brass
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɹɑːs/
- (Northern England, Scotland) IPA(key): /bɹas/
- (General American) IPA(key): /bɹæs/
- Rhymes: -ɑːs, -æs
Audio (US): (file)
Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English bras, bres, from Old English bræs (“brass, bronze”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps representing a backformation from Proto-Germanic *brasnaz (“brazen”), from or related to *brasō (“fire, pyre”). Compare Old Norse and Icelandic bras (“solder”), Icelandic brasa (“to harden in the fire”), Swedish brasa (“a small controlled fire”), Danish brase (“to fry”); French braser ("to solder"; > English braise) from the same Germanic root. Compare also Middle Dutch braspenninc ("a silver coin", literally, "silver-penny"; > Dutch braspenning), Old Frisian bress (“copper”), Middle Low German bras (“metal, ore”).
In the military sense an ellipsis of the brass hats.
Noun
[edit]brass (usually uncountable, plural brasses)
- (countable, uncountable) A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
- Coordinate term: bronze
- A memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten
- Fittings, utensils, or other items made of brass
- (music) A class of wind instruments, usually made of metal (such as brass), that use vibrations of the player's lips to produce sound; the section of an orchestra that features such instruments
- Spent shell casings (usually made of brass); the part of the cartridge left over after bullets have been fired.
- (uncountable) The colour of brass.
- brass:
- (military, business or other organizations, uncountable, used as a singular or plural noun, metonymically) High-ranking officers.
- 2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Avery Johnson (David Scully), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: The Armory:
- I don't want to keep the brass waiting, Chief.
- The brass are not going to like this.
- The brass is not going to like this.
- (uncountable, informal) A brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.
- Synonym: bronze
- You've got a lot of brass telling me to do that!
- (slang, dated) Money.
- Inferior composition.
Derived terms
[edit]- admiralty brass
- alpha brass
- antique brass
- beta brass
- bold as brass
- bow-legged wi' brass
- brass ankle
- Brass Ankles
- brass-balled
- brass balls
- brass band
- brassboard
- brassbound
- brass ceiling
- brass choir
- brass-collar Democrat
- brassed off
- brassen
- brass farthing
- brassfounder
- brassfounding
- brass hat
- brassie
- brass in pocket
- brass instrument
- brass instrumentalist
- brassish
- brass it out
- brass-knuckled
- brass knuckles
- brass leaf
- brasslike
- brass monkey
- brass monkeys
- brass nail
- brass-neck
- brass neck
- brass-necked
- brass ovaries
- brass pounder
- brass rat
- brass razoo
- brass ring
- brass rubbing
- brass section
- brass tacks
- brassware
- brasswind
- brasswork
- brassworker
- brassworking
- brassworks
- brassy
- calamine brass
- coal brass
- cold as a witch's tit in a brass bra
- cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
- Corinthian brass
- double in brass
- firebrass
- get down to brass tacks
- high brass
- horse brass
- nonbrass
- not have a brass farthing
- not worth a brass farthing
- part brass rags
- police one's brass
- red brass
- rub one's face with a brass candlestick
- top-brass
- top brass
- where there's muck there's brass
- white brass
- with brass knobs on
Translations
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References
[edit]- “brass”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “brass, noun.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “brass n.1”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
Adjective
[edit]brass (comparative more brass, superlative most brass)
- Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
- Of the colour of brass.
- (informal) Impertinent, bold: brazen.
- 1869, John Bruce, editor, Calendar of State Papers, domestic series, of the reign of Charles I, 1637-1638, page 147:
- At the Council board, I hope to charge him with that he cannot answer, and yet I know his face is brass enough.
- 1872, Elsie Leigh Whittlesey, Helen Ethinger: or, Not Exactly Right, page 154:
- [...] he continued in the same insulting strain. "If you were not quite brass, you would know it is not proper to be making promises you dare not tell of."
- 2011, Paul Christopher, The Templar Conspiracy:
- It was a show of very large and very brass cojones, [...]
- 1996 May 24, 2:00 am, Sherman Simpson, Want license key for AGENT FOR WINDOWS95, alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent:
- Maybe (probably so), but it's rare someone is brass enough to post a msg for all to see asking for a software key, that the vast majority have paid for in support of the development effort.
- 2000 Aug 18, 2:00 am, David Ryan, strangest bid retraction /illegal lottery NOT, rec.collecting.coins:
- After cornering the dutch auction, the seller was brass enough to send him the whole lot without one.
- 2000 Aug 19, 3:00 am, n4mwd, for RMB, alt.support.anxiety-panic:
- Try to keep in mind that not all of his converts are brass enough to challenge the benzo pushers in this group, [...]
- (slang) Bad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.
- 1888, Mr. & Mrs. Bancroft on and off the stage: written by themselves, volume 1, page 90:
- Grindoff, the miller, 'and the leader of a very brass band of most unpopular performers, with a thorough base accompaniment of at least fifty vices,' was played by Miss Saunders.
- 1900 November 3, “The Training of Seamen”, in The Saturday Review, volume 90, number 2349, page 556:
- I must confess that to me there is something almost pathetic in the sight of a body of bluejackets improving their muscles on the quarter deck by bar-bell exercise, accompanied by a brass — a very brass — band, [...]
- 1908, The Smith Family, published in Punch, March 4 1908, bound in Punch vol. CXXXIV, page 168:
- Mr. REGINALD SMITH, KC, the publisher, followed, but he had hardly begun his very interesting remarks when a procession headed by a very brass band entered Smithfield from the west, and approached the platform.
- 1937, Blair Niles, A journey in time: Peruvian pageant, page 166:
- There are soldiers, policemen, priests and friars, as well as a motley mass of women, children, babies and dogs, and upon special occasions a very brass band.
- 1929, Philippine Magazine, volume 6, page 27:
- The padre in my neighborhood — Santa Ana — was having some kind of a fiesta, and had hired a very brass band. This band kept up its martial airs for hours and hours after I got home, with grand finales — or what each time I hoped would be the grand finale, every five minutes.
- Of inferior composition.
- 1939, The New York times film reviews, volume 3:
- As Honest Plush Brannon then, Mr. Beery is one of San Francisco's fancier con men and hence more brass than plush
Translations
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Verb
[edit]brass (third-person singular simple present brasses, present participle brassing, simple past and past participle brassed)
- (transitive) To coat with brass.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Related terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]By ellipsis from brass nail, in turn from "nail[ing]" (fig.) and "brass blonde" (see "brazen"); and also shortened from Cockney Rhyming slang brass flute for "prostitute".
Noun
[edit]brass (usually uncountable, plural brasses)
- (countable, slang) A prostitute.
- 1996, Will Self, The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, Bloomsbury, published 2011, page 2:
- Richard didn't want the man on the corner to go up and fuck one of the brasses.
Translations
[edit]Adjective
[edit]brass
- (slang) Brass monkey; cold.
See also
[edit]- althorn
- chalcography
- cornet
- euphonium
- flugelhorn
- French horn
- mellophone
- Muntz metal
- saxhorn
- sousaphone
- trombone
- trumpet
- tuba
- Appendix:Colors
Etymology 3
[edit]From Portuguese braça and Spanish braza, from Old Galician-Portuguese and Old Spanish braça, from Latin brachia, variant of bracchium (“arm, cubit”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).
Noun
[edit]brass (plural brasses)
- (historical, obsolete) Synonym of brace, a traditional unit of measure equivalent to a fathom (6 feet) or about 1.6 m, especially as the Spanish braza and Portuguese braça, also French brasse.
References
[edit]- David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Brass”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
- “brass”, in Mindat.org[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.
Icelandic
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]brass n (genitive singular brass, no plural)
Declension
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Noun
[edit]brass
- Alternative form of bras
Swedish
[edit]Noun
[edit]brass n
- (colloquial) a brass section (in a jazz orchestra)
- (colloquial) hashish (processed form of cannabis)
- Synonym: hasch
Declension
[edit]Declension of brass | ||||
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Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | brass | brasset | — | — |
Genitive | brass | brassets | — | — |
References
[edit]- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɑːs
- Rhymes:English/ɑːs/1 syllable
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- Rhymes:English/æs/1 syllable
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- en:Copper
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