Nearby Words
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.
EXPANDan embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall.
6.
the Wall. Berlin Wall.
7.
8.
COLLAPSEMining.
a.
the side of a level or drift.
b.
the overhanging or underlying side of a vein; a hanging wall or footwall.
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.
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Up the wall
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
verb (used with object)
Idioms12.
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.
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 followed by up): The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake.
15.
climb (the) walls, Slang. to become tense or frantic: climbing the walls with boredom.
16.
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.
17.
18.
go to the wall,
a.
to be defeated in a conflict or competition; yield.
b.
to fail in business, especially to become bankrupt.
c.
to be put aside or forgotten.
d.
to take an extreme and determined position or measure: I'd go to the wall to stop him from resigning.
19.
EXPANDhit 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.
a.
beyond the realm of acceptability or reasonableness: The figure you quoted for doing the work is off the wall.
b.
markedly out of the ordinary; eccentric; bizarre: Some of the clothes in the fashion show were too off the wall for the average customer.
21.
22.
COLLAPSEup the wall, Slang. into an acutely frantic, frustrated, or irritated state: The constant tension in the office is driving everyone up the wall.
Origin:
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
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
Related forms
wall-less, adjective
wall-like, adjective
un·wall, verb (used with object)
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. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To up the wall
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
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
EXPAND 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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
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.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Slang Dictionary
up the wall definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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