Dictionary

drop a brick en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (UK, idiomatic) To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned.
   • I remember dropping a brick when I first met her. As she at once started calling me 'Harry' in the way Americans are apt to do, the surname becoming immediately superfluous. I ventured to ask her what her Christian name was. ‘I'm not a Christian, Harry.’ 1998, Harry Brewster, A Cosmopolite's Journey: Episodes from a Life, page 216:
   • It was on one of those Tuesdays that I dropped a brick, the memory of which still haunts me after more than forty years. A very loquacious lady, whom I had never seen before, appeared to be talking through her nose. “Don't you think,” I said to one of my neighbours, by way of starting conversation, “that lady would be well advised to sound her trumpet less often?” “You bet I do! I've not been able to get used to it these thirty years.” And as I stared at him, horror-struck: “Yes. I'm her husband.” 1978, Ambroise Vollard, translated by Violet M. MacDonald, Recollections of a Picture Dealer, Dover Publications, published 2003, page 28:
2. (US, alt-of, alternative, idiomatic) Alternative form of drop a bombshell.
   alt of drop a bombshell
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, brick.
   • The clumsy builder dropped a brick on his toe.

Forms