walls have ears

Someone may be listening

wet behind the ears (informal)

Naïve, immature

wall /wöl/

noun

1. An erection of brick, stone, etc, for security or to enclose a space such as a piece of land
2. The side of a building or of a room
3. A very steep smooth rock face (mountaineering)
4. (in pl) fortifications
5. Any bounding or encasing surface suggestive of a wall, eg the membranous covering or lining of an organ of the body or of a plant or animal cell
6. The side next to the wall
7. A defence, means of security (figurative)
8. A psychological and physiological barrier to further effort, encountered eg by long-distance runners (figurative)
9. (in mah-jong) the arrangement of the tiles before the hands are drawn
10. One of the surfaces of rock enclosing the lode (mining)

transitive verb

1. To enclose with, or as if with, a wall
2. To fortify with, or as if with, walls
3. To divide as if by a wall

combining form

Growing on, living in, for hanging on, or otherwise relating to a wall

walled adjective

1. Enclosed with a wall
2. Fortified

wallˈer noun

A builder of walls

wallˈing noun

1. Walls collectively
2. Materials for walls

wallˈ-less adjective

wall bars plural noun

Horizontal bars fixed to a wall, used by gymnasts

wallˈboard noun

Building-board, board for lining walls, consisting of plaster or wood fibre compressed between layers of thick paper

wall brown noun

A brown butterfly with orange markings, Lasiommata megera

wallˈchart noun

A chart of information, statistics, etc, displayed on a wall

wallˈclimber noun (informal)

A glass-walled elevator whose shaft is on the exterior wall of a building

wallˈcovering noun

Wallpaper, or anything used in the same way

wallˈcreeper noun

A Eurasian songbird related to the nuthatch

wall cress noun

Rockcress, or any species of Arabis

walled garden noun

1. A garden enclosed within high walls
2. A controlled secure environment, such as an Internet service with restrictions preventing those using it from accessing anything beyond its confines

wallˈeye noun see separate entry.

wallˈ-facing noun

A facing for a wall

wallˈfish noun (dialect)

A snail

wallˈflower noun

1. A plant (Cheiranthus cheiri) with yellow, orange or orange-brown flowers, found esp on old walls
2. Any of various cultivars of this, with various-coloured flowers
3. A person who remains a spectator at a dance, typically a woman who cannot obtain partners (informal)
4. A yellowish-red colour (also wallflower brown)

wall fruit noun

1. A fruit tree growing against a wall
2. Its fruit

wall game noun

(also Eton wall game) a variety of football played at Eton against a wall (‘at the wall’ instead of ‘in the field’)

wall gillyflower noun

A wallflower

wall knot or (properly) wale knot noun

A nautical method of tying the strands at the end of a rope

wall lizard or wall newt noun

A common lizard living in the chinks of walls

wall moss noun

1. A yellow lichen
2. The common stonecrop

wall mustard or wall rocket noun

A yellow-flowered cruciferous plant (genus Diplotaxis) of walls, quarries, etc

wall of death noun

A fairground show in which a stunt-performer rides a motorcycle, at right angles to the ground, round the interior walls of a cylindrical enclosure

wall painting noun

1. The decoration of walls with ornamental painted designs
2. A work of art painted on a wall

wallˈpaper noun

1. Paper, usu coloured or decorated, for pasting on the walls of a room
2. Something of a bland or background nature, lacking originality or noteworthiness, etc (figurative; informal)
3. A background pattern on a computer screen

transitive verb

To cover with wallpaper

wall pass noun (football)

A one-two

wall pepper noun

The common stonecrop

wall plate noun

A horizontal piece of timber or of rolled steel on a wall, etc, to bear the ends of joists, etc

wall rue noun

A small fern growing on walls, etc, one of the spleenworts

wall space noun

Space on a wall, eg on which to hang a picture

Wall Street noun

1. A street in New York, the chief financial centre in the United States
2. Hence, American financial interests

Wallˈ-Streeter noun

A financier based in Wall Street

wallˈ-to-wallˈ adjective

1. (of carpets, etc) covering the entire floor
2. Widespread, ubiquitous or uninterrupted (figurative; informal)

wall tree noun

A tree trained against a wall

wall unit noun

A piece of furniture attached to or standing against a wall

wallˈwasher noun

A light designed to give overall illumination to a wall or other vertical surface

wallˈwort noun

1. A name applied to various plants growing on walls, eg pellitory (Parietaria officinalis), wall pepper, etc
2. See also separate entry

drive to the wall

To push to extremities

go to the wall (or obsolete walls)

1. To be hard pressed
2. To be forced to give way
3. To fail, go under
4. To give precedence to something else

hang by the wall

To remain unused

off the wall (US sl)

1. Off the cuff, unofficially, without preparation
2. Unorthodox, strange

push or thrust to the wall

To force to give way

the wall

The right of taking the side of the road near the wall when encountering another person, as in the phrase give or take the wall

turn one's face to the wall

To resign oneself to death or despair

up the wall (informal)

Mad, distracted

wall a rope

To make a wall knot on the end of a rope

walls have ears see under ear¹

wall up

1. To block with a wall
2. To entomb in or behind a wall

with one's back to the wall

1. In desperate straits
2. At bay