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brickbat

[ brik-bat ]

/ ˈbrɪkˌbæt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR brickbat ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a piece of broken brick, especially one used as a missile.

any rocklike missile.

an unkind or unfavorable remark; caustic criticism: The critics greeted the play with brickbats.

Origin of brickbat

First recorded in 1555–65; brick + bat¹

Words nearby brickbat

brick, brick cheese, brick red, brick veneer, brick-and-mortar, brickbat, brickearth, bricker operation, brickfield, brickie, bricking

Example sentences from the Web for brickbat

It was a brickbat “Plug Ugly” fight—the result of animal, and not intellectual or patriotic instincts.

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital |John Beauchamp Jones
Directly afterwards a brickbat flew past my head, aimed, no doubt, at the more prominent figure of the lieutenant.

Paddy Finn |W. H. G. Kingston
There isn't a mineral in Louisiana, unless it is a brickbat.

Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty |J. W. de Forest
Real Christmas weather—that is to say, the earth is as hard as a brickbat, and the wind freezes one to the very marrow.

Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris |Henry Labouchre

And then praise and dispraise became equal unto him; and a brickbat, stone, and gold assumed the same aspect in his eyes.

The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 |Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

British Dictionary definitions for brickbat

brickbat

/ (ˈbrɪkˌbæt) /

noun

a piece of brick or similar material, esp one used as a weapon

blunt criticism the critic threw several brickbats at the singer