Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
"BRICKS" is a plural of: brick. |
Date "BRICKS" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Bricks the making of, formed the chief labour of the Israelites in Egypt (Ex. 1:13, 14). Those found among the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh are about a foot square and four inches thick. They were usually dried in the sun, though also sometimes in kilns (2 Sam. 12:31; Jer. 43:9; Nah. 3:14). (See NEBUCHADNEZZAR.) The bricks used in the tower of Babel were burnt bricks, cemented in the building by bitumen (Gen. 11:3). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A brick is a block made of kiln-fired material, usually clay or shale, but also may be of mud, etc. Clay bricks are formed in a moulding (the soft mud method), or in commercial manufacture more frequently by extruding clay through a die and then wire-cutting them to the proper size (the stiff mud process). Brick made from clay that is hardly more than dampened must be formed in molds with a great deal of pressure, usually applied by a hydraulic press. These bricks are known as hydraulic-pressed bricks, and have a dense surface which makes them suitable for facing work. The shaped clay is then dried and fired to achieve the final, desired strength. Usually this is done in a continuously fired kiln, in which the bricks move slowly through the kiln on conveyors, to achieve consistent physical characteristics for all bricks. When other than the ordinary structural clay brick is meant, a descriptive term such as fire-brick, sand-lime brick, etc., is employed.Bricks are used for structural purposes in buildings, for paving, and for lining furnaces. The latter type of brick is known as refractory or fire-brick. Hard-burned brick should be used for face work exposed to the weather, and soft brick for filling, foundations, and the like. The standard brick measures approximately 2.25" x 4" x 8", and has a crushing strength of between 1000 and 3000 pounds per square inch depending on quality. A highly impervious and ornamental surface may be laid on brick either by salt glazing, in which salt is added during the burning process, or by the use of a "slip," which is a glaze material into which the bricks are dipped. Subsequent reheating in the kiln fuzes the slip into a glazed surface integral with the brick base.
A refractory brick is built primarily to withstand temperature. This does not usually accompany resistance to heat flow; in fact, most refractory bricks usually have the highest thermal conductivities. It is important for refractory brick to have a high resistance to erosion by ash-laden gases and to the fluxing action of molten slag, it should not spall badly under rapid temperature change, and its structural strength should hold up well under rapid temperature changes. Fire-brick is baked in the kiln until it is partly vitrified, and for special purposes may also be glazed. Fire-bricks usually contain 30-40% alumina and 50% silica. For bricks of extreme refractory character, alumina content can be as high as 50-80% (with correspondingly less silica) and silicon carbide may also be present. The standard size of fire-brick is 9" x 4.5" x 2.5".
See: masonry, brickwork, ceramics
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Brick."
Synonym: BRICKSSynonym: Clay industries. (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Impossibility | Attempt impossibilities; square the circle, wash a blackamoor white; skin a flint; make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, make bricks without straw; have nothing to go upon; weave a rope of sand, build castles in the air, prendre la lune avec les dents, extract sunbeams from cucumbers, set the Thames on fire, milk a he-goat into a sieve, catch a weasel asleep, rompre l'anguille au genou, be in two places at once. |
Materials | Noun: material, raw material, stuff, stock, staple; adobe, brown stone; chinking; clapboard; daubing; puncheon; shake; shingle, bricks and mortar; metal; stone; clay, brick crockery; compo, composition; concrete; reinforced concrete, cement; wood, ore, timber. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Y'know, I read this in the newspaper. We should go down there, get some guys together, y'know, get some bricks and baseball bats and really explain things to them (Manhattan; writing credit: Woody Allen ; Marshall Brickman) I believe in peace and bashing two bricks together (Monty Python's Flying Circus; writing credit: Douglas Adams; Graham Chapman) The city is made of bricks. The strong make many, the starving make few, the dead make none (The Ten Commandments; writing credit: J.H. Ingraham; A.E. Southon) When I asked you to build me a wall I was hoping rather than just dumping the bricks in a pile I was wondering if you could find the time to cement them together, you know in the traditional fashion (Fawlty Towers; writing credit: John Cleese; Connie Booth) Hey, Bricks! Nice one, man (Oz; writing credit: Pavel Srut) | |
Lyrics | All in all you were all just bricks in the wall ("Another Brick in the Wall"; performing artist: Pink Floyd) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Gold Bricks (1936) Black Gold Bricks (1925) Unfermented Bricks (1922) Magic Bricks (1908) | |
Song Titles | Dear Boss (Bricks) (performing artist: Robbie with the Clancy Brothers O'Connell) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References |
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Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Drop structure made of logs and bricks stabilize a grassed waterway in Tama County. Credit: Lynn Betts. |  | Johnny Myles stacks bricks at one of the self help homes under construction in Indianola, MS. Credit: USDA. |
 | Crewmembers cooking on deck, in the James River, Virginia, 9 July 1862. Photographed by James F. Gibson. This view looks forward from the port quarter, with the port side blower hatch in the foreground, the two smokestacks in the middle distance and the turret beyond. The sailor standing atop the turret is holding a telescope. Note cookstove supported on bricks at left and awning above the turret. Credit: NAVY. |  | Two women amidst bricks and rubble after San Francisco earthquake and fire, 1906. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Kids in west side lot toss a few bricks / World Telegram & Sun p. Credit: Library of Congress; photo by Ed Ford.. |  | Pharr Plantation house near Social Circle, Georgia. This house was built in 1840 by slave labor. The bricks came from England to Savannah, thence by oxteam to the plantation. The plantation formerly had 150 slaves, is now abandoned by the one remaining me. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Spanish-American workman laying adobe bricks, Penasco, New Mexico. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Garfield County, Montana. Abandoned home of early settler made of sun-baked bricks. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Isleta (vicinity), New Mexico. Indian adobe houses with adobe bricks drying in the sun. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Hutton Brick Works, Kingston, New York. Taking bricks from kiln. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Bricks" by Janos Rusiczki Commentary: "Some ugly bricks..." | "Bricks 1" by Claire Jones Commentary: "Thought these might be useful backgrounds." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Augustus Caesar | I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. |
William Blake | Prisons are built with stones of Law. Brothels with the bricks of religion. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | It would be a strange catalogue of things, that industry provided and made use of, about every loaf of bread, before it came to our use, if we could trace them; iron, wood, leather, bark, timber, stone, bricks, coals, lime, cloth, dying drugs, pitch, tar, masts, ropes, and all the materials made use of in the ship, that brought any of the commodities made use of by any of the workmen, to any part of the work; all which it would be almost impossible, at least too long, to reckon up. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | The Allied and Associated Governments may file with the Reparation Commission lists showing: (a) Animals, machinery, equipment, tools and like articles of a commercial character, which have been seized, consumed or destroyed by Germany or destroyed in direct consequence of military operations, and which such Governments, for the purpose of meeting immediate and urgent needs, desire to have replaced by animals and articles of the same nature which are in being in German territory at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty; (b) Reconstruction materials (stones, bricks, refractory bricks, tiles, wood, window-glass, steel, lime, cement, etc.), machinery, heating apparatus, furniture and like articles of a commercial character which the said Governments desire to have produced and manufactured in Germany and delivered to them to permit of the restoration of the invaded areas. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | She laid the slabs like bricks, and pounded salt in the spaces |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | In 1997, the province manufactured approximately 6 billion square meters of ceramic building bricks and floor tiles. (references) | |
Stone and plastic anti-skid floor bricks also seem to have recently become popular, largely due to its attractiveness and safety. (references) | ||
The domestic market is saturated with low quality ceramic building bricks and glazed ceramic tiles (HS 6904, 6905, 6907, 6908). The production and sale of glazed ceramic tile squares is slowing down, while the production of middle and top level of solid and hollow ceramic building bricks (and marble as well) is increasing. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Angola | In some camps, IDP's are required to contribute labor, and coordinators occasionally required IDP's to pay for the materials that go into bricks for constructing structures in the camps. (references) |
