wall1 nounwall2 verb
wallwall1 /wɔːl $ wɒːl/ ●●● S1 W1 noun [countable] 
WORD ORIGINwall1
Origin:
Old English weallEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- A brick wall surrounds the building.
- We should hang the picture on this wall over here.
- Built in 1537 of brick, it has immense circular mural towers and massive, impregnable walls.
- But no one can figure out a way to take that wall down without damaging the FleetCenter wall.
- He spotted another phalanx of flies stuck to the walls.
- My granda used to pin his favourite tenant's letters to the wall of his cupboard.
- The walls were lined with another fine matting woven in a large diamond design of red and green.
- The joists support all the walls, so the walls of the bathroom had to be torn out.
THESAURUS
an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area: · The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.· a brick wall
a structure made of wood, metal etc that surrounds a piece of land: · The garden was surrounded by an old wooden fence.· the chain link fence around the school
a metal fence that is made of a series of upright bars: · the iron railings in front of the house· The boy was leaning over the railing on the side of the boat.
a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction: · A guard stood near the barrier.· The police had put up barriers to keep the crowd under control.
a piece of furniture like a thin wall that can be moved around and is used to divide one part of a room from another: · the screen around his hospital bed· a Japanese bamboo screen· a fire screen (=that you put near a fire)
a thin wall that separates one part of a room from another: · The room was divided into two by a thin partition.· The offices are separated by partitions and you can hear everything that is said in the next office.
a line of objects that people have put across a road, to prevent people getting past, especially as part of a protest: · The soldiers used tanks to smash through the barricades.
Longman Language Activatorto make someone feel crazy to make someone feel crazy or behave in a crazy way: · I've just got to get another job -- this one's driving me nuts.· I can't wait to get my exam results. All this waiting is driving me insane.· I hate doing crossword puzzles -- they drive me mad.· Those kids are enough to drive anyone crazy. I'll be glad when they go back to school.
especially British, informal if something such as a lot of work, worry, or doing something you hate drives you round the bend or drives you round the twist , it makes you feel completely crazy: · I have so much to do at the moment. It's driving me round the twist.· She was really glad when she gave up teaching. It was driving her right round the bend.
to make someone feel crazy, especially by repeatedly doing something annoying: · Can you turn down that TV? It's driving me up the wall!· I love my husband, but he's driving me up the wall.
when a company, shop, or business fails · A large number of businesses failed when interest rates rose.· Several thousands of small businesses fail each week.
if a company goes out of business , it stops existing because it is no longer making a profit: · Many small farms are going out of business.be put/forced out of business: · As the recession hit, many traders were forced out of business.
if a business, bank, or company goes under , it fails - used especially in newspapers and business contexts: · When the company went under, some of our workers found positions with Ford.
if a shop, factory, or business closes down, it stops making or selling goods: · If the factory closes down, 600 people will lose their jobs.· Coal mines are closing down all over the country.· Not long ago, the orchestra was the pride of the city. Now it is on the verge of closing down.
British /closing American when a shop, factory, or business fails and closes: · Further factory closures have been announced.closure of: · The closing of the Minton Savings and Loan was a great loss to the town.face/be threatened with closure (=to be going to close down): · Penrhyn is now the largest quarry in the world, yet 5 years ago it faced closure.
informal if a person or company goes bankrupt , they are legally forced to sell their property and possessions to pay their debts: · Her father went bankrupt in 1984.· He bought a small printing firm that had gone bankrupt.· The company went bust last year, owing £12 million.
informal to fail and be unable to continue in business: · Most of the companies dependent on the steelworks folded within weeks.
informal to fail and be unable to continue in business, especially because of difficult economic conditions: · Over 300 small firms have gone to the wall in the past year.· High interest rates will force many businesses to go to the wall.
when it is useless to try to persuade someone also might as well talk to a brick wall British spoken use this to say that it is useless to try to persuade someone or argue with them, because they will not listen to what you are saying: · I wouldn't bother arguing with Francis -- it's like talking to a brick wall.· I told you I don't want to go out again tonight -- honestly, I might just as well talk to a brick wall!
spoken use this to tell someone that there is no point in trying to argue with someone or persuade them about something because they will not change their opinion: · It's no good trying to make Kit change her mind -- you'd just be wasting your breath.· He's wasting his breath. There's no way they're going to lend him the money.
spoken if you talk, argue etc with someone till you're blue in the face , you talk or argue with them for a very long time when it is pointless to do this because they will not listen or understand: · You can argue till you're blue in the face, but it won't do you any good.· Politicians can claim until they are blue in the face that students have never had it so good, but the fact is, they cannot justify those claims.
WORD SETSadjoin, verbalcove, nounantechamber, nounanteroom, nounapartment block, nounapse, nounarcade, nounart gallery, nounatrium, nounattic, nounauditorium, nounawning, nounback door, nounback-to-back, nounbailey, nounbalcony, nounbalustrade, nounbanister, nounbarn, nounbasilica, nounbastion, nounbay window, nounblock, nounbrownstone, nounbungalow, nounbunkhouse, nounbyre, nouncabin, nouncampanile, nouncanteen, nouncarport, nouncasement, nouncastle, nounceiling, nouncellar, nouncentre, nounchalet, nounchamber, nounchancel, nounchanging room, nounchateau, nounchimney, nounchimney breast, nounchimney pot, nounchimney stack, nouncladding, nounclerk of works, nouncloakroom, nouncloister, nounclubhouse, nouncoatroom, nouncocktail lounge, nouncolonnade, nouncolumn, nouncommon room, nouncomplex, nouncompound, nounconcourse, nouncondominium, nounconservatory, nounconvent, nouncoping, nouncornerstone, nouncorn exchange, nouncorridor, nouncottage, nouncountry house, nouncountry seat, nouncourthouse, nouncowshed, noundado, noundance hall, noundetached, adjectivedoor, noundoorpost, noundormer, nounedifice, nounentry, nounentryway, nounestate, nounestate agent, nounextension, nouneyrie, nounfacade, nounfallout shelter, nounfamily room, nounfarmhouse, nounfire door, nounfire escape, nounfire station, nounfitment, nounfixture, nounflatlet, nounflight, nounfloor, nounfolly, nounforecourt, nounfort, nounfortress, nounfoyer, nounfrontage, nounfront room, nounfuneral home, noungable, noungabled, adjectivegargoyle, noungrandstand, noungrange, noungranny flat, noungrille, nounground floor, nounguardhouse, nounguesthouse, nounguildhall, noungutter, nounguttering, noungym, noungymnasium, nounhabitation, nounhall, nounhallway, nounhatch, nounhatchway, nounhayloft, nounhealth centre, nounhigh-rise, adjectivehospice, nounhospital, nounlaboratory, nounlanding, nounleaded lights, nounlean-to, nounledge, nounlightning conductor, nounlintel, nounlobby, nounlodge, nounloft, nounlog cabin, nounlounge, nounlouvre, nounmaisonette, nounmezzanine, nounmilking parlour, nounmoving staircase, nounmullion, nounnave, nounniche, nounoast house, nounobelisk, nounoffice building, nounoratory, nounoutbuilding, nounouthouse, nounoverhang, nounparapet, nounparty wall, nounpediment, nounpenthouse, nounperistyle, nounpicture window, nounpilaster, nounpillar, nounpinnacle, nounplatform, nounplumber, nounplumbing, nounpodium, nounpoint, verbPortakabin, nounpotting shed, nounpresbytery, nounpress gallery, nounprivy, nounpublic convenience, nounpyramid, nounrafter, nounrail, nounrampart, nounribbon development, nounrotunda, nounsanctuary, nounschoolhouse, nounscience park, nounsepulchre, nounservice charge, nounshack, nounshed, nounshop front, nounskylight, nounskyscraper, nounsliding door, nounsmokestack, nounsmoking room, nounspiral staircase, nounspire, nounsports centre, nounstack, nounstadium, nounstair, nounstaircase, nounstairway, nounstairwell, nounstall, nounstately home, nounstateroom, nounstation, nounsteeple, nounstep, nounstonework, nounstoop, nounstoreroom, nounstorm cellar, nounstory, nounstudio, nountenement, nountepee, nounterrace, nountheatre, nountoilet, nountool shed, nountower block, nountown hall, nountownhouse, nountransept, nountransom, nountrapdoor, nountreasury, nounturret, nounvault, nounvaulted, adjectivevaulting, nounventilator, nounvestibule, nounvilla, nounwalkway, nounwall, nounwatchtower, nounwater tower, nounweatherboard, nounwedding chapel, nounwing, nounwoodshed, nounworkhouse, nounworkroom, nounworkshop, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
The estate is surrounded by high stone walls. the ancient city walls I put some pictures up on the walls. Bob leaned against the wall. We decided to paint the bathroom walls blue. That noise is driving me up the wall (=making me annoyed). There are three cash machines built into the wall. a spacious room with wall-to-wall carpeting (=covering the whole floor) The exterior walls need a new coat of paint. A mine blew a hole in the perimeter wall. a stone wallCOLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
The estate is surrounded by high stone walls. the ancient city walls I put some pictures up on the walls. Bob leaned against the wall. We decided to paint the bathroom walls blue. That noise is driving me up the wall (=making me annoyed). British English I’ve got to be on time or Sarah will go up the wall.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES I’ve got to be on time or Sarah will go up the wall.· The boundary wall was about twenty foot high.
