释义 |
▪ I. † ˈbrickwall, n.2 Obs. [A corruption of bricole, associated by popular etymology with the brick wall of the tennis court: ‘Musicke{ddd}which, tho' Anaxias might conceiue was for his honour, yet indeede hee was but the Brick-wall to conuey it to the eares of the beloued Philoclea’ (Sidney Arcadia 283).] = bricole n. 2 Also attrib.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Il à fait vne bricole, he hath plaied and made a Bricke-wall. 1611Cotgr., Bricoler, to tosse, or strike a ball sideways; to give it a bricke wall (at Tennis). 1662Sir A. Mervyn Sp. Irish Affairs 4 We come not to criminate, or to force a ball into the Dedan, but if any brick-wall expressions happen..it is rather a force upon us. ▪ II. † ˈbrickwall, v. Obs. [corruption of F. bricoler: see prec.] trans. To cause to rebound.
1596Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 20 Whiles thou mak'st a Tennis-court of their faces, by brick-walling thy clay-ball crosse vp and downe their cheekes. c1600J. Chamberlain Lett. (1861) 13 Tossed too and fro and brick⁓wald like a tennis ball from the one side to the other. a1628F. Greville Mustapha v. (1633) 127 Brickwall your errors from one to another. |