Bat: A piece of brick

Brick: A solid masonry unit of clay or shale, formed into a rectangular prism while plastic and burned or fired in a kiln.

Clay: A natural, mineral aggregate consisting essentially hydrous aluminium silicate; it is plastic when sufficiently wetted, rigid when dried and vitrified when fired to a sufficiently high temperature.

Clinker Brick: A very hard-burned brick whose shape is distorted or bloated due to nearly complete vitrification.

Face:1. The exposed surface of a wall or masonry unit. 2. The surface of a unit designed to be exposed in the finished masonry.

Facing:Any material forming a part of a wall, used as a finished surface.

Facing Brick: Brick made especially for facing purposes, often treated to produce surface texture. They are made of selected clays, or treated, to produce desired colour.

Fired Brick: Brick made of refactory ceramic material which will resist high temperatures.

Fire Clay:A clay which is highly resistant to heat without deforming and used for making brick.

Frog:A depression in the bed surface of a brick. Sometimes called a panel.

Kiln:A furnace oven or heated enclosure used for burning or firing bricks or other clay material.

Shale:Clay which has been subjected to high pressures until it has hardened.

Vitrification: The condition resulting when kiln temperatures are sufficient to fuse grains and close pores of a clay product making the mass impervious.

(Technical Notes on Brick Construction: Glossary of Terms Relating to Brick Masonry- Jan/Feb 1975 The Brick Industry Association)

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