Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Wall - 12 dictionary results
wall
[wawl] 
–noun
| 1. | 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. |
| 2. | Usually, walls. a rampart raised for defensive purposes. |
| 3. | an immaterial or intangible barrier, obstruction, etc., suggesting a wall: a wall of prejudice. |
| 4. | a wall-like, enclosing part, thing, mass, etc.: a wall of fire; a wall of troops. |
| 5. | an embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall. |
| 6. | the Wall. Berlin Wall. |
| 7. | the outermost film or layer of structural material protecting, surrounding, and defining the physical limits of an object: the wall of a blood cell. |
| 8. | Mining.
|
–adjective
| 9. | of or pertaining to a wall: wall space. |
| 10. | growing against or on a wall: wall plants; wall cress. |
| 11. | situated, placed, or installed in or on a wall: wall oven; a wall safe. |
–verb (used with object)
—Idioms| 12. | to enclose, shut off, divide, protect, border, etc., with or as if with a wall (often fol. by in or off): to wall the yard; to wall in the play area; He is walled in by lack of opportunity. |
| 13. | to seal or fill (a doorway or other opening) with a wall: to wall an unused entrance. |
| 14. | to seal or entomb (something or someone) within a wall (usually fol. by up): The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake. |
| 15. | climb the walls or climb walls, Slang. to become tense or frantic: climbing the walls with boredom. |
| 16. | drive or 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. |
| 17. | 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. |
| 18. | go to the wall,
|
| 19. | 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. |
| 20. | off the wall, Slang.
|
| 21. | up against the wall,
|
| 22. | 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:
bef. 900; (n.) ME; OE w(e)all < L vallum palisade, deriv. of vallus stake, post; see wale 1 ; (v.) ME, deriv. of the n.
bef. 900; (n.) ME; OE w(e)all < L vallum palisade, deriv. of vallus stake, post; see wale 1 ; (v.) ME, deriv. of the n.
Related forms:
wall-less, adjective
wall-like, adjective
Synonyms:
2. battlement, breastwork, bulwark, barrier, bastion. 5. dike. 14. immure.
2. battlement, breastwork, bulwark, barrier, bastion. 5. dike. 14. immure.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To Wall
| wall (wôl) n.
[Middle English, from Old English weall, from Latin vallum, palisade, from vallus, stake.] wall'less adj. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Wall
Wall\, n. (Naut.) A kind of knot often used at the end of a rope; a wall knot; a wale. Wall knot, a knot made by unlaying the strands of a rope, and making a bight with the first strand, then passing the second over the end of the first, and the third over the end of the second and through the bight of the first; a wale knot. Wall knots may be single or double, crowned or double-crowned.Wall
Wall\, n. [AS. weall, from L. vallum a wall, vallus a stake, pale, palisade; akin to Gr. ? a nail. Cf. Interval.]1. A work or structure of stone, brick, or other materials, raised to some height, and intended for defense or security, solid and permanent inclosing fence, as around a field, a park, a town, etc., also, one of the upright inclosing parts of a building or a room. The plaster of the wall of the King's palace. --Dan. v. 5. 2. A defense; a rampart; a means of protection; in the plural, fortifications, in general; works for defense. The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. --Ex. xiv. 22. In such a night, Troilus, methinks, mounted the Troyan walls. --Shak. To rush undaunted to defend the walls. --Dryden. 3. An inclosing part of a receptacle or vessel; as, the walls of a steam-engine cylinder. 4. (Mining) (a) The side of a level or drift. (b) The country rock bounding a vein laterally. --Raymond. Note: Wall is often used adjectively, and also in the formation of compounds, usually of obvious signification; as in wall paper, or wall-paper; wall fruit, or wall-fruit; wallflower, etc. Blank wall, Blind wall, etc. See under Blank, Blind, etc. To drive to the wall, to bring to extremities; to push to extremes; to get the advantage of, or mastery over. To go to the wall, to be hard pressed or driven; to be the weaker party; to be pushed to extremes. To take the wall. to take the inner side of a walk, that is, the side next the wall; hence, to take the precedence. "I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's." --Shak. Wall barley (Bot.), a kind of grass (Hordeum murinum) much resembling barley; squirrel grass. See under Squirrel. Wall box. (Mach.) See Wall frame, below. Wall creeper (Zo["o]l.), a small bright-colored bird (Tichodroma muraria) native of Asia and Southern Europe. It climbs about over old walls and cliffs in search of insects and spiders. Its body is ash-gray above, the wing coverts are carmine-red, the primary quills are mostly red at the base and black distally, some of them with white spots, and the tail is blackish. Called also spider catcher. Wall cress (Bot.), a name given to several low cruciferous herbs, especially to the mouse-ear cress. See under Mouse-ear. Wall frame (Mach.), a frame set in a wall to receive a pillow block or bearing for a shaft passing through the wall; -- called also wall box. Wall fruit, fruit borne by trees trained against a wall. Wall gecko (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of Old World geckos which live in or about buildings and run over the vertical surfaces of walls, to which they cling by means of suckers on the feet. Wall lizard (Zo["o]l.), a common European lizard (Lacerta muralis) which frequents houses, and lives in the chinks and crevices of walls; -- called also wall newt. Wall louse, a wood louse. Wall moss (Bot.), any species of moss growing on walls. Wall newt (Zo["o]l.), the wall lizard. --Shak. Wall paper, paper for covering the walls of rooms; paper hangings. Wall pellitory (Bot.), a European plant (Parictaria officinalis) growing on old walls, and formerly esteemed medicinal. Wall pennywort (Bot.), a plant (Cotyledon Umbilicus) having rounded fleshy leaves. It is found on walls in Western Europe. Wall pepper (Bot.), a low mosslike plant (Sedum acre) with small fleshy leaves having a pungent taste and bearing yellow flowers. It is common on walls and rocks in Europe, and is sometimes seen in America. Wall pie (Bot.), a kind of fern; wall rue. Wall piece, a gun planted on a wall. --H. L. Scott. Wall plate (Arch.), a piece of timber placed horizontally upon a wall, and supporting posts, joists, and the like. See Illust. of Roof. Wall rock, granular limestone used in building walls. [U. S.] --Bartlett. Wall rue (Bot.), a species of small fern (Asplenium Ruta-muraria) growing on walls, rocks, and the like. Wall spring, a spring of water issuing from stratified rocks. Wall tent, a tent with upright cloth sides corresponding to the walls of a house. Wall wasp (Zo["o]l.), a common European solitary wasp (Odynerus parietus) which makes its nest in the crevices of walls.Wall
Wall\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Walled; p. pr. & vb. n. Walling.]1. To inclose with a wall, or as with a wall. "Seven walled towns of strength." --Shak. The king of Thebes, Amphion, That with his singing walled that city. --Chaucer. 2. To defend by walls, or as if by walls; to fortify. The terror of his name that walls us in. --Denham. 3. To close or fill with a wall, as a doorway.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : Wall
Spanish:
muro, tapia, muralla; pared,
German:
die Mauer,
Japanese:
塀
wall
interj. [WPI]1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken with a quizzical tone: "Wall??"
2. A request for further explication. Compare octal forty.
3. [Unix, from `write all'] v. To send a message to everyone currently logged in, esp. with the wall(8) utility.
It is said that sense 1 came from the idiom `like talking to a blank wall'. It was originally used in situations where, after you had carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at you blankly, clearly having understood nothing that was explained. You would then throw out a "Hello, wall?" to elicit some sort of response from the questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing "Wall?" themselves.
Jargon File 4.2.0
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
wall
O.E. 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. O.S., O.Fris., M.L.G., M.Du. wal) from L. vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes," apparently a collective form of vallus "stake." Swed. vall, Dan. val are from Low Ger. In this case, Eng. uses one word where many languages have two, e.g. Ger. Mauer "outer wall of a town, fortress, etc.," used also in ref. to the former Berlin Wall, and wand "partition wall within a building" (cf. the distinction, not always rigorously kept, in It. muro/parete, Ir. mur/fraig, Lith. muras/siena, etc.). The verb meaning "to enclose in a wall" is late O.E. *weallian. Wallpaper is attested from 1827. Phrase up the wall "angry, crazy" is from 1951; off the wall "unorthodox, unconventional" is recorded from 1966, Amer.Eng. student slang. Wall-to-wall (adj.) recorded 1953, of carpeting; metaphoric use (usually disparaging) is from 1967.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Main Entry: wall
Pronunciation: 'wol
Function: noun
: a structural layer surrounding a cavity, hollow organ, or mass of material
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
wall (wôl)
n.
An investing part enclosing a cavity, chamber, or other anatomical unit.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
wall
Unix's "write all" command which sends a message to everyone currently logged in.
[The Jargon File]
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Wall
Cities were surrounded by walls, as distinguished from "unwalled villages" (Ezek. 38:11; Lev. 25:29-34). They were made thick and strong (Num. 13:28; Deut. 3:5). Among the Jews walls were built of stone, some of those in the temple being of great size (1 Kings 6:7; 7:9-12; 20:30; Mark 13:1, 2). The term is used metaphorically of security and safety (Isa. 26:1; 60:18; Rev. 21:12-20). (See FENCE.)
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
wall
In addition to the idioms beginning with wall, 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® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