There are three cash machines built into the wall. (=a fitted carpet)· Every room in the house had thick wall-to-wall carpets.
a spacious room with wall-to-wall carpeting (=covering the whole floor) (=surrounded by a wall)· the old walled city of Alghero
(=that hangs on a wall)· A loud ticking came from the wall clock.
informal (=goes bankrupt)
British English (=fixed to the wall, not on the floor)· Wall cupboards provide extra storage in the garage.
spoken informal (=make someone feel very annoyed)· That voice of hers drives me up the wall.
The exterior walls need a new coat of paint. A mine blew a hole in the perimeter wall. a stone wall· On the extreme left-hand end of the back wall is Eastern Touch, E4 6a.· The honeysuckle had climbed the back wall of the house and its fragrance filled my old room.· The mill pond is still maintained in good order although it is smaller, formerly extending right up to the back wall.· On the back wall of the produce shed hangs a schoolroom map of the continental United States.· Cushions, the large hard Arabian cushions, stood neatly along the back wall.· Q: I planted nine tomatoes by a wooden fence and six close to the back wall of the house.· The water was fed to the mill through a cast iron sluice box set in the back wall.· Kitty stood against the back wall, stony, her face blotchy from tears wept in solitude.
· New 150,00 watt floodlights will be installed in concrete wing walls at the four corners of the stadium.· The Noedings have put in a L-shaped concrete wall 2 feet above ground and 2 feet below to protect their house.· Collisions with concrete walls have broken three of his ribs and shattered a kneecap.· Otherwise, the basement is well underground, and Jasper had himself forced the hooks into the concrete wall.· Freed of its burden, the cab sped on, rammed into a low concrete wall.· Concrete beams and a concrete wall will tend to move as one.· It swerved wildly towards the wall, bounced over the pavement and came to a stop four feet from the concrete wall.· The method is more environmentally friendly than building concrete walls.
· Drawbacks: The exterior walls get very hot during combination cooking.· The framing went up, the exterior walls, the siding.· The long, low church is decorated by paintings all over the exterior and interior walls, openings and window frames.· To let in light, the architects left a few gaps-windows-in the essentially monolithic exterior walls.· The other side's the exterior wall of the castle.· On the outside of the same part of the Abbey, workers are busy renovating the exterior wall.· These arches are visible on the exterior wall surfaces.· However, only four bays of the upper section of the exterior screen wall are insitu.
· That only left the door on the far wall.· Fifi and I lined up against a far wall.· A few children were assembling all the props on a table over by the far wall.· Hanging on the far wall was a large painting of a pale man in a plaid flannel shirt.· The first thing she saw when she drew level with the chest-high partition was a picture on the far wall.· We will fire our pulse of light at such an angle that its passage to the far wall is five meters long.· He wandered over to the far wall.· The molten metal sculpture of the universe on the far wall is stunning.
· It is detached in an acre of ground with high walls.· There were high walls, old plush chairs, a heavy rug with a stale odor hanging close.· It was an old-fashioned kind of garden - beds of roses edged with white stones, and a high, mossy wall.· There was a high brick wall around it.· A high concrete wall continues for about a quarter of a mile.· They have a high wall around them, more profound than most people, more detached and scientific.· He built high walls to protect his people from hostile forces.
· There was a small paved area in front of it and a low wall.· She then recounted that in Motiihil they had entered a house with a low circular wall which was filled with water.· An escape route may be a back door, a side road or a low wall fronting a garden.· The multitude had rushed toward the side of the Bagh with the lowest wall, which was five feet high.· The monument is a V-shaped low wall of polished black granite that reflects back the image of the viewer.· Somnolent now within its low grey walls and stumpy towers, it was once rich on salt, and powerful to boot.· A flower bed could be used, or a low wall built.· They spent their time hiding behind low stone walls and leaping out at motorists travelling in bus lanes.
· The wall should be a load-bearing wall preferably an outside wall.· This raises questions / concerns about installing new kitchen cabinets that will have their own back resting against the outside wall.· The first phase of the current project, now under way, is to clean and consolidate the outside walls.· Hornaday winds up sliding into the outside wall.· On an outside wall of this was painted a Madonna and Child.· The outside walls were painted as well: scenes of judgment, resurrection and martyrdom.· It can leave the Tower if driven out in this way, but it must stay close to the outside walls.· For the outside walls, he used cinder-block masonry, with a patented concrete stucco sprayed on.
· Its natural weathered finish contrasts with the white powder-coated aluminium walls.· It is modern: blonde wood floors, stark white walls, and overhead, tiny halogen lights.· The cold white walls were decorated with a few hastily-chosen posters.· My letter to her says something about lots of blank white walls.· It had stripped floorboards with pastel rugs dotted on them, and white walls.· A white wall becomes a yellow wall becomes a gray wall, he said to himself.
NOUN· I stopped listening to Jake Rosso's records, and took his pictures off my bedroom wall.· The logs were uneven, making the house list toward the outside bedroom wall.· These were the kind of people I had pinned up on my bedroom wall, and here I was meeting them.· He stared at the bedroom wall.· Get a long mirror fixed to your bathroom or bedroom wall and take a good look at yourself front way on.· That was until I saw the pin-ups on his bedroom wall.· Or you could make it into a picture for a baby or toddler to hang on their bedroom wall.· I had hundreds of pictures and photos of him on my bedroom wall.
· The lorry smashed through a brick wall and plunged into the fast-flowing canal, landing on its side.· So after they ran into all these brick walls, they had no place else to go.· The brick walls and paving of the front garden are clean and tidy, but rather harsh.· From behind high brick walls, you can hear bubbling fountains.· And what do you do when to come up against a brick wall?· Exposed the original brick walls, hung lamps with straw bonnets for shades, put in a small mahogany bar.· Like a brick wall to protect you.· It occurs when Chan nonchalantly eases himself down a brick wall, bracing his legs against a convenient palm tree.
· They are permanent construction with cavity walls and tiled roofs to housing specifications.· The work will include cavity wall insulation, roof insulation, double glazing and installation of energy efficient heating systems.· As well as these weather-resisting advantages, the cavity wall has greater sound and thermal insulating properties and a greater resistance to overturning.· His head jerked and banged against the cavity wall, then it did it again and after that, a third time.· If you have cavity walls, insulate them.· Incidentally, cavity wall insulation should be impermeable to water vapour, or interstitial condensation can occur.· If you plan to have cavity wall insulation installed, start by approaching your local authority Building control Officer for approval.· Other parts of the treatment involved the cavity wall ducts under the building and some internal work in the flats.
· Vaughan eventually found Tyndale in Antwerp and had several talks with him in a meadow outside the city walls.· As we passed through the city wall, a great shout went up from the occupants of the car.· In Cracow, sections of the city walls survive from Medieval building.· It is a Bedouin band; and next morning there remains not a single living soul within those city walls.· Enjoy a walk along the city walls and a stroll beside the Dee.· Horns rang out from the city wall.· The next morning they began their gruelling journey up the ancient Roman road which ran from London's city wall into Oxfordshire.· Arad's name appeared again outside the fairground, in Vitra's transparent tent erected next to the old city wall.
· The cart went along by the garden wall, and round to the back door.· Suddenly from every house, from the beached ships, from every garden wall MacIans were leaping out.· To try and get to it by going round outside the garden wall meant ploughing through waist-high nettles and clumps of bramble.· There is no cover for damage to terraces, patios, driveways, footpaths, garden walls and hedges.· The sound came from over the garden wall and I knew that no-one in that part of Gigant Street kept chicken.· Our escorts, both dressed in blazers and boaters jumped on-board - and promptly steered us straight for a garden wall.
· These objects add instant nostalgia when hung on your kitchen wall or placed in a basket on your counter top.· The outside yard was about seven feet in width and bordered by the kitchen wall.· Unfortunately, you can not gain access to your inner clock as easily as the clock on your kitchen wall.· The kitchen walls literally run with water at times!· Flames shot up amidst coils of thick smoke that blackened our kitchen walls and ceiling.· Keep a fire blanket on the kitchen wall in case of emergencies.· With any luck the calendar finds a place on the kitchen wall and serves as a useful reference throughout the year.
· Buildings were consolidated and where necessary roofed, and wall paintings for the first time left in place.· Part of a wall painting here, a bit of a fresco there.· Portal sculptures, wall paintings and mosaics created in each church a pictorial record of the Bible stories and teaching.· It faintly illuminated the interior wall paintings that surrounded them.· Elizabethan wall paintings and fine Jacobean plasterwork.· The wall paintings under the cornice are c.1370.· The tombs are rock hewn chambers, many beautifully decorated by wall paintings in rich colours.
· Behind a grey stone wall lay a little pool.· It does not respect stone walls.· It was much quieter in her room because of the strong stone walls.· He walked into a stone wall.· On top of the hill was a wood of beech trees surrounded by a stone wall.· I stood under trees, surveying the stone walls and vines of the Villa Diodati.· The stone walls of our cottage groan and shudder as if tired of battling with the centuries of wind.· The setting sun had turned the pale stone walls to gold.
· We walked the town walls, whilst Jessie Young told us breathtaking stories of battered Berwick's stormy history.· Conwy's atmospheric cluster of lofty towers and town walls, 700 years on, still stamp their authority on the landscape.· The smaller streets criss-crossed on a grid pattern and the town walls surrounded an eight-sided city.· In the 13C this was the line of the Old Town wall.· Excavations have revealed fragmentary remains of substantial masonry buildings within the town walls, but no complete plans have been recovered.· You may come there by the alley from the town wall, and leave the church on your right.· Apparently he repeatedly climbed the town wall during his stay to watch for his pursuers.· One of the continuing difficulties about Carlisle is the elusiveness of the town wall, and consequently the size of the town.
VERB· The second half of the day was building a wall.· There were storage bins built into the back wall.· Her cavity bed was built into the wall, like some ancient Roman grave.· We build walls around ourselves and cut ourselves off from those who would empathize with and even help us.· Together they build an impressive wall of evidence - but their success carries a big downer.· Horton knew, he said, that Truitte had a gift for building walls around himself.· When the library was built, the wall on to which the extension has been added was designed as a temporary wall.· Inside the ruined and deserted school building, the classroom walls are still adorned with a series of moral slogans.
· When it was refused, some of them tried to climb over the wall.· The honeysuckle had climbed the back wall of the house and its fragrance filled my old room.· She envied her being so fleet and lithe and able to climb walls.· Large pieces of equipment such as the climbing wall are not for sale.· I had not seen Otley for some time and climbed up on the wall for a better view.· Gao Ma spun around and climbed up on to the wall.· In a dark eight he climbed the wall with Odysseus' help, found the Palladium and took it to the camp.
· There are columns around the circumference of the Sanctuary, and various marble incrustations cover the inner walls.· One painting, covering several walls, shows stylized vultures, with huge broom-like wings and human feet.· Fitted wardrobes are ideal for covering a wall which has a central chimneybreast.· Golden brown mussels covered the walls of the main fissure and were heaped in mounds over smaller cracks between lobes of lava.· Charlie found himself mesmerised by the mosaic patterns that covered the inner walls, their tiny squares making up life-size portraits.· Intricate murals cover the walls and domed ceiling.· It covered the walls and ceiling.· In the silence that followed noticed the photographs that covered the walls of his office.
· We all live in chintzy little boudoir rooms and we can't hang Rothkos on our walls.· A sketch of Don Quixote hangs on one wall between two book-cases.· There's a picture hanging on the wall behind.· Now an old bachelor, he had pictures of nude Western women hanging on the wall in his room.· We could hang them on the walls.· In his courtroom, a picture of Lincoln hangs on the wall.· When the last green bottle accidentally falls, there are no green bottles hanging on the wall.· He was flooded with relief, as if a picture hanging crooked on the wall had been set nearly straight again.
· Now she has hit a brick wall and has written to me to highlight the problem.· During the 1982 recession, the deepest since the Depression, state governments began to hit the wall.· It collapsed when the boy hit its walls with a metal pole even though friends told him to stop.· Witnesses swear that as fast as the line drive hit the wall, Rivera was rounding second before it touched the ground.· It gathers speed, and suddenly hits the wall by the foot of the bed.· Each block continued to sail onward as soon as it had left his hand, until it hit the wall and rebounded.· It hit the wall four feet below him.· But then Sumlin came on and hit a wall.
· A little mirror had been hung on the wall of the dressing area.· These objects add instant nostalgia when hung on your kitchen wall or placed in a basket on your counter top.· Polly gingerly took up the receiver of the entryphone intercom that hung on the wall beside her front door.· A faintly discolored portrait of John F.. Kennedy hung on the wall above the desk.· Flocks need to be hung on a good wall surface.· A mirror of beveled glass hung on the wall.· She meant it wasn't any good just talking, sitting there beneath a cross that hung on a wall.· She simply knows that icons, even the most gilded of them, are made to be hung on a wall.
