brick

noun, often attributive

\ ˈbrik

Definition of brick

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 plural bricks or brick : a handy-sized unit of building or paving material typically being rectangular and about 2¹/₄ × 3³/₄ × 8 inches (57 × 95 × 203 millimeters) and made of moist clay hardened by heat

2 : a good-hearted person

3 : a rectangular compressed mass (as of ice cream)

4 : a semisoft cheese with numerous small holes, smooth texture, and often mild flavor

5 : gaffe, blunder —used especially in the phrase drop a brick

6 : a badly missed shot in basketball he threw up a brick

brick

verb

bricked; bricking; bricks

Definition of brick (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to close, face, or pave with bricks —usually used with up, in, or over brick up a doorwaybrick over an opening

2 : to render (an electronic device, such as a smartphone) nonfunctional (as by accidental damage, malicious hacking, or software changes) … those who dared hack the phone to add features … risked having it "bricked"—completely and permanently disabled—on the next automatic update …— Jonathan Zittrain

3 basketball, informal : to miss (a shot) very badly : to throw up a brick on (a shot) (see brick entry 1 sense 6) brick a free throw

Synonyms More Example Sentences Phrases Containing brick Learn More About brick

Examples of brick in a Sentence

Noun a house made of brick a brick of ice cream children playing with wooden bricks He has been an absolute brick.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Their brick-and-mortar store (586 N. 900 W., American Fork) plus their e-commerce site aims to make baby gear decisions and shopping easier. — Kaitlyn Bancroft, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 May 2022 Current owners Nicolas Ibarzabal and Mariano Lanfranconi opened their first brick-and-mortar location on Clark Street in Chicago in 2012. — Alex Hulvalchick, Chicago Tribune, 10 May 2022 And the pills can now be mailed to patients instead of largely only being dispensed at brick-and-mortar clinics, following a recent regulatory change. — Mohana Ravindranath, STAT, 9 May 2022 Supporters of the brick-and-mortar measure have targeted the online sports betting group in television ads, calling the option troubling because minors could access adults' accounts. — Lance Pugmire, USA TODAY, 4 May 2022 But the site is emphasizing how many of its sellers are, in fact, traditional brick-and-mortar stores by starting up International Record Store Month, an initiative that will roll out on Discogs.com in June. — Chris Willman, Variety, 3 May 2022 In the wake of this year’s Record Store Day on April 23, Discogs is spinning up its own initiative to assist brick-and-mortar music sellers. — Chris Eggertsen, Billboard, 3 May 2022 Amazon, which had claimed that the Reliance deal violated its 2019 agreement with another Future Group company, wants to add Future’s Big Bazaar stores to expand its brick-and-mortar presence across India. — Jonathan Burgos, Forbes, 25 Apr. 2022 Longer term, Amazon is also slowly expanding its brick-and-mortar presence. — Irina Ivanova, CBS News, 5 Feb. 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Forrest compared Amazon to brick-and-mortar stores like Urban Outfitters, where shoppers might be presented with an entire outfit rather than just a single item at a time. — Chloe Taylor, Fortune, 29 Apr. 2022 Not only did Netflix do for them what Amazon did to brick-and-mortar bookstores, though; Netflix increasingly has a little bit of a strange juggling act to pull off in terms of its messaging. — Andy Meek, BGR, 27 Mar. 2022 People have been wielding the proverbial cane against architectural change here for decades; even van der Rohe had to concede to brick for the facade of his residential apartment building, Highfield House, after the neighbors insisted. — Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, Washington Post, 23 Mar. 2022 Plastic News reported that of the 840,000 single-family dwellings constructed in 2018, vinyl siding was installed on 26%, stucco on 25%, brick on 21%, fiber cement 20%, wood on 5%, and other materials like aluminum siding on 2%. — Jennifer Castenson, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2022 The century-old buildings that lined the main square were reduced to matchsticks and brick piles. — Anchorage Daily News, 12 Dec. 2021 Whether people join live shopping events for entertainment, to simply pass the time, or to enjoy a more interactive shopping experience, the current climate has accelerated live shopping’s appeal to online and brick-and-mortar shoppers alike. — Jia Wertz, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2021 Construction workers were seen Monday digging the open land next to brick buildings that were constructed at the site earlier this year for retail tenants. — From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2021 Spandet said she's hired an executive chef, Morgan Lopez, and is excited about the business making the transition from a mobile operation to brick-and-mortar. — Bob Dohr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10 Dec. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'brick.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.