Economic History | Suriname | Industry: Types--alumina, processed food, lumber, bricks, tiles, cigarettes, and glass. (references) |
Kazakhstan | Locally produced materials include cement, bricks, wooden doors, windows, steel doors, and soft and iron roofs. (references) | |
Human Rights | Bangladesh | When demonstrators started throwing bricks at police and paramilitary forces, they opened fire, killing 6 persons and injuring 25 others. (references) |
Pakistan | Police accused the protesters of throwing stones and bricks at them, but some eyewitnesses alleged that the police fired without provocation. (references) | |
China | At one camp in the western part of the country, inmates are forced to work up to 16 hours per day breaking rocks or making bricks, according to credible reports. (references) | |
Minorities | Syria | However, in October 2000, a group of Palestinians threw bricks, stones, and Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Damascus, apparently in reaction to the Israeli Government's use of force against Palestinians in the occupied territories. (references) |
Trade | Poland | The ITB deals with products such as siding, roof shingles, windows and bricks. (references) |
Eritrea | The list includes raw hides and skins, pulses, salt, oil seeds, clay bricks and beam tiles, steel sheets, cement, steel wires and nails, safety box matches, and weights and measures. (references) | |
Travel | Chad | Most houses are made of mud bricks. (references) |
Worker Rights | Sri Lanka | Children also are involved in the manufacture of coconut fiber products, bricks, fishing, wrapping tobacco, street trading, and farming. (references) |
Pakistan | There is a reasonable basis to believe that handmade bricks and hand-woven wool carpets are produced with forced or indentured child labor. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "BRICKS" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 98.77% of the time. "BRICKS" is used about 893 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 98.77% | 882 | 8,059 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.89% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Lexical Verb (-s form) | 0.34% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 893 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "BRICKS": baked bricks ♦ be like a cat on hot bricks ♦ box of bricks ♦ bricks and mortar ♦ lay bricks ♦ make bricks ♦ make bricks without straw ♦ making bricks ♦ pile of bricks ♦ row of bricks. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "BRICKS": half-bricks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "BRICKS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | كومة حطب (pile of bricks). (various references) | |
Chinese | 砖 (Brick). (various references) | |
Czech | být jako na trní (be like a cat on hot bricks), mít plný kalhoty. (various references) | |
Finnish | kuin tulisilla hiilillä (like a cat on hot bricks). (various references) | |
German | Ziegel (brick, tile). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ללבון (brick, make bricks), לבון (bleaching, cleansing, heating, making bricks, whitening). (various references) | |
Hungarian | dilizik, dühöng (be angry, boil over, rage, rampage, to be on the rampage, to carry on, to chafe, to foam with rage, to huff, to play the devil, to rage, to ramp and rave, to rampage about, to rave and storm), bosszankodik (to be in a fret, to fash oneself, to fret, to fret oneself, to fume), be van zsongva, be van szarva, be van gurulva, be van gerjedve (hot), balhézik (to kick up a riot, to kick up a row, to make a row). (various references) | |
Italian | laterizi. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 積み上げる (to lay bricks, to make a heap, to pile up), 積み上げ (lay bricks, make a heap, pile up), 化粧煉瓦 (facing bricks, ornamental tile). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | つみあげる (to lay bricks, to make a heap, to pile up), つみあげ (lay bricks, make a heap, pile up), けしょうれんが (facing bricks, ornamental tile). (various references) | |
Korean | 벽돌 (Brick). (various references) | |
Manx | cur aile da (bake as bricks, burn, fire). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | icksbray.(various references) | |
Romanian | cub (cube, cubic). (various references) | |
Swedish | bygglåda (box of bricks). (various references) | |
Turkish | diken üstünde olmak (be like a cat on hot bricks, be on tenterhooks, be on thorns, sit on pins and needles). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Genesis Chapter 11, Verse 3 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai eipen anqrwpoV tw plhsion deute plinqeuswmen plinqouV kai opthswmen autaV puri kai egeneto autoiV h plinqoV eiV liqon kai asfaltoV hn autoiV o phloV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Dixitque alter ad proximum suum venite faciamus lateres et coquamus eos igni habueruntque lateres pro saxis et bitumen pro cemento |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Ða cwædon hi him betwynan, "Uton wyrcean us tigelan ond ælan hi on fyre." Witodlice hi hæfdon tigelan for stan ond tyrwan for weall-lim. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And the tother seide to his neiybore, Cometh, and make we tile stoons, and sethe we hem with fier; and thei hadden tiles for stoons, and towy cley for syment. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And they sayd one to a nother: come on let us make brycke ad burne it wyth fyre. So brycke was there stone and slyme was there morter |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And they said one to another, come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Genesis Chapter 11, Verse 3 |
