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Webster 1913 Edition

Brick

Brick

(brĭk)
,
Noun.
[OE.
brik
, F.
brique
; of Ger. origin; cf. AS.
brice
a breaking, fragment, Prov. E.
brique
piece,
brique de pain
, equiv. to AS.
hlāfes brice
, fr. the root of E.
break
. See
Break
.]
1.
A block or clay tempered with water, sand, etc., molded into a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp.
The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of
bricks
baked in the furnace than the Babylonians.
Layard.
2.
Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material;
as, a load of
brick
; a thousand of
brick
.
Some of Palladio’s finest examples are of
brick
.
Weale.
3.
Any oblong rectangular mass;
as, a
brick
of maple sugar; a penny
brick
(of bread)
.
4.
A good fellow; a merry person;
as, you 're a
brick
.
[Slang]
“He 's a dear little brick.”
Thackeray.
To have a brick in one's hat
,
to be drunk.
[Slang]
☞
Brick
is used adjectively or in combination;
as,
brick
wall;
brick
clay;
brick
color;
brick
red
.
Brick clay
,
clay suitable for, or used in making, bricks.
–
Brick dust
,
dust of pounded or broken bricks.
–
Brick earth
,
clay or earth suitable for, or used in making, bricks.
–
Brick loaf
,
a loaf of bread somewhat resembling a brick in shape.
–
Brick nogging
(Arch.)
,
rough brickwork used to fill in the spaces between the uprights of a wooden partition; brick filling.
–
Brick tea
,
tea leaves and young shoots, or refuse tea, steamed or mixed with fat, etc., and pressed into the form of bricks. It is used in Northern and Central Asia.
S. W. Williams.
–
Brick trimmer
(Arch.)
,
a brick arch under a hearth, usually within the thickness of a wooden floor, to guard against accidents by fire.
–
Brick trowel
.
See
Trowel
.
–
Brick works
,
a place where bricks are made.
–
Bath brick
.
See under
Bath
, a city.
–
Pressed brick
,
bricks which, before burning, have been subjected to pressure, to free them from the imperfections of shape and texture which are common in molded bricks.

Brick

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Bricked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Bricking
.]
1.
To lay or pave with bricks; to surround, line, or construct with bricks.
2.
To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on, as by smearing plaster with red ocher, making the joints with an edge tool, and pointing them.
To brick up
,
to fill up, inclose, or line, with brick.

Webster 1828 Edition

Brick

BRICK

,
Noun.
[L. imbrex, a gutter-tile, from imber, a shower, which is probably a compound, of which the last syllable is from whence.]
A mass of earth, chiefly clay, first moistened and made fine by grinding or treading, then formed into a long square in a mold, dried and baked or burnt in a kiln; used in buildings and walls.
1.
A loaf shaped like a brick.

BRICK

,
Verb.
T.
To lay or pave with bricks.
1.
To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on plaster,by smearing it with red ocher and making the joints with an edge-tool, filling them with fine plaster.

Definition 2024

Brick

Brick

See also: brick

English

Proper noun

Brick

  1. A surname​.

brick

brick

See also: Brick

English

Noun

brick ‎(countable and uncountable, plural bricks)

  1. (countable) A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building.
    This wall is made of bricks.
  2. (uncountable) Considered collectively, as a building material.
    This house is made of brick.
  3. (countable) Something shaped like a brick.
    a plastic explosive brick
  4. (dated) A helpful and reliable person.
    Thanks for helping me wash the car. You're a brick.
    • 1863, Elizabeth Caroline Grey, Good Society; Or, Contrasts of Character, page 72:
      “It's easy to see you're a brick!” replied Lady Augusta, and the laugh again became general.
    • 1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children, page 168:
      ‘Somebody had to stay with you,’ said Bobbie.
      ‘Tell you what, Bobbie,’ said Jim, ‘you’re a brick. Shake.’
    • 1960, W.W. Jacobs, Cargoes, ISBN 0828314306, page 45:
      “Well, I’ll do what I can for you,” said the seaman, …“If you were only shorter, I'd lend you some clothes.”
      “You're a brick,” said the soldier gratefully.
  5. (basketball, slang) A shot which misses, particularly one which bounces directly out of the basket because of a too-flat trajectory, as if the ball were a heavier object.
    We can't win if we keep throwing up bricks from three-point land.
  6. (informal) A power brick; an external power supply consisting of a small box with an integral male power plug and an attached electric cord terminating in another power plug.
  7. (technology, slang) An electronic device, especially a heavy box-shaped one, that has become non-functional or obsolete.
  8. (firearms) A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, which forms the approximate size and shape of a brick.
  9. (poker slang) A community card (usually the turn or the river) which does not improve a player's hand.
    The two of clubs was a complete brick on the river‎

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

A brick wall

brick ‎(not comparable)

  1. Made of brick(s).
    All that was left after the fire was the brick chimney.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

brick ‎(third-person singular simple present bricks, present participle bricking, simple past and past participle bricked)

  1. To build with bricks.
    • 1904, Thomas Hansom Cockin, An Elementary Class-Book of Practical Coal-Mining, C. Lockwood and Son, page 78
      If the ground is strong right up to the surface, a few yards are usually sunk and bricked before the engines and pit top are erected
    • 1914, The Mining Engineer, Institution of Mining Engineers, page 349
      The shaft was next bricked between the decks until the top scaffold was supported by the brickwork and [made] to share the weight with the prids.
  2. To make into bricks.
    • 1904 September 15, James C. Bennett, Walter Renton Ingalls (editor), Lead Smelting and Refining with Some Notes on Lead Mining (1906), The Engineering and Mining Journal, page 66
      The plant, which is here described, for bricking fine ores and flue dust, was designed and the plans produced in the engineering department of the Selby smelter.
  3. (slang) To hit someone or something with a brick.
  4. (computing slang) To make an electronic device nonfunctional and usually beyond repair, essentially making it no more useful than a brick.
    My VCR was bricked during the lightning storm.
    • 2002 October 15, Mike Leeson, “How to write protect nk.bin”, in microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder, Usenet, retrieved 2016-02-25, message-ID <OHm5#hLdCHA.2592@tkmsftngp09>:
      Just need to project against users from deleting NK.BIN and bricking the device.
    • 2007 December 14, Joe Barr, “PacketProtector turns SOHO router into security powerhouse”, Linux.com
      installing third-party firmware will void your warranty, and it is possible that you may brick your router.
    • 2016, Alex Hern, Revolv devices bricked as Google's Nest shuts down smart home company (in The Guardian)
      Google owner Alphabet’s subsidiary Nest is closing a smart-home company it bought less than two years ago, leaving customers’ devices useless as of May. […] The company declined to share how many customers would be left with bricked devices as a result of the shutdown.

Antonyms

  • (technology, slang: revert a device to nonoperational state): unbrick

Derived terms

Translations

See also

French

Etymology

From English brig.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bʁik/

Noun

brick m ‎(plural bricks)

  1. (nautical) A brig, a two-masted vessel type.
  2. A fritter with a filling.

Manx

Noun

brick m pl

  1. plural of breck

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
brick vrick mrick
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Scots

Etymology

From Old English brecan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną.

Verb

brick

  1. (South Scots) to break
    Make shair ee deh brick yon vase!

Etymology

Possibly from Brych, an East European surname with the same pronunciation.

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