Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to brick up

to brick up

2 5.2
To close an opening by building a solid wall of blocks
  • phrasal verb
  • /brɪk ʌp/
translation icon : cerrar con ladrillos
  • We decided to brick up the old doorway to improve security in our home.
  • a bricked up window

Examples

  • The windows have recently been bricked up and sealed with sheetrock and bands of spackling.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I am so straight that when I bought my house, the first thing I did was brick up the back door.

    Brüno (2009)

  • We will brick up the tunnels as if they never existed.

    The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1970)

  • She walked past a building that was partly bricked up.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The builders will brick up the entrance to the basement to prevent water damage.

  • After the renovations, they bricked up the unused window to enhance the building's aesthetics.

Synonyms

to board up
vsto brick up
26 3.8

Cover windows or doors with pieces of wood to protect them

uses a built wall to create a solid lasting closure rather than temporary planks
to wall up
vsto brick up
3 6.1

Close an opening by building a wall across it

specifies using a solid wall rather than other materials to close openings
to brick in
vsto brick up
1 7.0

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

emphasizes sealing fully rather than merely filling the space
to brick over
vsto brick up
1 6.7

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

focuses on permanently sealing an opening using a built wall

Antonyms

to open
∞ 1.0

To make something not closed so you can get in

How Sealed

to barricade
42 4.8
to brick up
2 5.2
to seal
457 2.5
to plug
66 1.9
to close
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

brick up infinitive
bricked up past
bricked up past participle
bricking up present participle
bricks up third person singular

Morphology

brick + up

The meaning 'to seal or close an opening by building a wall of bricks across it' is directly built from the constituents: 'brick' (the material) used as the action and the particle 'up' signaling closure/completion. This is a literal, compositional construction with clear cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. Spanish 'tapar con ladrillos'), so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrasal verb brick up comes from the simple image of building a wall of bricks up across a door or window to close it. So to 'brick up' something means 'to seal or block an opening with bricks'.