brick wall

brick wall noun: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brick, wall. A wall made of bricks.

Noun

brick wall (plural brick walls)

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brick, wall. A wall made of bricks.
(figuratively) An obstacle.
- The investigators came up against a brick wall in their search for the missing money when they discovered it had been transferred overseas.
- They all ran up against the brick wall of high cost until the cryogenic option was proven feasible in 1973.1981, Donald D., William R. Corliss Baals, Wind Tunnels of NASA
(sound engineering) A type of anti-aliasing filter with a steep cutoff.
- One of the first problems with the digital audio process is the use of brick wall filters with very steep slopes for anti-aliasing and anti-imaging purposes.2005, Daniel M. Thompson, Understanding Audio, →ISBN
- To reconstruct the sampled signal, an ideal brick wall filter is demanded to remove the output of band signal.2012, Steve Hung, Lung Tu, Analog Circuit Design for Communication SOC, →ISBN, page 184
(figuratively) Someone who is silent or unresponsive.
- When mama says she doesn't talk, she means it. She's a brick wall.1987, National Thespian Dramatic Honor Society for High Schools, Dramatics, volume 59, page 23
- "Does he talk much? I mean, does he initiate conversation?"
  "No. He's a brick wall," I said.1992, Judith Caseley, My Father, The Nutcase, page 34

brick wall (third-person singular simple present brick walls, present participle brick walling, simple past and past participle brick walled)

To build a brick wall around.
- They forcefully imprisoned her in a decorative room and brick walled it.2013, Cyril A. Peters, Ignoble Imitation, →ISBN, page 98
(sound engineering) To filter using a brick wall filter.
- Audio recorded too quietly means that there is more opportunity for noise, even in today's digital workflow. Audio recorded too loud will distort in the analog world, and will simply "brick wall" in digital terms.2005, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Instant Digital Audio, →ISBN, page 77
To halt or limit abruptly.
- The driver stopped the cab on the spot, brick-walled it then and there.2012, Geoff Dyer, The Colour of Memory, →ISBN
- Baseball's unstoppable force -- the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers -- ran smack into peak-form Verlander, who brick-walled their six-game winning streak.2017 August 21, Bradford Doolittle, “Justin Verlander's domination of Dodgers looked like Astros audition”, in ESPN
To be uncooperative and unresponsive.
- They wanted to know how successful the attack had been. But you brick-walled them.2012, Donald Moffitt, A Gathering of Stars, →ISBN
- My rapid dial wouldn't work, and when I was finally able to get a Homeland Security office phone number to reach you, the receptionist brick walled me.2012, Virdean, Making the Rules, →ISBN

For example, a first order filter can be converted to a brick wall filter by multiplying by the brick wall factor 1.57.2012, Art Kay, Operational Amplifier Noise, →ISBN:
Having uttered these benign assurances, Mr Burner III became a brick wall.1997, Edward R.F. Sheeran, Cardinal Galsworthy, page 182:

Noun
plural	brick walls
Verb
third-person singular present	brick walls
present participle	brick walling
past participle	brick walled
past	brick walled

What does brick wall mean?: Brick wall means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brick, wall. A wall made of bricks.
What is brick wall in Malayalam?: Brick wall in Malayalam is മതിൽ (matil). See Brick wall meaning in Malayalam.
How do you use brick wall in a sentence?: For example, a first order filter can be converted to a brick wall filter by multiplying by the brick wall factor 1.57.
What part of speech is brick wall?: Brick wall can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of brick wall?: The plural of brick wall is brick walls.

Adapted from Wiktionary: brick wall (page history and authors); മതിൽ (Malayalam) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “brick wall.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brick_wall. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.