To be drunk.

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1848.  

        And once again I saw that brow—no neat ‘Legay’ was there,
But a ‘shocking bad ’un’ was his hat, and matted was his hair.
He wore a ‘brick’ within that hat—the charge was all complete—
And he was flanked by constables who marched him up the street.
Durivage and Burnham, ‘Stray Subjects, He Wore a Flashy Waistcoat,’ p. 61 (Phila.).    

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1850.  We stumbled over a couple of prostrate animals, lying upon the crossing, with a heavy ‘brick in the hat.’—Yale Lit. Mag., xv. 210 (March).

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1854.  A seedy-looking old negro, with a ‘brick’ in his old white hat, and a ‘weed’ round it, staggering along the street the other day, attracted the attention of some youngsters, who immediately commenced imitating his walk; calling out ‘Uncle Tom,’ and other opprobrious epithets.—Knick. Mag., xliv. 210 (Aug.).

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1855.  The Perfect Bird carries a brick in his hat and a stone in his boot.—S. A. Hammett (‘Philip Paxton’), ‘Captain Priest,’ p. 319.

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1857.  [Lines on Travel], written by H. P. L. on the top of a hat, with a brick in it.—Id., xlix. 129 (Feb.).

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1863.  On one occasion I was so unlucky as to get a brick side my head, though some say it was in my hat.—‘Southern Hist. Soc. Papers,’ xii. 215 (1884).

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