wall

1 noun (C)

1 AROUND AN AREA an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another: The garden was surrounded by a high brick wall.

2 IN A BUILDING one of the sides of a room or building: We decided to paint the walls blue.

3 TUBE/CONTAINER the side of something hollow, such as a pipe or tube: The walls of the blood vessels had been damaged.

4 wall of fire/water etc a tall mass of something such as fire or water, that prevents anything getting through: A wall of fire was advancing through the forest.

5 wall of silence a situation in which nobody will tell you what you want to know: The police investigation was met with a wall of silence.

6 go up the wall BrE spoken to become very angry: My mum went up the wall when I told her I wanted to leave school.

7 drive sb up the wall spoken to annoy someone very much: I wish she'd stop muttering - it drives me up the wall!.

8 go to the wall informal if a company goes to the wall, it fails, especially because of financial difficulties

9 these four walls spoken the room that you are in, especially considered as a private place: I don't want anything that I have said repeated outside these four walls.

10 be climbing/crawling up the wall informal to be feeling extremely anxious, dissatisfied, and impatient, especially because you are waiting for something or cannot do something you want to do: Last time I gave up smoking I was crawling up the wall within a few hours.

11 walls have ears used to warn people to be careful what they say, because other people, especially enemies, could be listening

12 hit the wall informal to reach the point of greatest physical tiredness when doing a sport

—see also: have your back to the wall back 2 (20), bang your head against a brick wall bang 2 (5), like talking to a brick wall talk, the writing is on the wall writing (7), off­the­wall 2 verb wall sth in phrasal verb (T) to surround an open area with walls: They decided to wall the garden in. wall sth off phrasal verb (T) to keep one area or room separate from another, by building a wall: The control room is walled off by soundproof glass. wall sb/sth up phrasal verb (T)

1 to fill in a doorway, window etc with bricks or stone: The entrance had long since been walled up.

2 used to say that someone is a prisoner: I can't bear the thought of her walled up in a cell.