brickbat

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
he exclaimed, "it's as hard as a brickbat, as salt as brine, and burnt up as thoroughly as a piece of coke.

View all »
Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A piece, especially of brick, used as a weapon or missile.
  2. noun An unfavorable remark; a criticism.
  3. Word History
    The earliest sense of brickbat, first recorded in 1563, was "a piece of brick.” Such pieces of brick have not infrequently been thrown at others in the hope of injuring them; hence, the figurative brickbats (first recorded in 1929) that critics hurl at performances they dislike. The appearance of bat as the second part of this compound is explained by the fact that the word bat, "war club, cudgel,” developed in Middle English the sense "chunk, clod, wad,” and in the 16th century came to be used specifically for a piece of brick that was unbroken on one end.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Until then, I leave you with this thought: I have problems with the word "brickbat."
  • I feel like "brickbat" tries to stay as far away from me as possible.
  • The other brickbat is regarding your art work, which is still well below standard. —  ASTOUNDING
  • A big stone would have done it, or a brickbat, in which case he must have thrown it away as he ran, and we shall find it when we can make a thorough search by daylight. —  Wicked Uncle - Patricia Wentworth - Miss Silver 12 (apa Spotlight)
  • The little flivver, due to small wingspread and not inconsiderable weight, would glide about as well as a brickbat The only landing place was the lead which had swallowed the remains of the shabby seaplane flown by Doc's friends. —  004 - The Polar Treasure
More examples »
 

Tags

brickbat hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 110 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈbrɪkbæt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recently looked up

firewood · kettle · tantalum · wolf · cattail

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Glockenspiel · Ersatz · Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid · Haifischschwanzflossenfleischsuppe · Der Kottbusser Postkutscher putzt den Kottbusser Postkutschkasten