*brick*

n. [ OE. brik, F. brique; of Ger. origin; cf. AS. brice a breaking, fragment, Prov. E. brique piece, brique de pain, equiv. to AS. hlāfes brice, fr. the root of E. break. See Break. ] 1. A block or clay tempered with water, sand, etc., molded into a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians. Layard. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some of Palladio's finest examples are of brick. Weale. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread). [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick. [ Slang ] “He 's a dear little brick.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Brick is used adjectively or in combination; as, brick wall; brick clay; brick color; brick red. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brick clay, clay suitable for, or used in making, bricks. --
Brick dust, dust of pounded or broken bricks. --
Brick earth, clay or earth suitable for, or used in making, bricks. --
Brick loaf, a loaf of bread somewhat resembling a brick in shape. --
Brick nogging (Arch.), rough brickwork used to fill in the spaces between the uprights of a wooden partition; brick filling. --
Brick tea, tea leaves and young shoots, or refuse tea, steamed or mixed with fat, etc., and pressed into the form of bricks. It is used in Northern and Central Asia. S. W. Williams. --
Brick trimmer (Arch.), a brick arch under a hearth, usually within the thickness of a wooden floor, to guard against accidents by fire. --
Brick trowel. See Trowel. --
Brick works, a place where bricks are made. --
Bath brick. See under Bath, a city. --
Pressed brick, bricks which, before burning, have been subjected to pressure, to free them from the imperfections of shape and texture which are common in molded bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bricked p. pr. & vb. n. Bricking. ] 1. To lay or pave with bricks; to surround, line, or construct with bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on, as by smearing plaster with red ocher, making the joints with an edge tool, and pointing them. [ 1913 Webster ]

To brick up, to fill up, inclose, or line, with brick. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A piece or fragment of a brick. See 1st Bat, n. 4. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. genus of herbs of SW America having usually creamy florets followed by one-seeded fruits in a prominent bristly sheath.
Syn. -- genus Brickelia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a place where bricks are made and sold.
Syn. -- brickyard. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Australia ] 1. Orig., at Sydney, a cold and violent south or southwest wind, rising suddenly, and regularly preceded by a hot wind from the north; -- now usually called southerly buster. It blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney, and carried clouds of dust into the city. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. By confusion, a midsummer hot wind from the north. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A kiln, or furnace, in which bricks are baked or burnt; or a pile of green bricks, laid loose, with arches underneath to receive the wood or fuel for burning them. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Brick + lay. ] One whose occupation is to build with bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bricklayer's itch. See under Itch. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art of building with bricks, or of uniting them by cement or mortar into various forms; the act or occupation of laying bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. brekil, brokel, bruchel, fr. AS. brecan, E. break. Cf. Brittle. ] Brittle; easily broken. [ Obs. or Prov. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

As stubborn steel excels the brickle glass. Turbervile. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brittleness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One whose occupation is to make bricks. -- Brick"mak*ing, n. [1913 Webster]

n. 1. Anything made of bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Niches in brickwork form the most difficult part of the bricklayer's art. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of building with or laying bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of bricks; formed of bricks; resembling bricks or brick dust. [ R. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A place where bricks are made, especially an inclosed place. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a brick made of fire clay, used for lining e.g. furnaces and chimneys. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. an idle worthless person. [ slang ]
Syn. -- goof-off, ne'er-do-well, good-for-nothing, good-for-naught. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The evasion of work or duty. [ informal ]
Syn. -- shirking, slacking, soldiering, goofing off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]