The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - brick n.

1) block, cube, chunk, hunk, slab; stone: I bought a brick of ice-cream to serve for pudding. A university is not just bricks and mortar. 2) pal, comrade, friend, Colloq chum, US and Canadian buddy: You're a real brick to watch the children for me till I get back.