wall 1 S1 W1 / wɔl $ wɒl / 名词 [可数名词]

1 around an area an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area → fence

stone/brick/concrete wall

The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.

city/garden etc wall

the ancient city walls

the Great Wall of China

We climbed over the wall into the orchard.

2 in a building one of the sides of a room or building

on the wall

I put some pictures up on the walls .

Bob leaned against the wall .

bedroom/kitchen etc wall

We decided to paint the bathroom walls blue.

3 body the side of something hollow, especially within the body :

The walls of the blood vessels had been damaged.

cell walls

4 wall of fire/water etc a tall mass of something such as fire or water, that stops anything from getting past :

The boat was hit by a wall of water.

5 wall of silence/secrecy a situation in which nobody will tell you what you want to know :

The police investigation was met with a wall of silence.

6 up the wall spoken very angry or annoyed :

That noise is driving me up the wall (= making me annoyed ) .

go up the wall British English :

I’ve got to be on time or Sarah will go up the wall.

7 off the wall informal very strange or unusual, often in an amusing way :

Some of Krista’s ideas are a little off the wall.

8 go to the wall informal if a company goes to the wall, it fails, especially because of financial difficulties :

Many small investors will go to the wall.

9 these four walls spoken the room that you are in, especially considered as a private place :

I don’t want anything repeated outside these four walls.

10 be/come up against a (brick) wall to reach a point where you cannot make progress, especially because something or someone is stopping you :

We seem to have come up against a brick wall in this investigation.

11 be climbing/crawling (up) the walls informal to be feeling extremely anxious, unhappy, or annoyed, especially because you are waiting for something or are in a situation which you cannot get away from :

The kids soon had him climbing the walls.

12 walls have ears used to warn people to be careful what they say, because other people, especially enemies, could be listening

13 hit the wall informal to reach the point when you are most physically tired when doing a sport

→ have your back to/against the wall at back 2 ( 21 ) , → be (like) banging your head against a brick wall at head ( 31 ) , → like talking to a brick wall at talk 1 ( 15 ) , → the writing is on the wall at writing ( 8 ) , → off-the-wall

THESAURUS

wall an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area : The estate is surrounded by high stone walls. | a brick wall

fence a structure made of wood, metal etc that surrounds a piece of land : The garden was surrounded by an old wooden fence. | the chain link fence around the school

railings a metal fence that is made of a series of upright bars : the iron railings in front of the house | The boy was leaning over the railing on the side of the boat.

barrier a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction : A guard stood near the barrier. | The police had put up barriers to keep the crowd under control.

screen a piece of furniture like a thin wall that can be moved around and is used to divide one part of a room from another : the screen around his hospital bed | a Japanese bamboo screen | a fire screen (= that you put near a fire )

partition a thin wall that separates one part of a room from another : The room was divided into two by a thin partition. | The offices are separated by partitions and you can hear everything that is said in the next office.

barricade a line of objects that people have put across a road, to prevent people getting past, especially as part of a protest : The soldiers used tanks to smash through the barricades.