brick

n.

1. A piece of equipment that has been programmed or configured into a hung, wedged,unusable state. Especially used to describe what happens to devices like routers or PDAs that run from firmware when the firmware image is damaged or its settings are somehow patched to impossible values. This term usually implies irreversibility, but equipment can sometimes be unbricked by performing a hard reset or some other drastic operation. Sometimes verbed: “Yeah, I bricked the router because I forgot about adding in the new access-list. “.

2. An outboard power transformer of the kind associated with laptops, modems, routers and other small computing appliances, especially one of the modern type with cords on both ends, as opposed to the older and obnoxious type that plug directly into wall or barrier strip.