wall English · revision 2615

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 725 (Beowulf)|origins=la vallum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /wɔːl/, US /wɔːl/, /wɑːl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|wal]], [[inh|ang|weall|t=rampart, earthwork; city wall; side of a building]], Anglian wall,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) an early West Germanic borrowing [[bor|la|vallum|t=rampart with palisades; row of stakes]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) perhaps a collective form of [[m|la|vallus|t=stake]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) Barnhart derives vallus from [[ine-pro|*wel-|t=to turn]],^(Barnhart 1988) and Etymonline reports Watkins's *walso- “a post”.^(Etymonline) Old Saxon and Dutch [[m|nl|wal|t=rampart]] and German [[m|de|Wall]] are also from the Latin.^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English weall, a rampart or city wall: about 725, in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988) The OED's first quotations are from about 825 and about 900.^(OED 1989) Word Origins notes that the Latin source implies the earliest walls were defensive ones around a town or camp.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old English weall also meant “dam, cliff, rocky shore”.^(Etymonline) The side of a building or room is from Old English.^(Etymonline) An embankment against the sea is from 1330,^(OED 1989) and a person or thing serving as a defence from about 1415.^(OED 1989) ''Go to the wall'' originally meant “to give way, be beaten”, and now means “to fail commercially”, from the late 16th century; it may be linked to the proverb ''the weakest go to the wall''.^(Cresswell 2021) The verb, “to enclose with a wall”, is from about 1250,^(Barnhart 1988) “to fill up with a wall” from about 1500, and “to shut up in a wall” from the 1520s.^(Etymonline) ''Wallflower'' was a plant growing on walls in 1578, and a person who sits by the wall at a dance from 1820.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Wallpaper'' is from 1827.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – a rampart, city wall.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1250 – verb, to enclose with a wall.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1330 – a sea wall.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1500 – to wall up.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1578 – ''wallflower'', the plant.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 16th century – ''go to the wall''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1820 – a wallflower at a dance.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1827 – ''wallpaper''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An upright structure of stone, brick or other material that encloses or divides an area or supports a roof.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A defensive [[rampart]] around a town or castle.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Something like a wall in appearance or effect: ''a wall of silence''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' The lining of a body cavity or organ.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To enclose, divide or protect with a wall.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ # To close an opening with a wall: ''wall up''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[wallless]]

+ * [[wall-like]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[interval]]

+ * [[wallflower]]

+ * [[wallpaper]]

+ * [[walled]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A Scots and American verb, “to roll the eyes”, is related to [[walleyed]].^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) An Old English verb weallan, “to boil, gush out”, related to the verb [[well]], survived as ''wall'' in dialect.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}