· One battered Land-Rover stood outside the post office, and leaning against the schoolhouse wall were a couple of bicycles.· The hoes and rakes are still there, leaning against the wall, useless.· He leant over the church wall and Uncle Walter's helmet tipped forward.· Miguel said wearily, leaning against the wall.· She went to lean against the wall - he made a vehement negative gesture - she staggered forward again.· She was seated on the ground, leaning against a wall, strumming a guitar.· I just leant against the wall by the door.
· Or you could line the walls with bookshelves from waist-level, with cupboards underneath to provide storage and serving space.· Unfortunately, a row of lockers lined the wall Separating the gym from the locker room, obstructing the view.· The coffins were lined with roses, and hundreds of telegrams lined the walls.· By instigating a calcium deficiency inside the cells, the drugs cause muscles lining arterial walls to relax.· The room was flooded with a soft illumination, cleverly directed at the Gobelin tapestries that lined one wall.· Instead he fills them with any of the dozens of different varieties of liquid that line the walls of his lab.· He thought the name singularly inappropriate: either side was lined with a wall of Victorian terrace villas.· The articles of Arthur Ronald Constance, the famed ring columnist, lined the walls in ancient, browned, curling tatters.
· George Plank also painted the wall panels.· They painted murals on the walls, foliage on the ceilings, and patterns on wooden chests.· And there had been green and gold and scarlet dragons painted on every wall and woven into every silk hanging.· One painting, covering several walls, shows stylized vultures, with huge broom-like wings and human feet.· There, a little way along, a dragon had been painted on the wall in green.· They were painted on the walls of many private houses whether the occupants wanted them there or not.· Richard thought I should invest in indirect lighting, maybe paint the walls peach, make it a little cozier.
· There is a bake oven set in a wall in the fireplace probably an original outer wall of the former cottage.· The Viscount ushered us inside, and turned a massive switch set in the wall.· The mill still boasts its impressive chimney and mill clock, set in the front wall.· The stage had also been set for stout functional walls to appear, and, as always, they did.· She crossed the room in a few quick strides, grasped the handle of the door set in the wall and pulled.· Victorine tells me of a party in a house set back behind a wall.· The water was fed to the mill through a cast iron sluice box set in the back wall.· Bow-tie pins of enamel and sapphires sparkled behind glass set into black walls.
· You ought to be stood up against a wall, you ought.· I saw misty people in overcoats standing against a wall eating buns.· Half way up the steps there's a standing wall, the remains of an engine room.· Tony Astorina stood against the wall across the room.· My name stands on the wall at the Rose Bowl.· Now they stood to the walls, and if they fell, had no more help than the civilians had.· He stood facing the wall where the lizard stains were, rubbing the back of his neck.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► walls have earsPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► have your back to/against the wall► be (like) banging/bashing etc your head against a brick wall► be like talking to a brick wall
1around an area an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an areastone/brick/concrete wall- Blow up the wall with the explosives. 22.
- Giant red cockroaches walking up the walls, and even an my table.
- He hoped she wouldn't turn fickle when he was half way up the wall.
- Her pillow inched up the wall.
- Such abstract philosophizing drives true poets around the bend, up the wall, and over the top.
- The vine clawed its way up the wall at the end.
- This simplifies fitting around awkward shapes. 2 Lay the vinyl in place with surplus curling up the wall.
- A Whitney Houston tape echoed off the walls.
- Before I could grasp what was happening, I had bounced off the wall and was crumpling on to the floor in pain.
- I jumped down off the wall and joined my sister who was standing behind them listening.
- The husband tried to seize a portrait of her, an oil painting, rip it right off the wall.
- The noise of conversation from the hall below bounced off the walls around them.
- There's a woman just up the road so I hop off the wall and run after her.
- He's not a candidate that Democrats would go to the wall for.
- High interest rates will force many businesses to go to the wall.
- Over 300 small firms have gone to the wall in the past year.
- In the first six months of this year nearly 30,000 small firms went to the wall - a third up on 1991.
- It would be a tragic loss to theatre if such an important organisation were to go to the wall.
- Quickly he went to the wall safe at the far end of the room and touched the combination.
- Small livestock farmers have gone to the wall in their thousands.
- Some farmers did go to the wall, but far fewer than predicted.
