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wall

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Wall and wall-

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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.

Noun

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English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia Wikipedia
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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.
  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.
    • 1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 60:
      The extraordinary thinness of the walls of these vases, which reminds us of the finest china, or even of Venetian glass
  12. (anatomy, zoology, botany) A dividing or containing structure in an organ or cavity.
    Synonym: paries
    • 1982 April 24, Matthew Ross, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 15:
      There is definitely some sort of lump on the back wall of my throat (right side).
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, pages 4-5:
      The epidermal cells of the capsule wall of Jubulopsis, with nodose "trigones" at the angles, are very reminiscent of what one finds in Frullania spp.
  13. A fictional bidder used to increase the price at an auction.
    Synonym: chandelier
  14. (US, slang, medicine) A doctor who tries to admit as few patients as possible.
    Antonym: sieve
  15. (soccer) A line of defenders set up between an opposing free-kick taker and the goal.
    • 2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2-0 West Brom”, in BBC:
      Blackburn were the recipients of another dose of fortune when from another Thomas pass Odemwingie was brought down by Jones inside the penalty area, but referee Mark Clattenburg awarded a free-kick which Chris Brunt slammed into the wall.
  16. (roller derby) Two or more blockers skating together so as to impede the opposing team.
    • 2013, Ellen Parnavelas, The Roller Derby Athlete, page 48:
      It can also be used to maintain the presence of a wall when one of the blockers who makes up the wall is picked off by an opposing blocker attempting to shut down the wall.
  17. (mining) Any of the surfaces of rock enclosing the lode.
  18. (Internet) A personal notice board listing messages of interest to a particular user.
  19. (roleplaying games) A character that has high defenses, thereby reducing the amount of damage taken from the opponent’s attacks.
  20. (slang, seduction community, chiefly definite) The stage of biological aging where physical appearance and attractiveness start to deteriorate rapidly.
    • 1996 December 27, “The Definitive Answer to "Why Nice Guys Finish Last"”, in alt.romance‎[3] (Usenet):
      Depreciation of assets happens. Prepare yourself
      Marla. Get ready for the wall.
    • 2001 February 2, “what a drag it is getting old”, in soc.singles‎[4] (Usenet):
      At what age would you peg the
      'wall' to be for men, on or thereabouts?
    • 2001 June 19, “the laws of biomechanics”, in soc.singles‎[5] (Usenet):
      I have never had a problem getting the attention of men. I'm 44
      and there's no wall staring me in the face
    • 2002 January 22, “towards a useful smv metric”, in soc.singles‎[6] (Usenet):
      That was only six
      years later and Natasha is not near the wall yet
    • 2015 July 20, “catcalls are bad”, in rec.sport.football.college‎[7] (Usenet):
      As for the wall....Im convinced part of this is just something us guys tell ourselves to 'get back'(in our minds) at all the girls who wouldn't sleep with us 5-10 years ago
  21. (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.
    • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson:
      He related to me the following minute anecdote of this period: 'In the last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. […] Now it is fixed that every man keeps to the right; or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it; and it is never a dispute.'
    • 1822, The Pamphleteer, page 118:
      All persons, in walking the streets, whose right sides are next the wall, are intitled to take the wall.
    • 2017, Catharina Löffler, Walking in the City, page 135:
      Taking the wall thus was also a social distinction. An entire episode in the second book is therefore dedicated “to whom to give the wall” and “to whom to refuse the wall” (II. 4564).
  22. (cycling) A very steep slope.
Synonyms
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Meronyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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

  1. 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].
Derived terms
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Terms derived from the noun or verb wall
Translations
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Etymology 2

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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.

Verb

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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.
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Etymology 3

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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”).

Noun

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wall (plural walls)

  1. (chiefly dialectal) A spring of water.

Etymology 4

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

Noun

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wall (plural walls)

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

Verb

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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).

Etymology 5

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Interjection

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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.

Anagrams

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Central Franconian

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Alternative forms

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  • wahl (interchangeable variant)
  • woal (western Eifel; may continue MHG a or o)
  • woll, wohl (southern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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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!

German

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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wall

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

Middle English

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Noun

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wall

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

Adjective

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wall

  1. Alternative form of wale

Old English

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Noun

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wall m

  1. Alternative form of weall

Scots

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Etymology

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From Old English well, wella

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wall (plural walls)

  1. A well. (clarification of this definition is needed)
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