English
brick
see also: Brick
Pronunciation
  • (British, America) enPR: brĭk, IPA: /bɹɪk/
Noun

brick

  1. (countable) A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building.
    This wall is made of bricks.
  2. (uncountable) Considered collectively, as a building material.
    This house is made of brick.
  3. (countable) Something shaped like a brick.
    a plastic explosive brick
    • 2012, Kevin Sampson, Powder (page 34)
      He disentangled himself from the safe door and delved inside. He brought out a brick of banknotes.
  4. (slang, dated) A helpful and reliable person.
    Thanks for helping me wash the car. You're a brick.
    • 1903 Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, ch. 48:
      Theobald's mind worked in this way: "Now, I know Ernest has told this boy what a disagreeable person I am, and I will just show him that I am not disagreeable at all, but a good old fellow, a jolly old boy, in fact a regular old brick, and that it is Ernest who is in fault all through."
  5. (basketball, slang) 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.
    We can't win if we keep throwing up bricks from three-point land.
  6. (informal) A power brick; an external power supply consisting of a small box with an integral male power plug and an attached electric cord terminating in another power plug.
  7. (computing slang, figurative) An electronic device, especially a heavy box-shaped one, that has become non-functional or obsolete.
  8. (firearms) A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, which forms the approximate size and shape of a brick.
  9. (poker slang) A community card (usually the turn or the river) which does not improve a player's hand.
    The two of clubs was a complete brick on the river.
  10. The colour brick red.
  11. (slang) One kilo of cocaine.
Translations Translations Translations
  • French: soutien
  • Portuguese: mão
  • Russian: молото́к
Adjective

brick (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial, AAVE, New England, of weather) Extremely cold.
    • 2005, Vibe (volume 12, number 14, page 102)
      And while the tropics are definitely the place to be when it's brick outside, rocking a snorkel on the beach only works when you're snorkeling.
    • 2014, Ray Mack, Underestimated: A Searcher's Story (ISBN 149315513X), page 89:
      He was always hanging tight with me and since he had access to a ride . . . it made traveling easier. I mean it was no biggie brain buster to take the train, but when it's brick outside . . . fuck the A train.
Translations
  • French: en brique
  • Portuguese: de tijolo
  • Russian: кирпи́чный
Verb

brick (bricks, present participle bricking; past and past participle bricked)

  1. To build with bricks.
    • 1914, The Mining Engineer, Institution of Mining Engineers, page 349
      The shaft was next bricked between the decks until the top scaffold was supported by the brickwork and [made] to share the weight with the prids.
  2. To make into bricks.
    • 1904 September 15, James C. Bennett, Walter Renton Ingalls (editor), Lead Smelting and Refining with Some Notes on Lead Mining (1906), The Engineering and Mining Journal, page 66
      The plant, which is here described, for bricking fine ores and flue dust, was designed and the plans produced in the engineering department of the Selby smelter.
  3. (slang) To hit someone or something with a brick.
  4. (computing slang) To make an electronic device nonfunctional and usually beyond repair, essentially making it no more useful than a brick.
    My VCR was bricked during the lightning storm.
    • 2007 December 14, Joe Barr, “PacketProtector turns SOHO router into security powerhouse”, Linux.com
      installing third-party firmware will void your warranty, and it is possible that you may brick your router.
    • 2016, Alex Hern, Revolv devices bricked as Google's Nest shuts down smart home company (in The Guardian)
      Google owner Alphabet’s subsidiary Nest is closing a smart-home company it bought less than two years ago, leaving customers’ devices useless as of May. […] The company declined to share how many customers would be left with bricked devices as a result of the shutdown.
Antonyms
  • (technology, slang: revert a device to nonoperational state) unbrick
Translations
Brick
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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