*bric*

A wedge-shaped brick used in the building of an arch. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] Miscellaneous curiosities and works of decorative art, considered collectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

A piece of bric-a-brac, any curious or antique article of virtu, as a piece of antiquated furniture or metal work, or an odd knickknack. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. brik, F. brique; of Ger. origin; cf. AS. brice a breaking, fragment, Prov. E. brique piece, brique de pain, equiv. to AS. hlāfes brice, fr. the root of E. break. See Break. ] 1. A block or clay tempered with water, sand, etc., molded into a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians. Layard. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some of Palladio's finest examples are of brick. Weale. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread). [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick. [ Slang ] “He 's a dear little brick.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Brick is used adjectively or in combination; as, brick wall; brick clay; brick color; brick red. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brick clay, clay suitable for, or used in making, bricks. --
Brick dust, dust of pounded or broken bricks. --
Brick earth, clay or earth suitable for, or used in making, bricks. --
Brick loaf, a loaf of bread somewhat resembling a brick in shape. --
Brick nogging (Arch.), rough brickwork used to fill in the spaces between the uprights of a wooden partition; brick filling. --
Brick tea, tea leaves and young shoots, or refuse tea, steamed or mixed with fat, etc., and pressed into the form of bricks. It is used in Northern and Central Asia. S. W. Williams. --
Brick trimmer (Arch.), a brick arch under a hearth, usually within the thickness of a wooden floor, to guard against accidents by fire. --
Brick trowel. See Trowel. --
Brick works, a place where bricks are made. --
Bath brick. See under Bath, a city. --
Pressed brick, bricks which, before burning, have been subjected to pressure, to free them from the imperfections of shape and texture which are common in molded bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bricked p. pr. & vb. n. Bricking. ] 1. To lay or pave with bricks; to surround, line, or construct with bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on, as by smearing plaster with red ocher, making the joints with an edge tool, and pointing them. [ 1913 Webster ]

To brick up, to fill up, inclose, or line, with brick. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A piece or fragment of a brick. See 1st Bat, n. 4. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. genus of herbs of SW America having usually creamy florets followed by one-seeded fruits in a prominent bristly sheath.
Syn. -- genus Brickelia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a place where bricks are made and sold.
Syn. -- brickyard. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Australia ] 1. Orig., at Sydney, a cold and violent south or southwest wind, rising suddenly, and regularly preceded by a hot wind from the north; -- now usually called southerly buster. It blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney, and carried clouds of dust into the city. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. By confusion, a midsummer hot wind from the north. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A kiln, or furnace, in which bricks are baked or burnt; or a pile of green bricks, laid loose, with arches underneath to receive the wood or fuel for burning them. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Brick + lay. ] One whose occupation is to build with bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bricklayer's itch. See under Itch. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art of building with bricks, or of uniting them by cement or mortar into various forms; the act or occupation of laying bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. brekil, brokel, bruchel, fr. AS. brecan, E. break. Cf. Brittle. ] Brittle; easily broken. [ Obs. or Prov. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

As stubborn steel excels the brickle glass. Turbervile. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brittleness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One whose occupation is to make bricks. -- Brick"mak*ing, n. [1913 Webster]

n. 1. Anything made of bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Niches in brickwork form the most difficult part of the bricklayer's art. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of building with or laying bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of bricks; formed of bricks; resembling bricks or brick dust. [ R. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A place where bricks are made, especially an inclosed place. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] (Mil.) A kind of traces with hooks and rings, with which men drag and maneuver guns where horses can not be used. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An ancient kind of military catapult. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. In court tennis, the rebound of a ball from a wall of the court; also, the side stroke or play by which the ball is driven against the wall; hence, fig., indirect action or stroke. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

4. (Billiards) A shot in which the cue ball is driven first against the cushion. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ OE. camerike, fr. Cambrai (Flemish Kamerik), a city of France (formerly of Flanders), where it was first made. ] 1. A fine, thin, and white fabric made of flax or linen. [ 1913 Webster ]

He hath ribbons of all the colors i' the rainbow; . . . inkles, caddises, cambrics, lawns. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A fabric made, in imitation of linen cambric, of fine, hardspun cotton, often with figures of various colors; -- also called cotton cambric, and cambric muslin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cerebric acid (Physiol. Chem.), a name formerly sometimes given to cerebrin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brain power. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to the Cimbri, an ancient tribe inhabiting Northern Germany. -- n. The language of the Cimbri. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. creber close + costa rib. ] (Zool.) Marked with closely set ribs or ridges. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. fabrica fabric, workshop: cf. F. fabrique fabric. See Forge. ] 1. The structure of anything; the manner in which the parts of a thing are united; workmanship; texture; make; as cloth of a beautiful fabric. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is fabricated; as: (a) Framework; structure; edifice; building. [ 1913 Webster ]

Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
Rose like an exhalation. Milton.

