole in the wall
off the wall
run into a stone wall

off-the-wall

adjective Informal.

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of off-the-wall

wall

noun

adjective

verb (used with object)

Origin of wall

wall

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for wall

off-the-wall

adjective

Word Origin for off-the-wall

wall

wall

wall

n.

off the wall

wall