| Cebuano | Ug sila nasig-ingon ang usa ug usa: Umari kamo. Magbuhat kita ug tisa ug pagbahon ta ug maayo. Ug sila may tisa nga gigamit nga alili sa bato, ug may salong nga alili sa apog. |
| Croatian | Jedan drugome reèe: "Hajdemo praviti opeke te ih peæi da otvrdnu!" Opeke im bile mjesto kamena, a paklina im služila za žbuku. |
| Danish | Da sagde de til hverandre: "Kom, lad os stryge Teglsten og brænde dem godt!" De brugte nemlig Tegl som Sten og Jordbeg som Kalk. |
| Dutch | En zij zeiden een ieder tot zijn naaste: Kom aan, laat ons tichelen strijken, en wel doorbranden! En de tichel was hun voor steen, en het lijm was hun voor leem. |
| Finnish | Ja he sanoivat toisillensa: "Tulkaa, tehkäämme tiiliä ja polttakaamme ne koviksi". Ja tiiltä he käyttivät kivenä, ja maapihkaa he käyttivät laastina. |
| French | Ils se dirent l`un à l`autre: Allons! faisons des briques, et cuisons-les au feu. Et la brique leur servit de pierre, et le bitume leur servit de ciment. |
| German | Und sie sprachen untereinander: Wohlauf, laß uns Ziegel streichen und brennen! und nahmen Ziegel zu Stein und Erdharz zu Kalk |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Mereka berkata seorang kepada yang lain, "Ayo kita membuat batu bata dan membakarnya sampai keras." Demikianlah mereka mempunyai batu bata untuk batu rumah dan ter untuk bahan perekatnya. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka kata mereka itu seorang kepada seorang: Mari kita memperbuat batu bata serta membakar akan dia baik-baik. Maka batu bata itu baginya akan ganti batu betul dan gala-gala akan ganti kapur. |
| Italian | Si dissero l'un l'altro: «Venite, facciamoci mattoni e cuociamoli al fuoco». Il mattone servì loro da pietra e il bitume da cemento. |
| Maori | Na ka mea ratou ki tona hoa, ki tona hoa, Tena, tatou ka hanga pereki, me ata tahu marire ano hoki. Na ka meinga e ratou he pereki hei kohatu, he uku hoki ta ratou moata. |
| Norwegian | Og de sa til hverandre: Kom, la oss gjøre teglsten og brenne dem vel! Og de brukte tegl istedenfor sten, og jordbek istedenfor kalk. |
| Portuguese | Disseram uns aos outros: Eia pois, façamos tijolos, e queimemo-los bem. Os tijolos lhes serviram de pedras e o betume de argamassa. |
| Rumanian | Wi au zis unul cqtre altul: ,,Haidem! sq facem cqrqmizi, wi sq le ardem bine kn foc.`` Wi cqrqmida le -a yinut loc de piatrq, iar smoala le -a yinut loc de var. |
| Spanish | Entonces se dijeron unos a otros: "Venid, hagamos adobes y quemémoslos con fuego." Así empezaron a usar ladrillo en lugar de piedra, y brea en lugar de mortero. |
| Swedish | Och de sade till varandra: "Kom, låt oss slå tegel och bränna det." Och teglet begagnade de såsom sten, och såsom murbruk begagnade de jordbeck. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words ending with "BRICKS": firebricks, goldbricks, redbricks. (additional references) | |
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"BRICKS" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Berick, Bficc, bicks, bracksy, breck, Brecks, Brecsu, brics, briks, brix, Buicks, Ebbrix, rick, ricks. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "BRICKS" (pronounced bri"ks) |
| 4 | -r i" k s | pricks, ricks, tricks. |
| 3 | -i" k s | chicks, clicks, cliques, Dicks, fix, flicks, Hicks, intermix, kicks, licks, mix, Nicks, Nix, picks, pix, six, slicks, sticks, ticks, tics, transfix, Wicks. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-i-k-r-s" | |
-1 letter: birks, brick, brisk, cribs, ricks. | |
-2 letters: birk, bisk, bris, crib, cris, irks, kirs, kris, ribs, rick, risk, sick. | |
-3 letters: bis, cis, ick, irk, kir, rib, sib, sic, sir, ski, sri. | |
-4 letters: bi, is, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-i-k-r-s" | |
+1 letter: bickers. | |
+2 letters: brackish, brickles. | |
+3 letters: backfires, baldricks, bickerers, brainsick, brickbats, brickiest, crabstick, cribworks, firebacks, redbricks, rockabies. | |
+4 letters: backbiters, backslider, backstairs, blackbirds, breadstick, brickworks, brickyards, broomstick, crabsticks, firebricks, goldbricks, kickboards, kickboxers, rudbeckias, silverback. | |
+5 letters: backsliders, blacklister, bootlickers, brainsickly, breadsticks, brickfields, bricklayers, broomsticks, crackbrains, hackberries, icebreakers, jackrabbits, linebackers, silverbacks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Translations: Modern 16. Bible Trace | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
