brick definition | Dictionary.com

brick

[brik]

–noun

1.	a block of clay hardened by drying in the sun or burning in a kiln, and used for building, paving, etc.: traditionally, in the U.S., a rectangle 2 ¹/₄ × 3 ³/₄ × 8 in. (5.7 × 9.5 × 20.3 cm), red, brown, or yellow in color.

2.	such blocks collectively.

3.	the material of which such blocks are made.

4.	any block or bar having a similar size and shape: a gold brick; an ice-cream brick.

5.	the length of a brick as a measure of thickness, as of a wall: one and a half bricks thick.

6.	Informal. an admirably good or generous person.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to pave, line, wall, fill, or build with brick.

–adjective

8.	made of, constructed with, or resembling bricks.

—Idioms

9.	drop a brick, to make a social gaffe or blunder, esp. an indiscreet remark.

10.

hit the bricks,

a.	to walk the streets, esp. as an unemployed or homeless person.

b.	to go on strike: With contract talks stalled, workers are threatening to hit the bricks.

Also, take to the bricks.

11.

make bricks without straw,

a.	to plan or act on a false premise or unrealistic basis.

b.	to create something that will not last: To form governments without the consent of the people is to make bricks without straw.

c.	to perform a task despite the lack of necessary materials.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME brike < MD bricke; akin to break

Related forms:

bricklike, brickish, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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brick (brĭk)

pl. bricks or brick A molded rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in a kiln until hard and used as a building and paving material.
An object shaped like such a block: a brick of cheese.
Informal A helpful, reliable person.

tr.v. bricked, brick·ing, bricks

To construct, line, or pave with bricks.
To close or wall with brick: bricked up the windows of the old house.

[Middle English brike, from Middle Dutch bricke.]
brick'y 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.
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Brick

Brick\, n. [OE. brik, F. brique; of Ger. origin; cf. AS. brice a breaking, fragment, Prov. E. brique piece, brique de pain, equiv. to AS. hl[=a]fes 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]

Note: 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

Brick\, v. 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.

Language Translation for : brick

Spanish: ladrillo,

German: der Ziegel,

Japanese: れんが

More Translations »

brick

1416, from O.Fr. briche, probably from a Gmc. source akin to M.Du. bricke "a tile," lit. "a broken piece," from the verbal root of break. Meaning "a good fellow" is from 1840. Brickbat "piece or fragment of a brick" is from 1563; brick wall in the fig. sense of "impenetrable barrier" is from 1886.

brick

In addition to the idioms beginning with brick, also see drop a brick; hit the bricks; like a cat on a hot brick; like a ton of bricks; make bricks without straw; run into a stone (brick) wall.

brick

structural clay products, manufactured as standard units, used in building construction.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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