Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An upright structure of masonry, wood, plaster, or other building material serving to enclose, divide, or protect an area, especially a vertical construction forming an inner partition or exterior siding of a building.
- noun A continuous structure of masonry or other material forming a rampart and built for defensive purposes.
- noun A structure of stonework, cement, or other material built to retain a flow of water.
- noun Something resembling a wall in appearance, function, or construction, as the exterior surface of a body organ or part.
- noun Something resembling a wall in impenetrability or strength.
- noun An extreme or desperate condition or position, such as defeat or ruin.
- noun Sports The vertical surface of an ocean wave in surfing.
- transitive verb To enclose, surround, or fortify with or as if with a wall: synonym: enclose.
- transitive verb To divide or separate with or as if with a wall. Often used with off:
- transitive verb To confine or seal behind a wall; immure.
- transitive verb To block or close (an opening or passage, for example) with or as if with a wall.
- idiom (off the wall) Extremely unconventional.
- idiom (off the wall) Without foundation; ridiculous.
- idiom (up the wall) Into a state of extreme frustration, anger, or distress.
- idiom (writing/handwriting) An ominous indication of the course of future events.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Abbreviations of Wallachian.
- noun A spring of water.
- noun A disease of the eyes: same as
walleye . - To boil.
- To well, as water; spring.
- To inclose with a wall or as with a wall; furnish with walls: as, to
wall a city. - To defend by walls; fortify.
- To obstruct or hinder as by a wall.
- To fill up with a wall.
- In English university slang, same as
gate . - noun A work or structure of stone, brick, or other materials, serving to inclose a space, form a division, support, superincumbent weight, or afford a defense, shelter, or security.
- noun A solid and permanent inclosing fence of masonry, as around a field, a garden, a park, or a town.
- noun A rampart; a fortified enceinte or barrier: often in the plural. See cuts under chemm-deronde, fortification, and retaining wall.
- noun Something which resembles or suggests a wall: as, a wall of armed men; a wall of fire.
- noun A defense; means of security or protection.
- noun In mining, one of the surfaces of rock between which the vein or lode is inclosed; the country, or country rock, adjacent to the vein. See
vein . - noun In heraldry, a bearing having some resemblance to a wall, usually embattled.
- noun In anatomy and zoology, a paries; an extended investing or containing structure or part of the body: as, a cell-wall; the walls of the chest or abdomen: generally in the plural
- noun In cor als, the proper outer investment of the visceral chamber, whether of a single corallum or of a single corallite of a compound corallum.
- noun Same as
wall-knot
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A kind of knot often used at the end of a rope; a wall knot; a wale.
- noun a knot made by unlaying the strands of a rope, and making a bight with the first strand, then passing the second over the end of the first, and the third over the end of the second and through the bight of the first; a wale knot. Wall knots may be
single ordouble ,crowned ordouble-crowned . - transitive verb To inclose with a wall, or as with a wall.
- transitive verb To defend by walls, or as if by walls; to fortify.
- transitive verb To close or fill with a wall, as a doorway.
- noun A work or structure of stone, brick, or other materials, raised to some height, and intended for defense or security, solid and permanent inclosing fence, as around a field, a park, a town, etc., also, one of the upright inclosing parts of a building or a room.
- noun A defense; a rampart; a means of protection; in the plural, fortifications, in general; works for defense.
- noun An inclosing part of a receptacle or vessel.
- noun The side of a level or drift.
- noun The country rock bounding a vein laterally.
- noun Blind wall, etc. See under
Blank ,Blind , etc. - noun to bring to extremities; to push to extremes; to get the advantage of, or mastery over.
- noun to be hard pressed or driven; to be the weaker party; to be pushed to extremes.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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We may refer to all sets adapted to be mounted on a wall or partition as _wall telephones_, and to all in which the receiver, transmitter, and hook are provided with a standard of their own to enable them to rest on any flat surface, such as a desk or table, as _desk telephones_.
Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. George Patterson 1910
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The letter articulated both the principle and the phrase 'wall of separation between church and state' at the core of the then-new republic.
Hans Johnson: Demands of Aid to Religion Endanger Schools, Anger Moderates Hans Johnson 2011
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The 21st-century equivalent of the Berlin wall is a cyberbarrier, and we can help puncture it.
Iran Election Live-Blogging (Wednesday June 17) The Huffington Post News Team 2009
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The fall of the Berlin wall is probably one of the 3-4 “Where-were-you-when …” events that I remember in my lifetime.
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The letter articulated both the principle and the phrase 'wall of separation between church and state' at the core of the then-new republic.
Hans Johnson: Demands of Aid to Religion Endanger Schools, Anger Moderates Hans Johnson 2011
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Big Dig.yep. repeating same head-banging in wall is sign of enlightened voters and Boston as a shining example to follow. ok, CouncilGuy Gossett -- let's take the reins and LEAD! first order of business? more diversity? like BBQ'ing in your apartment during power outages?
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The letter articulated both the principle and the phrase 'wall of separation between church and state' at the core of the then-new republic.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Hans Johnson 2011
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Perhaps, then, the place to put the wall is the Jordan; but to do this would require the wholesale removal of the Palestinians.
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All of that said, building a wall is a ridiculous waste of money to treat a problem that could be much better solved by a guest worker program or some other sort of mechanism for allowing Mexican laborers to protect their rights through the legal system.
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Whether or not a wall is a good idea has little to do with your position on immigration and everything to do with your understanding of geography. anon says:
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In response to the protests in Hong Kong, so-called "John Lennon Walls" -- filled with sticky notes showing solidarity with the demonstrators -- have popped up all around the world.
Cal students clash at sticky note 'Lennon wall' over Hong Kong protests 2019
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