WALL


Meaning of WALL in English

I. wall 1 S1 W1 /wɔːl $ wɒːl/ BrE AmE noun [countable]

[ Language: Old English ; Origin: weall ]

1 . AROUND AN AREA an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area ⇨ fence

stone/brick/concrete wall

The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.

city/garden etc wall

the ancient city walls

the Great Wall of China

We climbed over the wall into the orchard.

2 . IN A BUILDING one of the sides of a room or building

on the wall

I put some pictures up on the walls.

Bob leaned against the wall.

bedroom/kitchen etc wall

We decided to paint the bathroom walls blue.

3 . BODY the side of something hollow, especially within the body:

The walls of the blood vessels had been damaged.

cell walls

4 . wall of fire/water etc a tall mass of something such as fire or water, that stops anything from getting past:

The boat was hit by a wall of water.

5 . wall of silence/secrecy a situation in which nobody will tell you what you want to know:

The police investigation was met with a wall of silence.

6 . up the wall spoken very angry or annoyed:

That noise is driving me up the wall (=making me annoyed) .

go up the wall British English :

I’ve got to be on time or Sarah will go up the wall.

7 . off the wall informal very strange or unusual, often in an amusing way:

Some of Krista’s ideas are a little off the wall.

8 . go to the wall informal if a company goes to the wall, it fails, especially because of financial difficulties:

Many small investors will go to the wall.

9 . these four walls spoken the room that you are in, especially considered as a private place:

I don’t want anything repeated outside these four walls.

10 . be/come up against a (brick) wall to reach a point where you cannot make progress, especially because something or someone is stopping you:

We seem to have come up against a brick wall in this investigation.

11 . be climbing/crawling (up) the walls informal to be feeling extremely anxious, unhappy, or annoyed, especially because you are waiting for something or are in a situation which you cannot get away from:

The kids soon had him climbing the walls.

12 . walls have ears used to warn people to be careful what they say, because other people, especially enemies, could be listening

13 . hit the wall informal to reach the point when you are most physically tired when doing a sport

⇨ have your back to/against the wall at ↑ back 2 (21), ⇨ be (like) banging your head against a brick wall at ↑ head (31), ⇨ like talking to a brick wall at ↑ talk 1 (15), ⇨ the writing is on the wall at ↑ writing (8), ⇨ ↑ off-the-wall

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THESAURUS

▪ wall an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area:

The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.

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a brick wall

▪ fence a structure made of wood, metal etc that surrounds a piece of land:

The garden was surrounded by an old wooden fence.

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the chain link fence around the school

▪ railings a metal fence that is made of a series of upright bars:

the iron railings in front of the house

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The boy was leaning over the railing on the side of the boat.

▪ barrier a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction:

A guard stood near the barrier.

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The police had put up barriers to keep the crowd under control.

▪ screen a piece of furniture like a thin wall that can be moved around and is used to divide one part of a room from another:

the screen around his hospital bed

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a Japanese bamboo screen

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a fire screen (=that you put near a fire)

▪ partition a thin wall that separates one part of a room from another:

The room was divided into two by a thin partition.

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The offices are separated by partitions and you can hear everything that is said in the next office.

▪ barricade a line of objects that people have put across a road, to prevent people getting past, especially as part of a protest:

The soldiers used tanks to smash through the barricades.

II. wall 2 BrE AmE verb

wall something ↔ in phrasal verb

to surround an open area with walls

wall something ↔ off phrasal verb

to keep one area or room separate from another, by building a wall:

The control room is walled off by soundproof glass.

wall somebody/something ↔ up phrasal verb

1 .

a) to fill in an entrance, window etc with bricks or stone:

The entrance had long since been walled up.

b) to fill in all the entrances and windows of a place so that someone cannot get out

2 . to keep someone as a prisoner in a building

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.