wall

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔːl/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /wɑl/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

From Middle English wall, from Old English weall (“wall, dike, earthwork, rampart, dam, rocky shore, cliff”), from Proto-Germanic *wallaz, *wallą (“wall, rampart, entrenchment”), from Latin vallum (“wall, rampart, entrenchment, palisade”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“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.

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. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     […] 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:

     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.
6. An impediment to free movement.

   A wall of police officers met the protesters before they reached the capitol steps.

   As Goebbels put it, “We want to build a wall, a protective wall.” , Timothy Snyder, The New York Times, June 14, 2018, How Did the Nazis Gain Power in Germany?

7. A type of butterfly (Lasiommata megera).
8. (often in combination) A barrier.

   a seawall;  a firewall

9. A barrier to vision.
10. Something with the apparent solidity and dimensions of a building wall.

    a wall of sound;  a wall of water

11. (anatomy, zoology, botany) A divisive or containing structure in an organ or cavity.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 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.

12. (auction) A fictional bidder used to increase the price at an auction.

    Synonym: chandelier

13. (US, slang, medicine) A doctor who tries to admit as few patients as possible.

    Antonym: sieve

14. (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.

15. (Internet) A personal notice board listing messages of interest to a particular user.

• (rampart): rampart
• (fictional bidder at an auction): chandelier

• (rampart): terreplein (level walkway); parapet, crenellation (minor secondary wall protecting the terreplein); banquette (area elevated above the terreplein for use by defenders)

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

1. To enclose with a wall

   He walled the study with books.

2. (with "in") To enclose by surrounding with walls.

   They had walled in the garden

3. (with "off") To separate with a wall

   The previous owners had walled off two rooms, making an apartment.

4. (with "up") To seal with a wall

   They walled up the basement space that had been used as a coal bin.

From Middle English wallen, from Old English weallan (“to bubble, boil”), from Proto-Germanic *wallōną, *wellōną (“to fount, stream, boil”), from Proto-Indo-European *welǝn-, *welǝm- (“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.

• well
• overwhelm

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.

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) Eye dialect spelling of well.
   • 1858, The New Priest in Conception Bay by Robert Lowell

     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.

• lawl

• Rhymes: -al

wall

1. Imperative singular of wallen.
2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of wallen.

wall

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

wall

1. Alternative form of wale

• IPA^(key): /wɑl/, /wal/

wall (plural walls)

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