drive up the wall - definition of drive up the wall by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

wall (wôl)

1. An upright structure of masonry, wood, plaster, or other building material serving to enclose, divide, or protect an area, especially a vertical construction forming an inner partition or exterior siding of a building.

2. A continuous structure of masonry or other material forming a rampart and built for defensive purposes. Often used in the plural.

3. A structure of stonework, cement, or other material built to retain a flow of water.

a. Something resembling a wall in appearance, function, or construction, as the exterior surface of a body organ or part: the abdominal wall.

b. Something resembling a wall in impenetrability or strength: a wall of silence; a wall of fog.

c. An extreme or desperate condition or position, such as defeat or ruin: driven to the wall by poverty.

5. Sports The vertical surface of an ocean wave in surfing.

tr.v. walled, wall·ing, walls

1. To enclose, surround, or fortify with or as if with a wall: wall up an old window. See Synonyms at enclose.

2. To divide or separate with or as if with a wall. Often used with off: wall off half a room.

3. To confine or seal behind a wall; immure: "I determined to wall [the body] up in the cellar" Edgar Allan Poe.

4. To block or close (an opening or passage, for example) with or as if with a wall.

Idioms:

off the wall Slang

1. Extremely unconventional.

2. Without foundation; ridiculous: an accusation that is really off the wall.

up the wall Slang

Into a state of extreme frustration, anger, or distress: tensions that are driving me up the wall.

writing/handwriting on the wall

An ominous indication of the course of future events: saw the writing on the wall and fled the country.

[Middle English, from Old English weall, from Latin vallum, palisade, from vallus, stake.]

wallless adj.

wall

Noun

1. a vertical structure made of stone, brick, or wood, with a length and height much greater than its thickness, used to enclose, divide, or support Related adjective mural

2. anything that suggests a wall in function or effect: a wall of elm trees, a wall of suspicion

3. Anat any lining or membrane that encloses a bodily cavity or structure: cell walls

4. drive someone up the wall Slang to make someone angry or irritated

5. go to the wall Informal to be financially ruined

6. have one's back to the wall Informal to be in a very difficult situation, with no obvious way out of it

Verb

1. to surround or enclose (an area) with a wall

2. wall in or up to enclose (someone or something) completely in a room or place [Old English weall]

walled adj

Wall something that represents a wall in appearance.

Examples: black wall of forest, 1859; wall of fog, 1903; of rock, 1860; of snow, 1697; of soldiers, 1797; of water, 1859.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	wall - an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure; "the south wall had a small window"; "the walls were covered with pictures" archway, arch - a passageway under a curved masonry construction; "they built a triumphal arch to memorialize their victory" attic - (architecture) a low wall at the top of the entablature; hides the roof bearing wall - any wall supporting a floor or the roof of a building building, edifice - a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place; "there was a three-story building on the corner"; "it was an imposing edifice" coping stone, capstone, copestone, stretcher - a stone that forms the top of wall or building cavity wall - a wall formed of two thicknesses of masonry with a space between them chimney breast - walls that project out from the wall of a room and surround the chimney base row, course - (construction) a layer of masonry; "a course of bricks" doorway, room access, door, threshold - the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close; "he stuck his head in the doorway" firewall - a fireproof (or fire-resistant) wall designed to prevent the spread of fire through a building or a vehicle gable, gable end, gable wall - the vertical triangular wall between the sloping ends of gable roof hall, hallway - an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open; "the elevators were at the end of the hall" cope, coping, header - brick that is laid sideways at the top of a wall paneling, panelling, pane - a panel or section of panels in a wall or door parapet - a low wall along the edge of a roof or balcony partition, divider - a vertical structure that divides or separates (as a wall divides one room from another) pier - (architecture) a vertical supporting structure (as a portion of wall between two doors or windows) proscenium wall, proscenium - the wall that separates the stage from the auditorium in a modern theater room - an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling; "the rooms were very small but they had a nice view" sidewall - a wall that forms the side of a structure dado, wainscot - panel forming the lower part of an interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest of the wall wainscoting, wainscotting - a wainscoted wall (or wainscoted walls collectively) wall panel - paneling that forms part of a wall
	2.	wall - anything that suggests a wall in structure or function or effect; "a wall of water"; "a wall of smoke"; "a wall of prejudice"; "negotiations ran into a brick wall" object, physical object - a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow; "it was full of rackets, balls and other objects" footwall - the lower wall of an inclined fault hanging wall - the upper wall of an inclined fault
	3.	wall - (anatomy) a layer (a lining or membrane) that encloses a structure; "stomach walls" paries abdominal wall - a wall of the abdomen anatomy, general anatomy - the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals stratum - one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock)
	4.	wall - a difficult or awkward situation; "his back was to the wall"; "competition was pushing them to the wall" difficulty - a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome; "grappling with financial difficulties"
	5.	wall - a vertical (or almost vertical) smooth rock face (as of a cave or mountain) cave - a geological formation consisting of an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea geological formation, formation - (geology) the geological features of the earth
	6.	wall - a layer of material that encloses space; "the walls of the cylinder were perforated"; "the container's walls were blue" layer, bed - single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance; "slices of hard-boiled egg on a bed of spinach"
	7.	wall - a masonry fence (as around an estate or garden); "the wall followed the road"; "he ducked behind the garden wall and waited" fence, fencing - a barrier that serves to enclose an area party wall - a wall erected on the line between two properties and shared by both owners retaining wall - a wall that is built to resist lateral pressure (especially a wall built to prevent the advance of a mass of earth)
	8.	wall - an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes; "they stormed the ramparts of the city"; "they blew the trumpet and the walls came tumbling down" bulwark, rampart bailey - the outer defensive wall that surrounds the outer courtyard of a castle battlement, crenelation, crenellation - a rampart built around the top of a castle with regular gaps for firing arrows or guns earthwork - an earthen rampart embankment - a long artificial mound of stone or earth; built to hold back water or to support a road or as protection fortification, munition - defensive structure consisting of walls or mounds built around a stronghold to strengthen it fraise - sloping or horizontal rampart of pointed stakes merlon - a solid section between two crenels in a crenelated battlement
Verb	1.	wall - surround with a wall in order to fortify palisade, fence in, fence, surround protect - shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage; "Weatherbeater protects your roof from the rain" stockade - surround with a stockade in order to fortify circumvallate - surround with or as if with a rampart or other fortification wall in, wall up - enclose with a wall wall in, wall up - enclose with a wall

wall

noun 1. partition, divider, room divider, screen, panel, barrier, enclosure

noun 2. barricade, rampart, fortification, bulwark, blockade, embankment, parapet, palisade, stockade, breastwork

noun 3. barrier, obstacle, barricade, obstruction, check, bar, block, fence, impediment, hindrance drive someone up the wall (Informal) infuriate, madden, exasperate, get on your nerves (informal) anger, provoke, annoy, irritate, aggravate (informal) incense, enrage, gall, rile, drive you crazy (informal) nark Brit., Austral., N.Z. (slang) be like a red rag to a bull, make your blood boil, get your goat (slang) drive you insane, make your hackles rise, raise your hackles, send off your head (slang) get your back up, make you see red (informal) put your back up, hack you off (informal) go to the wall (Informal) fail, close down, go under, go out of business, fall, crash, collapse, fold (informal) be ruined, go bust (informal) go bankrupt, go broke (informal) go into receivership, become insolvent >> adjective mural

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