Brick

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

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. hlāfes brice, fr. the root of E. break. See Break.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians."  [1913 Webster]
•  Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick.  [1913 Webster]

  "Some of Palladio's finest examples are of brick."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread).  [1913 Webster]
•  A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick.  Thackeray.  [1913 Webster]

  " Brick is used adjectively or in combination; as, brick wall; brick clay; brick color; brick red."  [1913 Webster]

To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [Slang]

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, v. t. 

•  To lay or pave with bricks; to surround, line, or construct with bricks.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

To brick up, to fill up, inclose, or line, with brick.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Brick, n., v., & adj.
--n.
1 a a small, usu. rectangular, block of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building. b the material used to make these. c a similar block of concrete etc.
2 Brit. a child's toy building-block.
3 a brick-shaped solid object (a brick of ice-cream).
4 sl. a generous or loyal person.
--v.tr. (foll. by in, up) close or block with brickwork.
--adj.
1 built of brick (brick wall).
2 of a dull red colour.

Idiom

bang (or knock or run) one's head against a brick wall attempt the impossible. brick-field a place at which bricks are made. brick-red the colour of bricks. like a load (or ton) of bricks colloq. with crushing weight, force, or authority. see through a brick wall have miraculous insight.

Derivative

bricky adj.

Etymology

ME f. MLG, MDu. bri(c)ke, of unkn. orig.

THESAURUS

Brick

Tarmac, Tarvia, adamant, adobe, ashlar, asphalt, biscuit, bisque, bitumen, bituminous macadam, blacktop, block, board, bone, bowl, bricks and mortar, buddy, cement, ceramic ware, ceramics, china, chum, chunk, clapboard, clinker, cobble, cobblestone, comrade, concrete, covering materials, crackerjack, crock, crockery, cube, curb, curbing, curbstone, diamond, doll, edgestone, enamelware, face, ferroconcrete, firebrick, flag, flagging, flagstone, flint, flooring, friend, glass, glaze, good Joe, good egg, good guy, granite, gravel, heart of oak, hunk, iron, jug, kerb, kerbstone, lath, lath and plaster, likely lad, macadam, marble, masonry, mortar, nails, nice guy, no slouch, oak, pal, paper, pavement, pavestone, paving, paving material, paving stone, plank, plasters, porcelain, pot, pottery, prestressed concrete, pussycat, refractory, revet, road metal, rock, roofage, roofing, shake, sheathe, shingle, siding, slab, slate, steel, stone, stout fellow, tarmacadam, thatch, tile, tiling, trump, urn, vase, veneer, wall in, wall up, walling, wallpaper, washboard, weatherboard

ROGET THESAURUS

Brick

Probity

N probity, integrity, rectitude, uprightness, honesty, faith, honor, bonne foi, good faith, bona fides, purity, clean hands, fairness, fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness, grace, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, incorruption, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, truth, candor, singleness of heart, veracity, tender conscience, punctilio, delicacy, nicety, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, scruple, point, point of honor, punctuality, dignity, (repute), respectability, respectableness, gentilhomme, gentleman, man of honor, man of his word, fidus Achates, preux chevalier, galantuomo, truepenny, trump, brick, true Briton, white man, court of honor, a fair field and no favor, argumentum ad verecundiam, upright, honest, honest as daylight, veracious, virtuous, honorable, fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square, fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard, white, constant, constant as the northern star, faithful, loyal, staunch, true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole, marble-constant, true- hearted, trusty, trustworthy, as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible, straightforward, frank, candid, open-hearted, conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded, high-principled, high-minded, scrupulous, religious, strict, nice, punctilious, correct, punctual, respectable, reputable, gentlemanlike, inviolable, inviolate, unviolated, unbroken, unbetrayed, unbought, unbribed, innocent, pure, stainless, unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, undepraved, undebauched, integer vitae scelerisque purus, justus et tenax propositi, chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche, high-spirited, supramundane, unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous, honorable, bona fide, on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae, with clean hands, a face untaught to feign, bene qui latuit bene vixit, mens sibi conscia recti, probitas laudatur et alget, fidelis ad urnam, his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth, loyaute m'oblige, loyaute n'a honte, what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?.

Good Man

N good man, honest man, worthy, good woman, perfect lady, Madonna, model, paragon, good example, hero, heroine, demigod, seraph, angel, innocent, saint, benefactor, philanthropist, Aristides, noble liver, pattern, brick, trump, gem, jewel, good fellow, prince, diamond in the rough, rough diamond, ugly duckling, salt of the earth, one in ten thousand, one in a million, a gentleman and a scholar, pillar of society, pillar of the community, a man among men, si sic omnes!.

Hardness

N hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.

Calefaction

N calefaction, increase of temperature, heating, calefaction, tepefaction, torrefaction, melting, fusion, liquefaction, burning, ambustion, combustion, incension, accension, concremation, cremation, scorification, cautery, cauterization, ustulation, calcination, cracking, refining, incineration, cineration, carbonization, cupellation, ignition, inflammation, adustion, flagration, deflagration, conflagration, empyrosis, incendiarism, arson, auto dafe, boiling, coction, ebullition, estuation, elixation, decoction, ebullioscope, geyser, distillation (vaporization), furnace, blanket, flannel, fur, wadding, clothing, still, refinery, fractionating column, fractionating tower, cracking tower, match, incendiary, petroleuse, cauterizer, caustic, lunar caustic, alkali, apozem, moxa, acid, aqua fortis, aqua regia, catheretic, nitric acid, nitrochloro-hydric acid, nitromuriatic acid, radioactivity, gamma rays, alpha particles, beta rays, X-rays, radiation, cosmic radiation, background radiation, radioactive isotopes, tritium, uranium, plutonium, radon, radium, sunstroke, coup de soleil, insolation, pottery, ceramics, crockery, porcelain, china, earthenware, stoneware, pot, mug, terra cotta, brick, clinker, cinder, ash, scoriae, embers, soot, slag, coke, carbon, charcoal, wood alcohol, turpentine, tea tree oil, gasoline, kerosene, naptha, fuel oil (fuel), wax, paraffin, residue, tar, inflammability, combustibility, diathermancy, transcalency, conduction, convection, radiation, radiant heat, heat conductivity, conductivity, thermal expansion, coefficient of expansion, heated, molten, sodden, r_echauff_e, heating, adust, inflammable, combustible, diathermal, diathermanous, burnt, volcanic, radioactive.