Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US prison) money used to bribe one’s way out of prison.

1960

(con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 17: Brick dough – money used for a bribe to obtain freedom.

(US) to walk the streets, esp. when in search of work.

1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 23: Soon as the club closes I’ll beat the night bricks.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 40: To enter on the street and to walk on the sidewalk, especially when looking for something to do, in the logic of slang, is to hit, to pad, to pound, or to beat the bricks, the pavement, or sometimes the macadam.

1. to exit, to leave for the street, to start walking.

1904		Phila. Inquirer 22 May part II 3/5–6: I don’t want any excuses. Next time this happens you hit the bricks for yours – that’s the answer.
1922		Wash. Times (DC) 1 Oct. 46/6: When I see the bill [...] I hit the bricks.
1961		Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia 62: I hit the bricks soon afterwards, and headed back to Frisco.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 44: Come on, goddamnit, let’s hit the bricks.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 50: Schultz even let the Weasel rub his crewcut for luck before hitting the bricks.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 17: Then they grabbed their dog-eared Bibles [...] and hit the bricks.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 101: Hitting the bricks without even cleaning up his desk.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 228: Once somebody takes a shine to you, I’m hittin the bricks, get me?
2017		S.M. Jones August Snow [ebook] ‘Just remember: cash be kang. All other suckas can hit the bricks with they dicks in they fists’.
2021		P Howard Braywatch 209: I have to get used to looking people in the eye and telling them to hit the focking bricks.

2. to be discharged from a prison sentence.

1931		G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 439: hit the bricks, to. To be released from prison.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 10: Well, what would it be worth to you to ‘hit the bricks?’ (be turned loose).
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 581: In virtually all American prisons [...] To be released is to spring or to hit the bricks.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 34/2: Bricks, the, n. The free world outside prison. ‘That ghee found a home (fits admirably) in stir (prison). He’ll be out trying to get himself a new bit (another sentence) as soon as he hits the bricks.’.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 93: Training to steal more efficiently once they hit the bricks again.
1968		G. Cuomo Among Thieves 62: When you hit the bricks, you know, you gotta work, you gotta find a job.
1971		T. Thackrey Thief 421: Finally, I hit the bricks again.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 206: hit the bricks, v. – to return to the free-world.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 52: You hit the bricks shaky, very shaky.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 40: To hit the bricks, one of the more enduring variations, has had several meanings. The phrase has meant to [...] be released from prison, to go on strike, and to walk the streets all night because of homelessness.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Hit the Bricks: To be released to the streets. (MI).

3. to go on strike.

1947		R.O. Boyer Dark Ship 153: Old-timers are constantly talking about ‘hitting the bricks’ and ‘pulling the pin’ and ‘sitting her down,’ expressions indicating strikes.
1949		Phila. Bulletin 3 Sept. 6: It is obvious that any union always hitting the bricks and calling showdowns cannot get what it asks for at the end of the year [W&F].
1993		see sense 2.

4. to be homeless, walking the streets at night.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1993		see sense 2.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.

1. energetically, noisily (cf. like beans and bricks under beans n.³ ).

1837		‘Bill Hart and Kitty Miles’ in Icky-Wickey Songster 21: He cocked his tail, and vos off like bricks.
1844		T. Hood ‘Masonic Secret’ Works (1862) VII 19: Pitch into him, like bricks.
1850		F.E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh (1878) 147: Don’t stand there winking and blinking like an owl; pull away like bricks, or I’ll break your neck for you. [Ibid.] 411: He’s upstairs, sir; in his room, sir; a-going it like bricks, if you please, sir; you can hear him down here.
1854		T. Buckley Sydenham Greenfinch 68: [H]e made up his mind to ‘read like bricks’ and astonish the envious eyes of Oxford.

2. unreservedly.

1838

‘Paul Pry’ Oddities of London Life I 37: ‘Vot I’ve said is true, an’ I’ll stick to it like bricks’.

3. in the best possible manner.

1862

E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 313/1: like bricks, expression admirative. I have dined like bricks, j’ai dîné à merveille. He sings like bricks, il chante comme un rossignol. He does every thing like bricks, il excelle dans tout ce qu’il fait.

1. (US) on the street after being released from prison or hospital.

1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 200: My mouthpiece talked like three men at once, and got me bail at five grand, and I was out on the bricks again.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1944		C. Himes ‘Money Don’t Spend in the Stir’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 194: He can put you on the bricks just like that.
1957		J. Blake letter 15 July in Joint (1972) 103: Too tough for you on the bricks, old partner?
1962		J. Blake letter 24 July in Joint (1972) 186: This particular maneuver will wind itself up this week, then I’m on the bricks.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 199: bricks, n. – the outside or free world: to be on the bricks.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 44: His most compelling reason for staying on the bricks.
1993		K. Scott Monster (1994) 214: Somebody got killed on the bricks?
1994		Rebennack & Rummel Under A Hoodoo Moon 1: U.S. Public Health Hospital, Fort Worth [...] In the bat of an eye, I’m out on the bricks of the fonky streets of Fort Worth.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Bricks: The outside, on the outside, as in ‘on the bricks.’.
2006		Prison Slang Mommyblogger mydogharriet.blogspot.com 26 Sept. 🌐 If she makes jackrabbit parole and gets on the bricks again, calmly place her back in her crib.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘Maybe on the bricks I want to be clean’.

2. (drugs) walking the streets searching for drugs.

1967		H.S. Thompson letter 5 Jan. in Proud Highway (1997) 603: The article naturally bombed, and Lionel was back on the bricks where he’d spent the last half of his forty-odd years.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 16: On the bricks — Walking the streets.

3. working as a street prostitute.

1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 230: ‘She works Lower Sunset now.’ [...] ‘Lower Sunset,’ Tom Spellacy said. ‘On the bricks?’.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 20: Before you know what’s happenin they got you out on the bricks.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 40: To be on the pavement, on the sidewalks, or on the street meant to hustle, especially as a prostitute.

1. to stand around in the street, loafing and gossiping.

1960		Taunton Courier 23 July 3/6: American slang [...] ‘In the pinochle season we press the bricks, tapped out, ready for Freddie’.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 40: Merely to press the bricks, however, is to stand loafing in the streets.

2. to walk the streets in search of work.

1949

Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 182: press brick (v) To wander about town.

see under sweat v.²

(US black) to the limit, to the furthest extent.

1938		Eliason ‘Some Negro Terms’ in AS XIII:2 152/1: on down to the bricks. As excellently as possible.
1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 22 May 11: Foxy chicks all togged to the bricks.
1961		R. Russell Sound 218: All the studs in fancy duds and foxy chicks togged to the bricks is gonna be there.

1. to wander around; to walk up and down.

1957		Utility Workers Union of America Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention 195: [...] any section of labor which has to get out and walk the bricks to fight for those things we are seeking.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 110: You open your face about this [...] you’ll be walking the bricks out of 77th Street.

2. (US police) to patrol on foot.

1989

J. Morton Lowspeak.