"drop a brick" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "drops a brick",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropping a brick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a brick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a brick",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
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      "expansion": "drop a brick (third-person singular simple present drops a brick, present participle dropping a brick, simple past and past participle dropped a brick)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "64 25 11",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bricks",
          "orig": "en:Bricks",
          "parents": [
            "Building materials",
            "Construction",
            "Materials",
            "Architecture",
            "Engineering",
            "Manufacturing",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Art",
            "Technology",
            "Human activity",
            "Sciences",
            "Culture",
            "All topics",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Society",
            "Fundamental",
            "Human"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1978, Ambroise Vollard, translated by Violet M. MacDonald, Recollections of a Picture Dealer, Dover Publications, published 2003, page 28",
          "text": "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?”\n“You bet I do! I've not been able to get used to it these thirty years.”\nAnd as I stared at him, horror-struck:\n“Yes. I'm her husband.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Harry Brewster, A Cosmopolite's Journey: Episodes from a Life, page 216",
          "text": "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.\n‘I'm not a Christian, Harry.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned."
      ],
      "id": "en-drop_a_brick-en-verb-VTr9OPuW",
      "links": [
        [
          "faux pas",
          "faux pas"
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          "speech"
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        [
          "tactlessly",
          "tactlessly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, idiomatic) To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "drop a bombshell"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of drop a bombshell"
      ],
      "id": "en-drop_a_brick-en-verb-DSheHmGY",
      "links": [
        [
          "drop a bombshell",
          "drop a bombshell#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, idiomatic) Alternative form of drop a bombshell"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The clumsy builder dropped a brick on his toe."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, brick."
      ],
      "id": "en-drop_a_brick-en-verb-tYrhMnAs",
      "links": [
        [
          "drop",
          "drop#English"
        ],
        [
          "brick",
          "brick#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-drop a brick.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f0/En-au-drop_a_brick.ogg/En-au-drop_a_brick.ogg.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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  "word": "drop a brick"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "en:Bricks"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "drops a brick",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropping a brick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a brick",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dropped a brick",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "drop a brick (third-person singular simple present drops a brick, present participle dropping a brick, simple past and past participle dropped a brick)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1978, Ambroise Vollard, translated by Violet M. MacDonald, Recollections of a Picture Dealer, Dover Publications, published 2003, page 28",
          "text": "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?”\n“You bet I do! I've not been able to get used to it these thirty years.”\nAnd as I stared at him, horror-struck:\n“Yes. I'm her husband.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Harry Brewster, A Cosmopolite's Journey: Episodes from a Life, page 216",
          "text": "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.\n‘I'm not a Christian, Harry.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "faux pas",
          "faux pas"
        ],
        [
          "speech",
          "speech"
        ],
        [
          "tactlessly",
          "tactlessly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, idiomatic) To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "drop a bombshell"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of drop a bombshell"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "drop a bombshell",
          "drop a bombshell#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, idiomatic) Alternative form of drop a bombshell"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The clumsy builder dropped a brick on his toe."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, brick."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "drop",
          "drop#English"
        ],
        [
          "brick",
          "brick#English"
        ]
      ]
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}