English Explanatory Dictionary

brick

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building.
  2. Such hardened mud, clay, etc. considered collectively, as a building material.
  3. Something shaped like a brick.
  4. The colour brick red.
  5. A helpful and reliable person.
  6. 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.
  7. A power brick; an external power supply consisting of a small box with an integral male plug and an attached cord terminating in another plug.
  8. An electronic device, especially a heavy box-shaped one, that has become non-functional or obsolete.
  9. A projectile.
  10. A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, which forms the approximate size and shape of a brick.
  11. A community card (usually the turn or the river) which does not improve a player's hand.
  12. A card in a player's hand that is currently unplayable.
verb
  1. To build, line, or form with bricks.
  2. To make into bricks.
  3. To hit someone or something with a brick.
  4. To make (an electronic device) non-functional and usually beyond repair, as a result of software or configuration issues.
  5. Of an electronic device, to become non-functional, especially in a way beyond repair, as a result of software or configuration issues.
  6. To blunder; to screw up.
adj
  1. Extremely cold.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, named after Joseph Brick.

Pronunciation

/ˈbɹɪk/ en-us-brick.ogg /ˈbɹɘk/

Word forms

brick bricks bricking bricked

Etymology

From Late Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *brekan (“to break”), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break. The social media slang sense derives from memes about building up one's feed “brick by brick”, analogizing bricks with reels that inform the algorithm.

Synonyms

algid Arctic Baltic boreal brass monkeys brumal chill chilled chilly clay-cold cold cold as a mackerel cold as charity freezing frosty frore frozen gelid glacial hiemal icy inclement nesh nippy parky polar sleety snowy taters wintry

Antonyms

fish unbrick

Related words

brickfielder brick it Brickhouse Bryck

Derived words

air brick all-brick alphabet brick bang one's head against a brick wall Bath brick Besser brick biobrick brick-a-brack brick-and-mortar brick and mortar brickbat brick breaker brick-buster brick by brick brick cheese brick chicken brickclay brickdust bricken bricker brickery brickette brickfield brickfilm brick hammer brickhead brick house brickie brick in one's hat brickish brick joke brickkiln bricklay bricklayer bricklaying brickless bricklike brickmaker brickmaking brickman brickmold brickmould brickor mortis brick pack brickpack brick phone brick-red brick red bricks and clicks bricks and mortar brickscape brick-shaped brickshaped brick shithouse brick slip brick stamp brickstamp brick stitch brick-tea brick toast

Translations

Finnish: tiilenpunainen French: rouge brique Hungarian: téglavörös Indonesian: merah bata Italian: mattone Ukrainian: цегля́стий Ukrainian: цегли́стий Ukrainian: цегляни́й Ukrainian: цегло́ви́й Chinese Mandarin: 使……變磚 /使……变砖 French: briquer French: bricker German: bricken Italian: such as sfasciare Italian: scassare Italian: rompere Italian: sminchiare Italian: distruggere Italian: ... Japanese: 文鎮化する Russian: окирпи́чить
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