Brick1, n.
n. [Fr. brique, It. bricco, L. Lat. brica, either from A-S. brice, a breaking, fragment, Prov. Fr. brique, piece, brique de pain, equiv. to A-S. hláfes brice; or, better, from Armor. priel, clayey, pri, clay, Corn. bri, clay, W. pridd, mold, earth, pridd-fæen, brick.] 1. A hard body composed chiefly of clay and sand, tempered together with water, molded into regular forms, usually rectangular, dried in the sun, and 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.
Sense 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.
Sense 3. A good fellow; a merry person; as, you're a brick. [Low.] “He's a dear little brick.” Thackeray.
A brick in his hat, used of a person intoxicated.