any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.

used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.

Usually, walls. a rampart raised for defensive purposes.

an immaterial or intangible barrier, obstruction, etc., suggesting a wall

a wall of prejudice.

a wall-like, enclosing part, thing, mass, etc.

a wall of fire; a wall of troops.

an embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall.

the Wall. Berlin Wall.

the outermost film or layer of structural material protecting, surrounding, and defining the physical limits of an object

the wall of a blood cell.

Mining .

the side of a level or drift.

the overhanging or underlying side of a vein; a hanging wall or footwall.

of or pertaining to a wall

wall space.

growing against or on a wall

wall plants; wall cress.

situated, placed, or installed in or on a wall

wall oven; a wall safe.

to enclose, shut off, divide, protect, border, etc., with or as if with a wall (often fol. by in or off )

to wall the yard; to wall in the play area; He is walled in by lack of opportunity.

to seal or fill (a doorway or other opening) with a wall

to wall an unused entrance.

to seal or entomb (something or someone) within a wall (usually fol. by up )

The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake.

climb the walls or climb walls

Slang . to become tense or frantic

climbing the walls with boredom.

drive or push to the wall

to force into a desperate situation; humiliate or ruin completely

Not content with merely winning the match, they used every opportunity to push the inferior team to the wall.

go over the wall

Slang . to break out of prison

Roadblocks have been set up in an effort to capture several convicts who went over the wall.

go to the wall

to be defeated in a conflict or competition; yield.

to fail in business, esp. to become bankrupt.

to be put aside or forgotten.

to take an extreme and determined position or measure

I'd go to the wall to stop him from resigning.

hit the wall, (of long-distance runners) to reach a point in a race, usually after 20 miles

when the body's fuels are virtually depleted and willpower becomes crucial to be able to finish.

off the wall

Slang .

beyond the realm of acceptability or reasonableness

The figure you quoted for doing the work is off the wall.

markedly out of the ordinary; eccentric; bizarre

Some of the clothes in the fashion show were too off the wall for the average customer.

up against the wall

placed against a wall to be executed by a firing squad.

in a crucial or critical position, esp. one in which defeat or failure seems imminent

Unless sales improve next month, the company will be up against the wall.

up the wall, Slang . into an acutely frantic, frustrated

or irritated state

The constant tension in the office is driving everyone up the wall.

noun

bank , bar , barricade , barrier , block , blockade , bulwark , curb , dam , embankment , enclosure , facade , fence , fortification , hindrance , hurdle , impediment , levee , limitation , palisade , panel , paneling , parapet , partition , rampart , restriction , retainer , roadblock , screen , side , stockade , stop , surface , blockage , clog , hamper , obstacle , obstruction , snag , traverse , anger , battlement , breastwork , cliff , curtain , defense , difficulty , dike , distress , divider , enceinte , enclose , encompass , foundation , immure , paries , ridiculous , unconventional

verb

fence , partition , cage , coop , immure , mew , pen , shut in , shut up , confine , lock