271. Muur

wall [noun] [de muur, de muren] [‘muur‘]

Examples:
– "Kun je twee beroemde muren noemen? – Maar natuurlijk: de Berlijnse Muur en de Chinese Muur!"
("Can you name two famous walls? – But of course: the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China!")

– "Ik word gek hier op kantoor…de muren komen op me af…"
("I’m going crazy here at the office…the walls are closing in on me…")

– "Het voorstel van de regering stuitte op een muur van totaal onbegrip."
("The government’s proposal met a wall of complete incomprehension.")

Expressions:
– "De muren hebben hier oren": the walls have ears here.
– "Over de muur gooien": literally "to throw over the wall" this is office jargon for writing a report, delivering it to your customer and either never hearing something about it again, or not caring about it anymore yourself 🙂
– "Een blinde muur": literally "a blind wall", this is used for the "wall view" you might have out of your hotel window…
– "Tegen de muur zetten": literally "to put against the wall", this is an informal expression for executing somebody.

Febo
"Iets uit de muur eten": to eat (a snack) from a vending machine (literally "out of the wall"). You will also hear "iets uit de muur trekken": to pull something out of the wall. This is seen as typically Dutch but we are not sure everybody is as comfortable eating a snack that might have been on display all day long 🙂 Try it yourself at train stations or the Febo.

Example:
– "Ik heb honger, ik trek even een snack uit de muur…"
("I’m hungry…let me get a snack from the vending machine…" Lit. : "…I’ll quickly pull a snack from the wall…")

Related words:
– "Muurtje": the diminutive is often used in the game of football/soccer to indicate a wall of players formed to block a free kick.
– "Wand": wall, side.
– "Baksteen": brick.