drop a brick
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to say something embarrassing or tactless
Literally: release a brick
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I do hope I shan't drop any bricks in Overclyst, and disgrace you for life. '
‘ He didn't realize he'd dropped a brick when he admitted that he knew where we were going.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “drop a brick” mean?
to say something embarrassing or tactless Literally: release a brick
Is “drop a brick” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.