wall / wôl/ • n. a continuous vertical brick or stone structure that encloses or divides an area of land: a garden wall farmland traversed by drystone walls. ∎  a side of a building or room, typically forming part of the building's structure. ∎  any high vertical surface or facade, esp. one that is imposing in scale: the eastern wall of the valley | fig. a wall of sound. ∎  a thing perceived as a protective or restrictive barrier: a wall of silence. ∎  Soccer a line of defenders forming a barrier against a free kick taken near the penalty area. ∎ short for climbing wall. ∎  Mining the rock enclosing a lode or seam or forming the side of a mine-working. ∎  Anat. & Zool. the membranous outer layer or lining of an organ or cavity: the wall of the stomach. ∎  Biol. see cell wall.• v. [tr.] enclose (an area) within walls, esp. to protect it or lend it some privacy: housing areas that are walled off from the indigenous population. ∎  (wall something up) block or seal a place by building a wall around or across it: one doorway has been walled up. ∎  (wall someone/something in/up) confine or imprison someone or something in a restricted or sealed place: the gray tenements walled in the space completely.PHRASES: between you and me and the wallsee bedpost.drive someone up the wall inf. make someone very irritated or angry.go to the wall inf. 1. (of a business) fail; go out of business.2. support someone or something, no matter what the cost to oneself: the tendency for poets to go to the wall for their beliefs.hit the wall (of an athlete) experience a sudden loss of energy in a long race.off the wall inf. 1. eccentric or unconventional.2. (of a person) angry: the president was off the wall about the article.3. (of an accusation) without basis or foundation.wall-to-wall (of a carpet or other floor covering) fitted to cover an entire floor. ∎ inf. denoting great extent or number: wall-to-wall customers.DERIVATIVES: wall-less adj.ORIGIN: Old English, from Latin vallum ‘rampart,’ from vallus ‘stake.’