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Antonyms for walls

Grammar : Noun
Spell : wawl
Phonetic Transcription : wɔl

Definition of walls

Origin :
  • Old English weall "rampart" (natural as well as man-made), also "defensive fortification around a city, side of a building, interior partition," an Anglo-Frisian and Saxon borrowing (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wal) from Latin vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes," apparently a collective form of vallus "stake." Swedish vall, Danish val are from Low German.
  • In this case, English uses one word where many languages have two, e.g. German Mauer "outer wall of a town, fortress, etc.," used also in reference to the former Berlin Wall, and wand "partition wall within a building" (cf. the distinction, not always rigorously kept, in Italian muro/parete, Irish mur/fraig, Lithuanian muras/siena, etc.).
  • Phrase up the wall "angry, crazy" is from 1951; off the wall "unorthodox, unconventional" is recorded from 1966, American English student slang. Wall-to-wall (adj.) recorded 1953, of carpeting; metaphoric use (usually disparaging) is from 1967.
  • noun obstruction, divider
Example sentences :
  • Atropos has decreed that I at least shall never again enter her walls.
  • Extract from : « Philothea » by Lydia Maria Child
  • The walls are hung with blue Florentine silk, embossed in silver.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • The walls were done in white with a faint blue and silver stripe.
  • Extract from : « Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus » by Jessie Graham Flower
  • Tulips are opening their variegated cups, and daffodils line the walls.
  • Extract from : « The Conquest of Fear » by Basil King
  • It is now a mere platform, with the walls running up on two sides only.
  • Extract from : « Yorkshire Painted And Described » by Gordon Home
  • The gates stand open, and there are three thousand of them within the walls.
  • Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • On the walls were hung some pieces of tapestry, where there were not bookcases.
  • Extract from : « Within the Law » by Marvin Dana
  • Others, in despair, flung themselves from the walls, and for the most part perished.
  • Extract from : « Stories from Thucydides » by H. L. Havell
  • They caught the Indian carriers, who were just easing their loads under the walls.
  • Extract from : « The Trail Book » by Mary Austin
  • In every direction the view is restricted or terminated by walls of rock.
  • Extract from : « The Story of the Malakand Field Force » by Sir Winston S. Churchill

Synonyms for walls

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019