wall

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A solid upright structure that forms a side of a room or building, or divides one space from another.

   They hung the painting on the living room wall.

2. 2
   noun

   A solid upright structure built outdoors to enclose or protect an area.

   A high stone wall surrounded the garden.

3. 3
   noun

   Something that acts like a wall by blocking or separating.

   A wall of water rushed down the valley.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Wall comes through Old English from Latin vallum “rampart,” derived from vallus “stake.” The history suggests that the earliest walls denoted by the word were defensive barriers around towns or camps.

Of various origins, principally from Old English wælisc etc. ("non-Germanic speaker, stranger") from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“foreigner, stranger”), the source of numerous other surnames such as Walsh and Wales and from Middle English wall, from Old English weall (“wall, dike, rampart”), from Proto-Germanic *wallaz or *wallą (“wall, rampart”), from Latin vallum (“wall, rampart, palisade”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Also from transcribed foreign surnames such as German Wahl and Swedish Wahlberg.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary