🧱 A building block 🤝 A reliable person 📱 To break a device

to brick

5 8.9

To make an electronic device stop working completely and become useless

verb
/brɪk/

Jargon

: dejar inservible

Some installations have gone amazingly well, and one went horribly awry, bricking an entire PC.

It's possible it just bricked itself while I was touching it.

Examples

Unless, say, they targeted me with a virus or, you know, bricked my phone or something like that.
It's possible it just bricked itself while I was touching it.

Linus Tech Tips
I'm just trying to help people who have a bricked PS3 that have nothing to lose by testing this.

Blog text (15)
I had a Samsung Captivate that got bricked by an AT&T OTA update.

Blog text (20)
Installing the wrong software can easily brick your tablet, rendering it completely useless.
His attempt to upgrade the firmware ended up bricking the console, so he had to buy a new one.
If you attempt to modify the system files incorrectly, you risk bricking your device.

Antonyms

functioning

115 3.1

Working as it should and ready to use

operational

63 4.3

About the practical running of a system or process

Idioms

to talk to a brick wall

Informal

2 7.0

To try to speak to someone who will not listen or answer

built like a brick shithouse

Offensive

1 9.9

A building or vehicle that is very strong and hard to break

built like a brick shithouse

Offensive

1 9.9

A person with a very strong, solid body and large muscles

built like a brick outhouse

Informal

1 9.1

A person who is very strong and muscular with a solid, powerful body

brick in someone's hat

Offensive

9.9

A person who acts very silly or seems confused

built like a brick shipyard

Informal

9.8

Very strong and solid, like a person with big muscles or a very hard box

to bang one's head against a brick wall

Informal

8.2

To try many times to do something without success and feel frustrated

one brick short of a full load

Offensive

9.9

A person who is a little foolish or not very smart

to walk down a yellow brick road

Informal

9.5

To start a journey into the unknown that brings adventure and personal change

Phrasal Verbs

to brick up

4 5.2

To close an opening by building a solid wall of blocks

to brick in

1 7.0

To close an opening by building a wall of bricks across it

to brick over

1 6.7

To close an opening like a door or window by building a brick wall across it

Compounds

brick wall

Informal

46 4.1

A problem you cannot get past

yellow brick road

Informal

9 7.2

A path toward a dream that has problems and surprises

red-brick

6 6.8

A British university founded in the late 1800s or early 1900s, not one of the older universities

mud brick

2 2.7

A brick made from wet earth that gets hard and is used to build walls

brick red

2 2.4

A strong red-brown colour like the outside of a red brick

mud-brick

1 4.8

Made from bricks of mud dried in the sun rather than baked

brick cheese

1 4.2

A soft, slightly sweet American cheese made from whole milk and shaped like a brick

brick facade

1 4.9

The front of a building made of bricks

adobe brick

1 5.0

A brick made from clay and straw that dries in the sun for building in hot dry places

flying brick

Informal

1 8.6

A badly thrown or hit object that flies fast and misses the target

brick machine

Specialized

1 4.2

A machine that makes bricks from clay

brick-making machine

Specialized

1 4.5

A machine that makes bricks from clay or other materials

brick trowel

Specialized

1 6.7

A hand tool with a flat pointed blade for picking up and spreading mortar between bricks

clinker brick

Specialized

1 7.7

A very hard brick used for paving paths and driveways

brick-molding machine

Specialized

7.0

A machine that shapes wet clay into bricks

calcium-silicate brick

Specialized

6.9

A brick made from sand and lime instead of clay, usually light gray and used for building

flintlime brick

Specialized

9.0

A brick made from sand and lime, usually light gray in color

sand-lime brick

Specialized

6.7

A type of brick made from sand and lime used for building

sandlime brick

Specialized

7.0

A light gray building block made from sand and lime instead of clay

How Broken

to brick

Jargon

5 8.9

to break

∞ 1.0

malfunction

98 4.5

to go down

27 3.4

Surface Forms

brick infinitive

bricked past

bricked past participle

bricking present participle

bricks third person singular

Etymology

The verb brick comes from the idea of making a device as 'useless' as a brick, a hard block you cannot use as a phone. So to brick a device is to break it so it stops working and becomes like a useless block.