WALL


Meaning of WALL in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ wɔ:l ]

( walls)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

A wall is one of the vertical sides of a building or room.

Kathryn leaned against the wall of the church...

The bedroom walls would be painted light blue...

She checked the wall clock.

N-COUNT

• -walled

...a glass-walled elevator...

COMB in ADJ

2.

A wall is a long narrow vertical structure made of stone or brick that surrounds or divides an area of land.

He sat on the wall in the sun...

N-COUNT

3.

The wall of something that is hollow is its side.

He ran his fingers along the inside walls of the box.

N-COUNT : with supp

4.

A wall of something is a large amount of it forming a high vertical barrier.

She gazed at the wall of books...

I was just hit by a wall of water.

N-COUNT : with supp , usu N of n

5.

You can describe something as a wall of a particular kind when it acts as a barrier and prevents people from understanding something.

The police say they met the usual wall of silence...

N-COUNT : with supp , usu N of n

6.

see also cavity wall , dry-stone wall , fly-on-the-wall , hole-in-the-wall , off-the-wall , retaining wall , sea wall , stonewall , wall-to-wall

7.

If you say that you are banging your head against a wall , you are emphasizing that you are frustrated because someone is stopping you from making progress in something. ( INFORMAL )

I appealed for help but felt I was always banging my head against a wall...

I wondered if I was banging my head against a brick wall.

PHRASE : V inflects , usu cont [ emphasis ]

8.

If you have your back to the wall , you are in a very difficult situation and can see no way out of it. ( INFORMAL )

Their threat to hire replacement workers has the union with its back to the wall.

PHRASE : back inflects

9.

If you say that something or someone is driving you up the wall , you are emphasizing that they annoy and irritate you. ( INFORMAL )

The heat is driving me up the wall...

I sang in the bath and drove my parents up the wall.

PHRASE : V inflects [ emphasis ]

10.

If a person or company goes to the wall , they lose all their money and their business fails. ( INFORMAL )

Even quite big companies are going to the wall these days.

PHRASE : V inflects

11.

fly on the wall: see fly

the writing is on the wall: see writing

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Английский словарь Коллинз COBUILD для изучающих язык на продвинутом уровне.