# brick

Pronunciation: say "BRIK" /bɹɪk/

## Noun

1. A rectangular block of clay or mud, hardened by baking or drying, used for building; also such blocks taken together as a building material.
   - Simple: A hard block of clay or mud, baked or dried, used to build walls and houses, or this material in general.
   - _The factory walls were faced in brick to resist fire._
   - _Brick weathers slowly and can last for generations._
2. An object having the rectangular shape of a building brick.
   - Simple: An object that has the shape of a brick.
   - _She unwrapped a brick of butter for the recipe._
   - _The frozen spinach came out as a solid green brick._
5. A piece of electronic equipment, typically a bulky boxlike one, that no longer works or has become outdated. *(slang)*
   - Simple: An electronic device that no longer works, or is so out of date that it is useless.
   - _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._
6. A dull brownish-red color like that of ordinary clay bricks; brick red.
   - Simple: A reddish-brown color, like baked clay.
   - _We painted the kitchen walls a soft brick to make the room feel warmer._
   - _His sweater was a muted brick, almost terracotta._
8. In basketball, a badly missed shot, especially one that strikes the rim or backboard hard and caroms away. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In basketball, a badly missed shot that bounces hard off the rim or backboard.
   - _He launched a brick that didn't even graze the net._
   - _Three straight bricks in the final minute sank their comeback._
9. 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. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A small boxy power supply that plugs into the wall and powers a device through a cord.
   - _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._
10. A compressed one-kilogram block of cocaine. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A block-shaped package of about one kilogram 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._
12. A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, packaged in roughly the size and shape of a building brick.
   - Simple: A boxed pack of 500 small gun cartridges, shaped roughly like a building block.
   - _Shooters often buy .22 long rifle by the brick to save money._
   - _He stacked three bricks of rimfire ammunition in the cabinet._
13. A community card, usually the turn or the river, that fails to improve a player's hand. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In poker, a community card that does nothing to help your 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._
18. A derogatory term for a trans woman who does not pass as female.
   - Simple: An insulting word for a trans woman who is easily recognized as transgender.
   - _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._

## Verb

3. To build, line, or form something using bricks.
   - Simple: To build or cover something using bricks.
   - _We plan to brick the courtyard before winter sets in._
   - _They bricked the entire fireplace surround in a single weekend._
4. To make an electronic device stop working, usually beyond repair, through faulty software, firmware or settings; also, of a device, to stop working this way. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To ruin a phone, computer or other device with a bad update or setting so it no longer works.
   - _Interrupting the update mid-install can brick the console entirely._
   - _A corrupted firmware flash bricked thousands of devices overnight._
7. In basketball, to miss a shot badly, with the ball striking the rim or backboard hard and bouncing away. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In basketball, to miss a shot badly so the ball bangs hard off the rim or board and bounces 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._
15. To hit a person or object with a brick, whether held or thrown. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To strike a person or thing using a brick.
   - _Vandals bricked the storefront windows overnight._
   - _Someone threatened to brick his windshield while the car sat in the lot overnight._
16. To shape and harden a raw material, such as clay, into bricks.
   - Simple: To press or shape a soft or loose material, such as clay or ore, into hard blocks.
17. To commit an embarrassing blunder; to mess something up. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To make a bad mistake at an important moment.
   - _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._

## Adjective

14. Extremely cold; bitterly freezing. *(dialectal, New York)*
   - Simple: Very cold, the way freezing winter air feels.
   - _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._

## Noun

11. A helpful and reliable person, one you can depend on. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A kind, dependable person you can always count on.
   - _Old Tom proved himself a brick when the whole family fell ill._
   - _You've been an absolute brick all week, and I won't forget it._

## Other meanings

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

## Origin

The source is bricke, a word in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German for a "cracked or broken brick" or "tile-stone," which was borrowed into Late Middle English as brik. Its ultimate relative is Proto-West Germanic *brekan ("to break"), the root that also lies behind Old French briche and French brique ("brick").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/brick (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).