wall - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English wal, from Old English weall (“wall, dike, earthwork, rampart, dam, rocky shore, cliff”), from Proto-West Germanic *wall (“wall, rampart, entrenchment”), from Latin vallum (“wall, rampart, entrenchment, palisade”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”).

Perhaps conflated with waw (“a wall within a house or dwelling, a room partition”), from Middle English wawe, from Old English wāg, wāh (“an interior wall, divider”), see waw.

Cognate with North Frisian wal (“wall”), Saterland Frisian Waal (“wall, rampart, mound”), Dutch wal (“wall, rampart, embankment”), German Wall (“rampart, mound, embankment”), Swedish vall (“mound, wall, bank”). More at wallow, walk.

A stone wall

wall (plural walls)

  1. A rampart of earth, stones etc. built up for defensive purposes.
  2. A structure built for defense surrounding a city, castle etc.
    The town wall was surrounded by a moat.
    • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
      From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.
  3. Each of the substantial structures acting either as the exterior of or divisions within a structure.
    We're adding another wall in this room during the remodeling. The wind blew against the walls of the tent.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
  4. A point of desperation.
  5. A point of defeat or extinction.
    • March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      They want Abramovich out for obvious reasons, including the optics, and they do not want to send Chelsea to the wall as they consider the club to be of cultural significance to the country.
  6. An impediment to free movement.
    A wall of police officers met the protesters before they reached the capitol steps.
  7. The butterfly Lasiommata megera.
    Synonym: wall brown
    • 2015 November 24, Patrick Barkham, “Pesticide may be reason butterfly numbers are falling in UK, says study”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      Researchers found that 15 of 17 species which commonly live on farmland – including the small tortoiseshell, small skipper and wall butterfly – show declines associated with increasing neonic use.
  8. (often in combination) A barrier.
    a seawall; a firewall
  9. Something with the apparent solidity, opacity, or dimensions of a building wall.
    a wall of sound; a wall of water; a wall of smoke obscured their view of enemy forces
  10. (figurative) A means of defence or security.
    I built a wall between myself and the bullies.
  11. One of the vertical sides of a container.
  1. (anatomy, zoology, botany) A dividing or containing structure in an organ or cavity.
    Synonym: paries
  1. A fictional bidder used to increase the price at an auction.
    Synonym: chandelier
  2. (US, slang, medicine) A doctor who tries to admit as few patients as possible.
    Antonym: sieve
  3. (soccer) A line of defenders set up between an opposing free-kick taker and the goal.
  1. (roller derby) Two or more blockers skating together so as to impede the opposing team.
  1. (mining) Any of the surfaces of rock enclosing the lode.
  2. (Internet) A personal notice board listing messages of interest to a particular user.
  3. (roleplaying games) A character that has high defenses, thereby reducing the amount of damage taken from the opponent’s attacks.
  4. (mahjong) Face-down tiles arranged in stacked rows from which players draw new tiles.
  5. (slang, seduction community, chiefly definite) The stage of biological aging where physical appearance and attractiveness start to deteriorate rapidly.
  1. (historical) The right or privilege of taking the side of the road near the wall when encountering another pedestrian; said to be taken or given.
  1. (cycling) A very steep slope.

defensive rampart

structure built for defense surrounding an area

substantial structure acting as side or division in a building

point of defeat or extinction

impediment to free movement

butterfly Lasiommata megera

barrier

something with the apparent solidity and dimensions of a building wall

anatomy, zoology, botany: divisive or containing structure

mahjong: face-down tiles

Translations to be checked

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

  1. (transitive) To enclose with, or as if with, a wall or walls.
    He walled the study with books.
  2. (video games, slang) To use a wallhack.
  3. (video games, slang, transitive) To wallbang.
    I walled her. She's low [health].

to enclose by surrounding with walls

From Middle English wallen, from Old English weallan (“to bubble, boil”), from Proto-West Germanic *wallan, from Proto-Germanic *wallaną (“to fount, stream, boil”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“wave”).

Cognate with Middle Dutch wallen (“to boil, bubble”), Dutch wellen (“to weld”), German wellen (“to wave, warp”), Danish vælde (“to overwhelm”), Swedish välla (“to gush, weld”). See also well.

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

  1. To boil.
  2. To well, as water; spring.

From Middle English walle, from Old English *wealla, *weall (“spring”), from Proto-Germanic *wallô, *wallaz (“well, spring”). See above. Cognate with Old Frisian walla (“spring”), Old English wiell (“well”).

wall (plural walls)

  1. (chiefly dialectal) A spring of water.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

wall (plural walls)

  1. (nautical) A kind of knot often used at the end of a rope; a wall knot or wale.

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

  1. (transitive, nautical) To make a wall knot on the end of (a rope).

wall

  1. (US) Pronunciation spelling of well.
    • 1858, Robert Lowell, The New Priest in Conception Bay‎[8]:
      Wall, they spoke up, 'n' says to her, s'd they, "Why, look a-here, aunty, Wus't his skin, 't was rock?" so s's she, "I guess not." (Well, they spoke up and says to her, said they, "Why look a-here, aunty, was it his skin that was rock [referring to the Apostle Peter]?" So says she, "I guess not.")
    • 1988, Herbert M. Sutherland, Tall Tales of the Devil's Apron, The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 97:
      Wall, be that as it may, ol' Hosshead was a purty good citizen in his day, an' he shore did make Juneybell toe the mark.

From Middle High German wal(e), from Old High German wala. Cognate with Middle Dutch wale, whence Limburgish waal. Also cognate with the German, Dutch and English words below, though these have a different vocalism.

wall (Ripuarian, parts of northern Moselle Franconian)

  1. A modal particle, generally equivalent to German wohl, Dutch wel, sometimes also to English well, but often not literally translatable.
    Du bes wall jeck! ― You must be crazy!

wall

  1. singular imperative of wallen
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of wallen

wall

  1. alternative form of wale (“selection, preference”)

wall

  1. alternative form of wale

wall m

  1. alternative form of weall

Strong _a_-stem:

From Middle English welle, from Old English wielle (“well”), from Proto-West Germanic *wallijā, from Proto-Germanic *wallijǭ (“well, swirl, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn; wind; roll”).

wall (plural walls)

  1. well (hole sunk into the ground)

wall

  1. soft mutation of gwall