wall

{{11}}wall (n.) O.E. 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. O.S., O.Fris., M.L.G., M.Du. wal) from L. vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes," apparently a collective form of vallus "stake." Swed. vall, Dan. val are from Low German. In this case, English uses one word where many languages have two, e.g. Ger. 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 It. muro/parete, Ir. mur/fraig, Lith. muras/siena, etc.). Phrase up the wall "angry, crazy" is from 1951; off the wall "unorthodox, unconventional" is recorded from 1966, Amer.Eng. student slang. Wall-to-wall (adj.) recorded 1953, of carpeting; metaphoric use (usually disparaging) is from 1967.

{{12}}wall (v.) "to enclose in a wall," late O.E. *weallian, from the source of WALL (Cf. wall) (n.). Related: Walled; walling.