wall meaning

• Noun: wall  wol
  1. An architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
     "the south wall had a small window"; "the walls were covered with pictures" 
  2. Anything that suggests a wall in structure or function or effect
     "a wall of water"; "a wall of smoke"; "a wall of prejudice"; "negotiations ran into a brick wall" 
  3. (anatomy) a layer (a lining or membrane) that encloses a structure
     "stomach walls"
     - paries 
  4. A difficult or awkward situation
     "his back was to the wall"; "competition was pushing them to the wall" 
  5. A vertical (or almost vertical) smooth rock face (as of a cave or mountain) 
  6. A layer of material that encloses space
     "the walls of the cylinder were perforated"; "the container's walls were blue" 
  7. A masonry fence (as around an estate or garden)
     "the wall followed the road"; "he ducked behind the garden wall and waited" 
  8. An embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
     "they blew the trumpet and the walls came tumbling down"
     - rampart, bulwark
  Verb: wall  wol
  1. Surround with a wall in order to fortify
     - palisade, fence, fence in, surround

  Derived forms: walled, walls, walling

  See also: mural, wall in

  Type of: bed, difficulty, divider, embankment, fence, fencing, formation, geological formation, layer, object, partition, physical object, protect, stratum

  Part of: building, cave, edifice, fortification, hall, hallway, munition, room

  Encyclopedia: Wall, Northumberland Wall, PA Wall, New Jersey Wall Wall, NJ Wall, Pennsylvania Wall, Texas Wall, Venerable John Wall, Staffordshire Wall, SD Wall, South Dakota

• 
  [Architecture]
  1.

  A structure which serves to enclose or subdivide a building, usually presenting a continuous surface except where penetrated by doors, windows, and the like.

  2.

  A rampart.

  3.

  A retaining wall. For specific types, see battered wall, bearing wall, blank wall, blind wall, boarded wall, board wall, breakaway wall, cavity wall, common wall, composite wall, counterwall, curtain wall, dead wall, dry wall, dry-stacked surface-bonded wall, fire wall, gable-end wall, hollow wall, load-bearing wall, masonry-bonded hollow wall, mud wall, non-load-bearing wall, partition, party wall, retaining wall, serpentine wall, spandrel wall, springing wall, street wall, structural wall, sustaining wall, veneered wall.

• 
  [Business]
  noun

  IDIOMS

  go to the wall

  if a company or an organization goes to the wall, it fails because of lack of money:

  Many firms have gone to the wall in this recession.

  See note at BANKRUPT

  BACK, BRICK, HIT verb, HIT verb

• 
  [Medicine]
  n : a structural layer surrounding a cavity, hollow organ, or mass of material ‹the intestinal walls› — walled adj
  

[Computer]
Unix's "write all" command which sends a message to everyone currently logged in.

• the wall:    The right of takin ...
• to the wall:    [American slang]ad ...
• wall in:    Verb: wall inEnclo ...

Examples

1. the wall was marked with damp in several places.
2. the wind packed the snow against the wall.
3. we made the circuit of the old city walls.
4. the paper was beginning to peel off the walls.
5. the cream-coloured walls glowed with light.