Join two wayward radio hosts on
A Way With Words
, the call-in radio show about writing, speaking, slang, old sayings, and more.
About
Categories
Catchwords
Cohort
Word-A-Day
Entries
Feeds
Login
Search
Send "brick" to a friend
The information below is only a partial entry intended for sending via email. The full dictionary entry for
brick
, with citations, editorial and etymological notes, and any comments, is found
here
.
All messages sent using this form are logged by user ID, IP address, host name, service provider, time, referring site, and user agent. Abuse of this form is grounds for everyone laughing at your small endowments. HTML is not permitted.
Some mail servers will flag mail sent using this form as spam, so receipt is not guaranteed.
Your E-mail Address:
Your Name:
Recipient's E-mail Address:
Subject:
Message:
brick v. (generally) to fail; (of a person) to commit an error or do poorly; (especially in sports) to miss or fail to reach a target, goal, or destination; (of a musical recording) to fail to be successful or sell well; to stiff; (of an electronic device) to be rendered useless. A thing that has failed can be called a brick. The phrase to drop a brick, meaning to commit a verbal faux pas, dates to at least as early as 1923, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although Eric Partridge, in the appendix to his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (p. 1379) recounts an anecdote that purports to date the phrase drop a brick ‘make a mistake’ to a single specific event in 1905 at Trinity College, Cambridge. Citations, subject labels, and comments can be found on the Double-Tongued Dictionary web site: http://dtww.org/index.php/dictionary/brick/
Recent Catchwords
park
v. (5/16)
whale eye
n. (5/16)
water buffalo
n. (5/16)
Churchill
n. (5/15)
moondust
n. (5/15)
mouse type
n. (5/14)
hung up
adj. (5/14)
sideways market
n. (5/14)
Bristol dust
n. (5/14)
booth turnaround
n. (5/14)
YAWN
n. (5/13)
doodlesocking
n. (5/13)
job and knock
n. (5/13)
radwaste
n. (5/12)
meat without feet
n. (5/12)
night-out money
n. (5/12)
podbusting
n. (5/12)
short-and-distort
n. (5/12)
yoging
n. (5/12)
nightstand Buddhist
n. (5/9)
 
More catchwords...
Sponsored links:
Car Reviews
Used Cars
Lexicographer's Rules
A hearty endorsement of shout quotes: scare quotes used for emphasis
(5/14)
How to buy a dictionary
(4/29)
Jinx and padiddle: games we play
(4/16)
Saying it wrong on purpose
(4/1)
Nicknames from the Underground: Busharraf, Chillary, and Killadelphia
(3/19)
New slang unpacked
(3/4)
UPDATED: Crosswords in Black and White
(3/3)
Find me in American Way Magazine
(3/3)
Recent catchwords: read-alike, violin hickey, throw a Porsche at someone, Q-tip cruise, 1-800 car
(2/28)
The Tell-All of the Century: Snitching Slang
(2/19)
 
More blog entries...
Find A Word »
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
0-9
Search
Search Site
Google Site Search
New Comments
GW commented on
güey
(5/16)
Jak King commented on
hardening off
(5/16)
Jay DeKing commented on
hardening off
(5/15)
C.L.Mangles commented on
job and knock
(5/13)
Richard William Walker commented on
cat-claw
(5/12)
Thomas commented on
cat-claw
(5/12)
Richard William Walker commented on
cat-claw
(5/12)
Rock-hound commented on
fobbit
(5/12)
chris commented on
fobbit
(5/12)
Driver Joe commented on
brown gas
(5/11)
Jan commented on
tom-walkers
(5/11)
Jak King commented on
nightstand Buddhist
(5/11)
Karl Benghauser commented on
jingle mail
(5/10)
Thomas commented on
cat-claw
(5/10)
Richard William Walker commented on
cat-claw
(5/10)
Subscribe to the RSS feed.
•
Subscribe to the mailing list.
•
Browse the archive
.
•
Add to Technorati Favorites.
•
© 1999-2008 by
Grant Barrett
, Double-Tongued Dictionary, New York City.