wall
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.
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.
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.
Idioms about wall
climb (the) walls, Slang. to become tense or frantic: climbing the walls with boredom.
drive / push to the wall, to force into a desperate situation; humiliate or ruin completely: Not content with merely winning the match, they used every opportunity to push the inferior team to the wall.
go over the wall, Slang. to break out of prison: Roadblocks have been set up in an effort to capture several convicts who went over the wall.
go to the wall,
to be defeated in a conflict or competition; yield.
to fail in business, especially to become bankrupt.
to be put aside or forgotten.
to take an extreme and determined position or measure: I'd go to the wall to stop him from resigning.
hit the wall, (of long-distance runners) to reach a point in a race, usually after 20 miles, when the body's fuels are virtually depleted and willpower becomes crucial to be able to finish.
off the wall, Slang.
beyond the realm of acceptability or reasonableness: The figure you quoted for doing the work is off the wall.
markedly out of the ordinary; eccentric; bizarre: Some of the clothes in the fashion show were too off the wall for the average customer.
up against the wall,
placed against a wall to be executed by a firing squad.
in a crucial or critical position, especially one in which defeat or failure seems imminent: Unless sales improve next month, the company will be up against the wall.
up the wall, Slang. into an acutely frantic, frustrated, or irritated state: The constant tension in the office is driving everyone up the wall.
Origin of wall
1Other words for wall
Other words from wall
- wall-less, adjective
- wall-like, adjective
- un·wall, verb (used with object)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use wall in a sentence
Horniness packs side-by-side by with a deeper loneliness along the walls of The Park.
The Craziest Date Night for Single Jews, Where Mistletoe Is Ditched for Shots | Emily Shire | December 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPortraits of most of the 2,977 victims on September 11 are displayed on the walls.
There was only one phone left and when it would ring, the bell would echo, oddly, off the walls.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThere are paintings on the walls: Vlaminck, Rouault, Utrillo, Soutine, and several Klees.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo the well-educated TSI visitors follow a rule: “Within these walls, we never talk politics.”
Where Chechens Go to Escape Their Surreal Past—and Risky Present | Anna Nemtsova | December 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Charred beams and blackened walls showed stark and gaunt in the glow of a smoldering mass of wreckage.
The Red Year | Louis TracyAs his eye became accustomed to the gloom, David Arden saw traces of gilding on the walls.
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le FanuWalls End Castle, when the party broke up, returned to its normal state.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsMonsieur,” growls the baron, “stone walls have ears, you say if only they had tongues; what tales these could tell!
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le FanuHis presence, also, always graced Walls End Castle at the regulation periods.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James Wills
British Dictionary definitions for wall
/ (wɔːl) /
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 structure: abdominal wall Technical name: paries Related adjective: parietal
mountaineering a vertical or almost vertical smooth rock face
anything that suggests a wall in function or effect: a 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
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
Origin of wall
1Derived forms of wall
- walled, adjective
- wall-less, adjective
- wall-like, adjective
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with 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
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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