/ brɪk; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C , U ] baked clay used for building walls, houses and other buildings; an individual block of this :
The school is built of brick.
a pile of bricks
a brick wall
—see also red-brick —picture at house
2.
[ C ] a plastic or wooden block, used as a toy for young children to build things with
3.
[ C , usually sing. ] ( old-fashioned , BrE , informal ) a friend that you can rely on when you need help
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IDIOMS
- be up against a brick wall
- bricks and mortar
- make bricks without straw
—more at cat noun , drop verb , head noun , ton noun
■ verb
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PHRASAL VERBS
- brick sth in / up
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English : from Middle Low German , Middle Dutch bricke , brike ; probably reinforced by Old French brique ; of unknown ultimate origin.