The Collaborative International Dictionary
Brick \Brick\ (br[i^]k), n. [OE. brik, F. brique; of Ger. origin; cf. AS. brice a breaking, fragment, Prov. E. brique piece, brique de pain, equiv. to AS. hl[=a]fes brice, fr. the root of E. break. See Break.]
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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.
The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians.
--Layard. -
Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick.
Some of Palladio's finest examples are of brick.
--Weale. Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread).
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A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick. [Slang] ``He 's a dear little brick.''
--Thackeray.To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [Slang]
Note: Brick is used adjectively or in combination; as, brick wall; brick clay; brick color; brick red.
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.
Usage examples of "brick dust".
And there was the smell of fresh mortar and brick dust where the men had been sealing up the entrance to the cisterns beneath this section of the battlements.
They were all covered with brick dust, their faces smudged with smoke, and he supposed he looked as bad as they did.
Cool and damp and smelling of brick dust and overturned earth, the tunnel seemed to take the boy in and then tighten down around him.
There was a vague shadowy movement beyond the barricade in the throat of the shaft, and another bullet sang off the lip of the wall under Ralph's nose, blinding him with brick dust.
His sweater and slacks were covered with brick dust and soot, his long shaggy hair was in a tangle, and his eyes glowed dully in purple rings.
Elen commented, wiping brick dust off her hands onto the skirts of her kaftan.
Boys ran urgent errands, clutching baskets of vegetables and heavy stacks of newspapers, or trundled rickety wheelbarrows spilling over with piles of red, coarse brick dust which they sold in little sackfuls.