brick

Less common meanings

5. 5
   nounslangfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   A piece of electronic equipment, typically a bulky boxlike one, that no longer works or has become outdated.

   Without the right firmware, the expensive recorder is just an overpriced brick.

   Once the company shut down its servers, the smart speaker on our shelf became a useless brick.

   Similarpaperweight, doorstop

   Note

   Computing slang with a sardonic edge: a dead device keeps its weight and shape and nothing else, so it might as well be masonry. The word covers both the broken and the merely outdated, and it is often belittled further, as in "just an overpriced brick". It pairs with the verb to brick, so a device that someone has bricked is left a brick. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The quoted expression is attested in a comment about electronic equipment; no speaker is attributed in the item. forums.theregister.com
6. 6
   red-brownnouncountable or uncountable

   A dull brownish-red color like that of ordinary clay bricks; brick red.

   We painted the kitchen walls a soft brick to make the room feel warmer.

   His sweater was a muted brick, almost terracotta.

   Similarterracotta, rust, russet

7. 7
   verbslangtransitive

   In basketball, to miss a shot badly, with the ball striking the rim or backboard hard and bouncing away.

   The star guard bricked a wide-open three that would have tied the game.

   Brick two free throws in the playoffs and the fans will never let you forget it.

   Similarmiss

   Oppositesink

   Note

   The verb grows from the noun for a clanking miss: a shot so heavy-handed it bangs off the rim as if a brick had been thrown. It is players' and broadcasters' slang, used for jump shots, threes and free throws that miss clumsily, not for blocked shots or near misses that roll out. A shooter in a slump is said to be bricking.

8. 8
   missed shotnounslangcountable or uncountable

   In basketball, a badly missed shot, especially one that strikes the rim or backboard hard and caroms away.

   He launched a brick that didn't even graze the net.

   Three straight bricks in the final minute sank their comeback.

   Similarmiss, clank

   Oppositeswish

   Note

   Basketball talk, and scornful. A brick is not just any miss but an ugly one, a shot that clanks off the rim as though the ball were far heavier than it is. Players "throw up" bricks, and the word pairs readily with range, as in bricks from three-point land. Calling a shot a brick is a judgment on the shooter, not just a report of the score.

9. 9
   power adapternouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   An external power supply in the form of a small box, either plugging straight into the wall or sitting along the cord, that powers an electronic device.

   The power brick for this monitor is bulkier than the monitor's stand.

   She tripped over the cord and yanked the brick out of the socket.

   Similaradapter, charger, transformer

10. 10
    cocaine blocknounslangcountable or uncountable

    A compressed one-kilogram block of cocaine.

    Customs officers seized twelve bricks taped beneath the truck's floor.

    During the traffic stop, officers found a brick of cocaine wrapped in tape behind the dashboard.

    Similarkilo, key

11. 11
    reliable friendnoundatedcountable or uncountable

    A helpful and reliable person, one you can depend on.

    Old Tom proved himself a brick when the whole family fell ill.

    “It's easy to see you're a brick!” replied Lady Augusta, and the laugh again became general.

    1863, Elizabeth Caroline Grey, Good Society

    Similarrock, star, gem, treasure, angel

    Note

    Warm praise from Victorian and Edwardian English. In Edith Nesbit's The Railway Children (1905), Jim thanks Bobbie with "you're a brick. Shake." That frame, "you're a brick" said in gratitude, is its natural home, and Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh (1903) shows it taking hearty padding: "a regular old brick". Today it sounds dated, so it works best with knowing, affectionate humor. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • The praising sense occurs in Victorian and Edwardian English. en.wiktionary.org
    • Edith Nesbit wrote The Railway Children. en.wikisource.org
    • The first American edition's title page is dated 1905; 1906 is the British first-edition year. en.wikisource.org
    • Jim says the exact words “you're a brick. Shake.” to Bobbie in appreciation of her help. gutenberg.org
    • Samuel Butler wrote The Way of All Flesh, first published in 1903. en.wikisource.org
    • The Way of All Flesh contains “a regular old brick”; it occurs in Theobald's represented thoughts. gutenberg.org
12. 12
    ammo cartonnouncountable or uncountable

    A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, packaged in roughly the size and shape of a building brick.

