In basketball, a slang term for a missed shot, particularly a missed free throw or slam dunk, both of which should be easy for a skilled player to successfully convert.

A nickname for a Volvo, often an affectionate name given in a self-deprecating fashion by owners, similar to F-105 pilots referring to their aircraft as “the Thud.” In this instance, it refers to its aerodynamics. Or, more specifically, their lack thereof, given the Volvo’s “boxy but safe” reputation.

'net slang for incapacitating an electronic device by the use of or improper transfer of firmware into a nonvolatile memory such that the device cannot be recovered by the end user. Brick possibly evolved as metaphor describing the future utility of a bricked device.

Usage:

Using the CVS build will brick your iPaq.

Most often used in the past tense, as few people endeavor to destroy their gadgets. Now starting to spread into other realms where firmware is being hacked (MP3 players, wireless routers, cell phones, etc).

This term became popular among the crowd attempting to port Linux to the HP iPaq as downloading custom firmware required strictly following the procedure given by HP with their Linux release.


re: the Volvo connotation of this term... The Volvo 240 is probably the quintessential brickmobile, with its squared-off looks and boxy shape. The most popular color for this car was a maroon that evoked the color of a brick, helping this association take root. Modern Volvos, such as the S60 and XC90 are far less bulky in appearance yet still have a hint of the ninety-degree bias of the maker's former vehicles. Note that the famous P1800 was by no means a boxy car.

In the context of triathlon training, a brick is any training session that combines more than one of the three disciplines with minimal or no interruptions between. The most common brick is a bike/run combination because this transition is generally considered to be the most challenging.

The origin of the term is the strange, heavy feeling many experience in the legs when they switch from biking to running. (Personally, I would have named it Jell-o, but there are probably copyright problems with that.)

The purpose of a brick workout can vary. Obviously, it's a good preparation for the race and allows the athlete to simulate race conditions. Bricks can also be used for overall aerobic endurance or to prepare for certain aspects of the race. For example, a brick with the emphasis on a long bike ride would help prepare the athlete to pace a ride appropriately so as to be able to still run afterwards.

He arrives at the drainage tunnel he first found from a clue scrawled on the missing girl's notepad. He wears his jeans and light-coloured jacket. The Pin recalls a vampire, with his dark clothes, cane, and protruding ears. Dode and the Tug look like classic thugs, one in black leather and the other, a sleeveless A-shirt.

Someone died here. Someone else almost certainly will, in the next few minutes. We don't know who.

Rian Johnson directed three memorable episodes of Breaking Bad and some big-budget Star Wars films but, when the history of motion picture gets written, he may be best remembered for Brick, an oddball film from 2005 that he penned while in film school. A bizarre odyssey, Brick blends the hard-boiled detective with the teen movie. We have a compromised hero, double-crosses, dark doings, highly stylized dialogue, and stunning cinematography. Although filmed in colour, the shadows of film noir will be immediately evident, though the director also cites the Spaghetti Westerns and Cowboy Bebop as influences on the film's distinct style. The results are surreal and surprisingly engaging.

Our hero, Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) leads an isolated existence in high school, after the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) and the "ratting out" of a former friend. Then Brendan receives a panicked, enigmatic phone call from Emily, who mentions, among other things, a "brick." Some time later, he finds her body, and his mission to locate her becomes a mission to uncover the secrets of her life, and seek revenge upon the killers. His quest entangles him with a genius called "Brain," a pair of high school femme fatales, and a local drug dealer, "The Pin," who works out of his mommy's basement. Fists and twists come fast, and the dialogue would reel and unreel Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler's heads. It's not quite a spoof-- the stylized characters and direction take themselves seriously-- but the results often prove darkly hilarious.

Filmed on 35 mm around Johnson's home town of San Clemente, with money he raised through friends and family, Brick received numerous accolades, and its cult has only grown. It's not perfect (it runs a little too long for its premise), but it's certainly memorable. Johnson since has directed box office hits with multi-million dollar budgets, including Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but nothing quite so remarkable as this strange little film.


Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Brendan
Nora Zehetner as Laura
Lukas Haas as The Pin
Noah Fleiss as The Tug
Matt O'Leary as The Brain
Emilie de Ravin as Emily
Noah Segan as Dode
Richard Roundtree as Assistant V.P. Trueman
Meagan Good as Kara
Brian White as Brad Bramish
Jonathan Cauff as Biff
Reedy Gibbs as Pin's Mom

Brick (?), n. [OE. brik, F. brique; of Ger. origin; cf. AS. brice a breaking, fragment, Prov. E. brique piece, brique de pain, equiv. to AS. hlafes brice, fr. the root of E. break. See Break.]

1.

A block or clay tempered with water, sand, etc., molded into a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp.

The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians. Layard.

2.

Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick.

Some of Palladio's finest examples are of brick. Weale.

3.

Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread).

4.

A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick

. [Slang] "He 's a dear little brick."

Thackeray.

To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [Slang]

Brick is used adjectively or in combination; as, brick wall; brick clay; brick color; brick red.

Brick clay, clay suitable for, or used in making, bricks. -- Brick dust, dust of pounded or broken bricks. -- Brick earth, clay or earth suitable for, or used in making, bricks. -- Brick loaf, a loaf of bread somewhat resembling a brick in shape. -- Brick nogging Arch., rough brickwork used to fill in the spaces between the uprights of a wooden partition; brick filling. -- Brick tea, tea leaves and young shoots, or refuse tea, steamed or mixed with fat, etc., and pressed into the form of bricks. It is used in Northern and Central Asia. S. W. Williams. -- Brick trimmer Arch., a brick arch under a hearth, usually within the thickness of a wooden floor, to guard against accidents by fire. -- Brick trowel. See Trowel. -- Brick works, a place where bricks are made. -- Bath brick. See under Bath, a city. -- Pressed brick, bricks which, before burning, have been subjected to pressure, to free them from the imperfections of shape and texture which are common in molded bricks.

 

© Webster 1913.


Brick, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bricked (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Bricking.]

1.

To lay or pave with bricks; to surround, line, or construct with bricks.

2.

To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on, as by smearing plaster with red ocher, making the joints with an edge tool, and pointing them.

To brick up, to fill up, inclose, or line, with brick.

 

© Webster 1913.

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