- The trades unionist suspects that in competitive capitalism the weak go to the wall.
- Those who could stand the pace flourished; those who could not went to the wall.
- I don't want anything that I have said repeated outside these four walls.
- I can not be said to have a life outside these four walls.
- What purpose did she serve sitting looking at these four walls?
- She swam in what she hoped was the direction of the stairs, only to come up against a wall.
- Realizes he is moving in her desperately, as if he is climbing the walls of a closed building.
- During the 1982 recession, the deepest since the Depression, state governments began to hit the wall.
- Each time the ball hits the wall a brick disappears and you're closer to your aim of breaking down the wall.
- He expected to hit the wall of the cliff somewhere up ahead.
- I miss and hit the wall.
- It gathers speed, and suddenly hits the wall by the foot of the bed.
- It hit the wall four feet below him.
- It hit the wall near the window and smashed.
- Witnesses swear that as fast as the line drive hit the wall, Rivera was rounding second before it touched the ground.
- A wall of water a thousand feet high smashed down on Nagarythe.
- A few minutes later, a wall of water crashed over the lip of the Falls and Niagara was in business again.
- And they drove off into another amazing wall of water.
- But there was no wall of water crashing through the canyon.
- I watched as the roof of the house seemed to rest on the four walls of fire.
- Spray, driven by the wall of water, struck his face.
- Surrounding buildings had to be protected by a wall of water to stop them being engulfed by the flames.
- They had been through the wall of fire together.
- A wall of silence has now descended over the key players.
- Blount met with a convenient wall of silence.
- But the wall of silence that protected behind the scenes negotiations produced no answers.
- Only Jim Crane, ambitious but a little more human than the other hacks, can break Alice's wall of silence.
- Other cracks in the wall of secrecy have appeared in recent years, as we shall see in Chapter 5.
- Very soon a cold stone wall of silence had tormented them to wounded exasperation.
- If I drank another cup of coffee, I'd be climbing the walls.
- Realizes he is moving in her desperately, as if he is climbing the walls of a closed building.
- I wish I'd been a fly on the wall during that conversation.
- I wished I could be a fly on the wall.
- Oh, wouldn't I like to be a fly on the wall when you tell her the latest!
- You should be a fly on the wall and hear him sing your praises.
- A man and his woman pillion passenger died instantly when they lost control of the machine and hit a wall.
- But by the mid-1970s, his career apparently hit a wall.
- But then Sumlin came on and hit a wall.
- He hit a wall hard enough to briefly ignite a magnesium wheel, but refused to slow down.
- He died because his car hit a wall.
- In these sessions, men generally will talk about the conflicts between job and family, but then hit a wall.
- Must rising wages and expanding production hit a brick wall, leading to layoffs and falling output?
- Now she has hit a brick wall and has written to me to highlight the problem.
- He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.
- Poverty hung about the place like they'd framed it and nailed it to the walls.
- The roof was in an appalling state and the supporting beams were rotten.
- There was a portico, generally of wood, with posts supporting beams, and decoration was in terracotta.
- The writing is on the wall for old manufacturing industries.
- Although two points clear of the pack, the writing is on the wall for Aberdeen unless some one starts banging goals away.
The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.city/garden etc wall the ancient city walls the Great Wall of China We climbed over the wall into the orchard.2in a building one of the sides of a room or buildingon the wall I put some pictures up on the walls. Bob leaned against the wall.bedroom/kitchen etc wall We decided to paint the bathroom walls blue.3body the side of something hollow, especially within the body: The walls of the blood vessels had been damaged. cell walls4wall of fire/water etc a tall mass of something such as fire or water, that stops anything from getting past: The boat was hit by a wall of water.5wall of silence/secrecy a situation in which nobody will tell you what you want to know: The police investigation was met with a wall of silence.6Internet an area on a website such as Facebook where other people can leave messages and comments about you7up the wall spoken very angry or annoyed: That noise is driving me up the wall (=making me annoyed).go up the wall British English I’ve got to be on time or Sarah will go up the wall.8off the wall informal very strange or unusual, often in an amusing way: Some of Krista’s ideas are a little off the wall.9go to the wall informal if a company goes to the wall, it fails, especially because of financial difficulties: Many small investors will go to the wall.10these four walls spoken the room that you are in, especially considered as a private place: I don’t want anything repeated outside these four walls.11be/come up against a (brick) wall to reach a point where you cannot make progress, especially because something or someone is stopping you: We seem to have come up against a brick wall in this investigation.12be climbing/crawling (up) the walls informal to be feeling extremely anxious, unhappy, or annoyed, especially because you are waiting for something or are in a situation which you cannot get away from: The kids soon had him climbing the walls.13walls have ears used to warn people to be careful what they say, because other people, especially enemies, could be listening14hit the wall informal to reach the point when you are most physically tired when doing a sport → have your back to/against the wall at back2(21), → be (like) banging your head against a brick wall at head1, → like talking to a brick wall at talk1(15), → the writing is on the wall at writing(8), → off-the-wallTHESAURUSwall an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area: · The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.· a brick wallfence a structure made of wood, metal etc that surrounds a piece of land: · The garden was surrounded by an old wooden fence.· the chain link fence around the schoolrailings a metal fence that is made of a series of upright bars: · the iron railings in front of the house· The boy was leaning over the railing on the side of the boat.barrier a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction: · A guard stood near the barrier.· The police had put up barriers to keep the crowd under control.screen a piece of furniture like a thin wall that can be moved around and is used to divide one part of a room from another: · the screen around his hospital bed· a Japanese bamboo screen· a fire screen (=that you put near a fire)partition a thin wall that separates one part of a room from another: · The room was divided into two by a thin partition.· The offices are separated by partitions and you can hear everything that is said in the next office.barricade a line of objects that people have put across a road, to prevent people getting past, especially as part of a protest: · The soldiers used tanks to smash through the barricades.wall1 nounwall2 verb
wallwall2 verb VERB TABLE
wall
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | wall |
| he, she, it | walls | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | walled |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have walled |
| he, she, it | has walled | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had walled |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will wall |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have walled |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am walling |
| he, she, it | is walling | |
| you, we, they | are walling | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was walling |
| you, we, they | were walling | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been walling |
| he, she, it | has been walling | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been walling |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be walling |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been walling |
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES There are three cash machines built into the wall. a spacious room with wall-to-wall carpeting (=covering the whole floor) The exterior walls need a new coat of paint. A mine blew a hole in the perimeter wall. a stone wall
· The boundary wall was about twenty foot high.
There are three cash machines built into the wall. (=a fitted carpet)· Every room in the house had thick wall-to-wall carpets.
a spacious room with wall-to-wall carpeting (=covering the whole floor) (=surrounded by a wall)· the old walled city of Alghero
(=that hangs on a wall)· A loud ticking came from the wall clock.
informal (=goes bankrupt)
British English (=fixed to the wall, not on the floor)· Wall cupboards provide extra storage in the garage.
spoken informal (=make someone feel very annoyed)· That voice of hers drives me up the wall.
The exterior walls need a new coat of paint. A mine blew a hole in the perimeter wall. a stone wallPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► have your back to/against the wall► be (like) banging/bashing etc your head against a brick wall► be like talking to a brick wall
wall something ↔ in phrasal verb to surround an open area with wallswall something ↔ off phrasal verb to keep one area or room separate from another, by building a wall: - If I drank another cup of coffee, I'd be climbing the walls.
- Realizes he is moving in her desperately, as if he is climbing the walls of a closed building.
- I wish I'd been a fly on the wall during that conversation.
- I wished I could be a fly on the wall.
- Oh, wouldn't I like to be a fly on the wall when you tell her the latest!
- You should be a fly on the wall and hear him sing your praises.
- A man and his woman pillion passenger died instantly when they lost control of the machine and hit a wall.
- But by the mid-1970s, his career apparently hit a wall.
- But then Sumlin came on and hit a wall.
- He hit a wall hard enough to briefly ignite a magnesium wheel, but refused to slow down.
- He died because his car hit a wall.
- In these sessions, men generally will talk about the conflicts between job and family, but then hit a wall.
- Must rising wages and expanding production hit a brick wall, leading to layoffs and falling output?
- Now she has hit a brick wall and has written to me to highlight the problem.
- He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.
- Poverty hung about the place like they'd framed it and nailed it to the walls.
- The roof was in an appalling state and the supporting beams were rotten.
- There was a portico, generally of wood, with posts supporting beams, and decoration was in terracotta.
- The writing is on the wall for old manufacturing industries.
- Although two points clear of the pack, the writing is on the wall for Aberdeen unless some one starts banging goals away.
The control room is walled off by soundproof glass.wall somebody/something ↔ up phrasal verb1a)to fill in an entrance, window etc with bricks or stone: The entrance had long since been walled up. b)to fill in all the entrances and windows of a place so that someone cannot get out2to keep someone as a prisoner in a building