    Shooters often buy .22 long rifle by the brick to save money.

    He stacked three bricks of rimfire ammunition in the cabinet.

    Note

    Gun shops and shooters treat it as a counting unit. The carton holds 500 rimfire cartridges, so the word names a quantity as well as a package, and three bricks means fifteen hundred rounds. That fixed number separates it from the general brick-shaped object, where only the shape matters. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The ammunition trade uses “brick” as a counting and packaging unit. capstonepg.com
    • In the stated sense, a brick contains 500 rimfire cartridges, so three contain 1,500. pages.vikingshoot.com
    • The general shape-based sense does not specify a quantity. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    useless cardnounslangcountable or uncountable

    A community card, usually the turn or the river, that fails to improve a player's hand.

    She needed a heart to finish her flush, but the turn was a brick, so she folded to his big bet.

    Two bricks in a row left her holding a busted draw.

    Similarblank, rag

    Note

    Poker's word for a card that arrives and changes nothing. It is spoken from the drawing player's side: the card is a brick because it missed what that player needed, though it may be welcome news to an opponent who is already ahead. The street it falls on follows "on": a brick on the turn, a complete brick on the river.

14. 14
    bitterly coldadjectivedialectalNew York

    Extremely cold; bitterly freezing.

    Stepping out without a jacket was a mistake. It's brick today.

    Grab your heavy coat, because it's brick outside and the subway platform is even colder.

    Similarfreezing, frigid, frosty, bitter, glacial

    Oppositehot, boiling, scorching, sweltering

    Note

    A New York word from African-American Vernacular English, said of the weather and usually in one frame: it's brick outside. It can also stand before cold as an intensifier, as in "It's brick cold", and it is not compared with more or most. Its home is speech and magazines like Vibe. In formal writing, freezing or bitter is the neutral choice. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The cold-weather sense appears in Vibe magazine. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    hit with a blockverbslangtransitive

    To hit a person or object with a brick, whether held or thrown.

    Vandals bricked the storefront windows overnight.

    Someone threatened to brick his windshield while the car sat in the lot overnight.

    Similarstone

16. 16
    mold clayverbtransitive

    To shape and harden a raw material, such as clay, into bricks.

    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.

    1904, James C. Bennett, “Lead Smelting and Refining with Some Notes on Lead Mining”

    Note

    Not only clay gets bricked. James C. Bennett's 1904 article on lead smelting describes a plant built "for bricking fine ores and flue dust", pressing loose material into solid blocks. The verb takes the raw material as its object. That sets it apart from building with bricks, whose object is the structure being built. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • James C. Bennett's article appeared in 1904. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The article describes a plant for making bricks from fine ores and flue dust, using the quoted wording. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The plant pressed the material into bricks. upload.wikimedia.org
17. 17
    mess upverbslangintransitive

    To commit an embarrassing blunder; to mess something up.

    I had rehearsed my wedding toast for weeks, but I totally bricked when I forgot the groom's name halfway through.

    If you brick on stage, just keep going and recover.

    Similarchoke, blunder, flop, bomb, flub

    Oppositeshine, excel, succeed

18. 18
    insult (trans women)nounderogatoryoffensivecountable or uncountable

    A derogatory term for a trans woman who does not pass as female.

    In the forum thread, users mocked trans women who didn't pass, calling them bricks and posting their photos without permission.

    After a man at the bus stop muttered that she was a brick, she felt ashamed that strangers could so easily tell she was trans.

    UsageSay trans woman instead.

    Note

    A slur from inside trans and queer communities, and hurtful wherever it is used. Its opposite is fish, said of someone readily taken for a woman. Cameron Scheetz, writing in Queerty in 2023, describes a broader drag use for queens whose makeup or wardrobe looks shabby. It also turns up in rueful self-description, but from anyone else it is an insult and is best avoided. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The slur comes from within trans and queer communities. queerty.com
    • Cameron Scheetz described the broader drag use in Queerty in 2023. queerty.com
19. 19
    nounslangUK

    In British naval slang, a shell or other projectile fired from a warship's guns.

    I was on deck watching the firing, and looking at the direction in which our guns were pointing, it was obvious that it was not going to be Centurion who was going to receive our bricks.

    2019, Daniel Knowles, HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy