wall — ONAD · Shobdo

wall /wôl, wɔl

▸ noun a continuous vertical brick or stone structure that encloses or divides an area of land:

a garden wall

farmland traversed by drystone walls.

▪ a side of a building or room, typically forming part of the building's structure.

▪ any high vertical surface or facade, especially one that is imposing in scale:

the eastern wall of the valley

figurative flash floods sent a 6-foot wall of water through the village.

▪ a thing perceived as a protective or restrictive barrier:

a wall of silence.

▪ Soccer a line of defenders forming a barrier against a free kick taken near the penalty area.

▪ short for climbing wall.

▪ Mining the rock enclosing a lode or seam or forming the side of a mine-working.

▪ Anatomy & Zoology the membranous outer layer or lining of an organ or cavity:

the wall of the stomach.

▪ Biology see cell wall.

▸ verb [with object] enclose (an area) within walls, especially to protect it or lend it some privacy:

housing areas that are walled off from the indigenous population.

▪ (wall something up) block or seal a place by building a wall around or across it:

one doorway has been walled up.

▪ (wall someone/something in/up) confine or imprison someone or something in a restricted or sealed place:

the gray tenements walled in the space completely.

– PHRASES
drive someone up the wall informal
make someone very irritated or angry:

it's driving me up the wall trying to find out who did what.

go to the wall informal

1
(of a business) fail; go out of business:

thousands of firms are expected to go to the wall this year.

2
support someone or something, no matter what the cost to oneself:

the tendency for poets to go to the wall for their beliefs.

hit the wall
(of an athlete) experience a sudden loss of energy in a long race:

marathon runners found they often hit the wall after 17 or 18 miles.

off the wall North American informal

1
eccentric or unconventional:

a zany, wacky, off-the-wall weirdo.

2
(of a person) angry:

the president was off the wall about the article.

3
(of an accusation) without basis or foundation.

walls have ears proverb
be careful what you say as people may be eavesdropping.wall-to-wall /ˌwôltəˈwôl, ˌwɔltəˈwɔl

/
(of a carpet or other floor covering) fitted to cover an entire floor:

he padded across the wall-to-wall carpeting.

▪ informal
denoting great extent or number:

wall-to-wall customers.

– DERIVATIVES
wall-less

– ORIGIN Old English , from Latin vallum ‘rampart’, from vallus ‘stake’.