/bɹɑːs/, /bɹas/, /bɹas/
OriginFrom 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.
- countable, uncountable, usuallyA memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten: a monumental brass.
- countable, uncountable, usuallyFittings, utensils, or other items made of brass.
- uncountable, usuallyA class of wind instruments, usually made of metal (such as brass), that use vibrations of the player's lips to produce sound; a band or the section of an orchestra that features such instruments.
“A few measures later, the brass comes in strong!”
- uncountable, usuallySpent cartridge casings (usually made of brass): the part of the cartridge left over after bullets or shells have been fired.
- uncountable, usuallyThe color of brass.
- metonymically, uncountable, usuallyHigh-ranking officers: the brass hats.
“The brass are not going to like this.”
“The brass is not going to like this.”
“I don't want to keep the brass waiting, Chief.”
- informal, uncountable, usuallyA brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.
“You've got a lot of brass telling me to do that!”
- dated, slang, uncountable, usuallyMoney.
- uncountable, usuallyInferior composition.
- countable, slang, usuallyA prostitute.
“Richard didn't want the man on the corner to go up and fuck one of the brasses.”
- historical, obsoleteSynonym 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.
- Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
- Of the color of brass.
- informalImpertinent, bold: brazen.
“At the Council board, I hope to charge him with that he cannot answer, and yet I know his face is brass enough.”
“[...] 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."”
“It was a show of very large and very brass cojones, [...]”
- slangBad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.
“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.”
“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 bra”
“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”
- Of inferior composition.
“As Honest Plush Brannon then, Mr. Beery is one of San Francisco's fancier con men and hence more brass than plush”
- slangBrass monkey; cold.
- transitiveTo coat with brass.
Formsbrasses(plural) · more brass(comparative) · most brass(superlative) · brasses(present, singular, third-person) · brassing(participle, present) · brassed(participle, past) · brassed(past)