(b) Cloth of any kind that is woven or knit from fibers, whether vegetable, animal, or synthetic; manufactured cloth; as, silks or other fabrics; made of a fabric that is 50% cotton and 50% polyester. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of constructing; construction. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Tithe was received by the bishop, . . . for the fabric of the churches for the poor. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Any system or structure consisting of connected parts; as, the fabric of the universe. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whole vast fabric of society. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fabricked p. pr. & vb. n. Fabricking. ] To frame; to build; to construct. [ Obs. ] “Fabric their mansions.” J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] One who fabricates; a manufacturer. Simmonds. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fabricated p. pr. & vb. n. Fabricating ] [ L. fabricatus, p. p. of fabricari, fabricare, to frame, build, forge, fr. fabrica. See Fabric, Farge. ] 1. To form into a whole by uniting its parts; to frame; to construct; to build; as, to fabricate a bridge or ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form by art and labor; to manufacture; to produce; as, to fabricate woolens. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To invent and form; to forge; to devise falsely; as, to fabricate a lie or story. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our books were not fabricated with an accomodation to prevailing usages. Paley. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. formed or conceived by the fancy or imagination; as, a fabricated excuse for his absence.
Syn. -- fancied, fictional, fictitious, fictive, invented, made-up. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. fabricatio; cf. F. fabrication. ] 1. The act of fabricating, framing, or constructing; construction; manufacture; as, the fabrication of a bridge, a church, or a government. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is fabricated; a falsehood; as, the story is doubtless a fabrication.

Syn. -- See Fiction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] One who fabricates; one who constructs or makes. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fabricator of the works of Ossian. Mason. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who fabricates. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. febricitare, fr. febris. See Febrile. ] To have a fever. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. febriculosus. ] Somewhat feverish. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Fringed; jagged; fimbriate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) fringed, on one side only, by long, straight hairs, as the antennæ of certain insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a brick made of fire clay, used for lining e.g. furnaces and chimneys. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. an idle worthless person. [ slang ]
Syn. -- goof-off, ne'er-do-well, good-for-nothing, good-for-naught. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The evasion of work or duty. [ informal ]
Syn. -- shirking, slacking, soldiering, goofing off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A Hebraist. [ R. ]

v. t. To lay in order, one lapping over another, so as to form an imbricated surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. imbricatus, p. p. of imbricare to cover with tiles, to form like a gutter tile, fr. imbrex, -icis, a hollow tile, gutter tile, fr. imber rain. ] 1. Bent and hollowed like a roof or gutter tile. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lying over each other in regular order, so as to “break joints, ” like tiles or shingles on a roof, the scales on the leaf buds of plants and the cups of some acorns, or the scales of fishes; overlapping each other at the margins, as leaves in æstivation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. In decorative art: Having scales lapping one over the other, or a representation of such scales; as, an imbricated surface; an imbricated pattern. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Botany) overlapping or layered as scales or shingles; -- used especially of leaves or bracts.
Syn. -- imbricate. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cf. F. imbrication. ] An overlapping of the edges, like that of tiles or shingles; hence, intricacy of structure; also, a pattern or decoration representing such a structure. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Imbricate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not fabricated; unwrought; not artificial; natural. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Contrary to the rubric; not rubrical. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. lubricus: cf. F. lubrique. ] 1. Having a smooth surface; slippery. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lascivious; wanton; lewd. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This lubric and adulterate age. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. lubricans, p. pr. of lubricare, See Lubricate. ] Lubricating. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which lubricates; specifically, a substance, as oil, grease, graphite, etc., used for reducing the friction of the working parts of machinery. [ 1913 Webster ]