wall

[wawl] /wɔl/
noun
1.
any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.
2.
Usually, walls. a rampart raised for defensive purposes.
3.
an immaterial or intangible barrier, obstruction, etc., suggesting a wall:
a wall of prejudice.
4.
a wall-like, enclosing part, thing, mass, etc.:
a wall of fire; a wall of troops.
5.
an embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall.
6.
the Wall. Berlin Wall.
7.
the outermost film or layer of structural material protecting, surrounding, and defining the physical limits of an object:
the wall of a blood cell.
8.
Mining.
  1. the side of a level or drift.
  2. the overhanging or underlying side of a vein; a hanging wall or footwall.
adjective
9.
of or pertaining to a wall:
wall space.
10.
growing against or on a wall:
wall plants; wall cress.
11.
situated, placed, or installed in or on a wall:
wall oven; a wall safe.
verb (used with object)
12.
to enclose, shut off, divide, protect, border, etc., with or as if with a wall (often followed by in or off):
to wall the yard; to wall in the play area; He is walled in by lack of opportunity.
13.
to seal or fill (a doorway or other opening) with a wall:
to wall an unused entrance.
14.
to seal or entomb (something or someone) within a wall (usually followed by up):
The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake.
Idioms
15.
climb (the) walls, Slang. to become tense or frantic:
climbing the walls with boredom.
16.
drive / push to the wall, to force into a desperate situation; humiliate or ruin completely:
Not content with merely winning the match, they used every opportunity to push the inferior team to the wall.
17.
go over the wall, Slang. to break out of prison:
Roadblocks have been set up in an effort to capture several convicts who went over the wall.
18.
go to the wall,
  1. to be defeated in a conflict or competition; yield.
  2. to fail in business, especially to become bankrupt.
  3. to be put aside or forgotten.
  4. to take an extreme and determined position or measure:
    I'd go to the wall to stop him from resigning.
19.
hit the wall, (of long-distance runners) to reach a point in a race, usually after 20 miles, when the body's fuels are virtually depleted and willpower becomes crucial to be able to finish.
20.
off the wall, Slang.
  1. beyond the realm of acceptability or reasonableness:
    The figure you quoted for doing the work is off the wall.
  2. markedly out of the ordinary; eccentric; bizarre:
    Some of the clothes in the fashion show were too off the wall for the average customer.
21.
up against the wall,
  1. placed against a wall to be executed by a firing squad.
  2. in a crucial or critical position, especially one in which defeat or failure seems imminent:
    Unless sales improve next month, the company will be up against the wall.
22.
up the wall, Slang. into an acutely frantic, frustrated, or irritated state:
The constant tension in the office is driving everyone up the wall.
Origin
before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English w(e)all < Latin vallum palisade, derivative of vallus stake, post; see wale1; (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun
Related forms
wall-less, adjective
wall-like, adjective
unwall, verb (used with object)
Synonyms
2. battlement, breastwork, bulwark, barrier, bastion. 5. dike. 14. immure.
British Dictionary definitions for up the wall

wall

/wɔːl/
noun
1.
  1. a vertical construction made of stone, brick, wood, etc, with a length and height much greater than its thickness, used to enclose, divide, or support
  2. (as modifier): wall hangings, related adjective mural
2.
(often pl) a structure or rampart built to protect and surround a position or place for defensive purposes
3.
(anatomy) any lining, membrane, or investing part that encloses or bounds a bodily cavity or structure: abdominal wall Technical name paries, related adjective parietal
4.
(mountaineering) a vertical or almost vertical smooth rock face
5.
anything that suggests a wall in function or effect: a wall of fire, a wall of prejudice
6.
bang one's head against a brick wall, to try to achieve something impossible
7.
drive to the wall, push to the wall, to force into an awkward situation
8.
go to the wall, to be ruined; collapse financially
9.
(slang) drive up the wall, to cause to become crazy or furious
10.
(slang) go up the wall, to become crazy or furious
11.
have one's back to the wall, to be in a very difficult situation
12.
See off-the-wall
13.
See wall-to-wall
verb (transitive)
14.
to protect, provide, or confine with or as if with a wall
15.
(often foll by up) to block (an opening) with a wall
16.
often foll by in or up. to seal by or within a wall or walls
Derived Forms
walled, adjective
wall-less, adjective
wall-like, adjective
Word Origin
Old English weall, from Latin vallum palisade, from vallus stake
Word Origin and History for up the wall

wall

n.

Old English weall "rampart" (natural as well as man-made), also "defensive fortification around a city, side of a building, interior partition," an Anglo-Frisian and Saxon borrowing (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wal) from Latin vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes," apparently a collective form of vallus "stake." Swedish vall, Danish val are from Low German.

In this case, English uses one word where many languages have two, e.g. German Mauer "outer wall of a town, fortress, etc.," used also in reference to the former Berlin Wall, and wand "partition wall within a building" (cf. the distinction, not always rigorously kept, in Italian muro/parete, Irish mur/fraig, Lithuanian muras/siena, etc.).

Phrase up the wall "angry, crazy" is from 1951; off the wall "unorthodox, unconventional" is recorded from 1966, American English student slang. Wall-to-wall (adj.) recorded 1953, of carpeting; metaphoric use (usually disparaging) is from 1967.

v.

"to enclose in a wall," late Old English *weallian, from the source of wall (n.). Related: Walled; walling.

up the wall in Medicine

wall (wôl)
n.
An investing part enclosing a cavity, chamber, or other anatomical unit.

Slang definitions & phrases for up the wall

up the wall

adjective phrase

Crazy; wild; nutty: It doesn't drive us crazy. At least, I don't know anybody who is up the wall about it

Related Terms

drive someone up the wall

[1951+; fr the image of insane persons, frantic and deprived drug addicts, wild animals, etc, trying to climb a wall to escape]


wall

Related Terms

balls to the wall, bounce off the walls, climb the wall, drive someone up the wall, go to the wall, hole in the wall, nail someone to the cross, off the wall, up against the wall, up the wall


up the wall in the Bible

Cities were surrounded by walls, as distinguished from "unwalled villages" (Ezek. 38:11; Lev. 25:29-34). They were made thick and strong (Num. 13:28; Deut. 3:5). Among the Jews walls were built of stone, some of those in the temple being of great size (1 Kings 6:7; 7:9-12; 20:30; Mark 13:1, 2). The term is used metaphorically of security and safety (Isa. 26:1; 60:18; Rev. 21:12-20). (See FENCE.)

Idioms and Phrases with up the wall

up the wall

see under drive someone crazy

wall

In addition to the idioms beginning with wall
,
also see: