brazen
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: brāzʹn
ipa: /ˈbɹeɪzən/
rhymes: -eɪzən
Forms: form: more brazen
form: brazener
form: most brazen
form: brazenest
form: brasen
Etymology: From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass + -en (compare golden, wooden, etc.).
The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550s (perhaps evoking the sense “face like brass, unmoving and not showing shame”), and the adjective sense “impudent” from the 1570s. Compare brass neck, bold as brass.
Senses: examples: text: Brazen or rather copper swords seem to have been next introduced; these in process of time, workmen learned to harden by the addition of some other metal or mineral, which rendered them almost equal in temper to iron.
ref: 1786, Francis Grose, Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, London: Printed for S. Hooper […], OCLC 745209064; republished as Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, volume II, new [2nd] edition with material additions and improvements, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […]; & G. Kearsley, […], 1801, OCLC 435979550, page 262
text: And Moses made a brass image of the fiery serpents, and put it up on a pole, where all the people could see it; and when any one was bitten, he could look upon the brazen serpent, and was cured.
ref: 1836, [Harvey Newcomb], The Brazen Serpent: Being a Simple Illustration of Faith Drawn from Scripture History. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: American Sunday-School Union, […], →OCLC, pages 40–41:
glosses: Made of brass.
examples: text: The women, stout, strong, brazen-faced creatures, in most cases looked able to thrash any of the partners with whom they consorted.
ref: 1859 May 2, X. X. X. [pseudonym], “Looking at Lodgings”, in The Ragged School Union Magazine, volume IX, London: Ragged School Union, […]; Partridge & Co., […], →OCLC, page 91:
text: The vegetation was similar to that which covers the lawns of the red Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and birds were unlike anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and then through the further trees I could see that most un-Martian of all sights—an open sea, its blue waters shimmering beneath the brazen sun.
ref: 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “The Plant Men”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC, page 3:
text: Through the brazen hours that followed high noon, we crept onwards through a tunnel of glittering verdure.
ref: 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:
glosses: Brass-like in appearance or character; bright, ruddy, hard.
examples: text: And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouze the sleepy War. / The Souldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heav'n, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds.
ref: 1697, Virgil; John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 839376905; republished as The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden. In Three Volumes, volume III, 5th edition, London: Printed by Jacob Tonson […], 1721, OCLC 181805247, book IX, page 822, lines 667–670
text: Often a traveller, when the air is quiet, / Will make the night reverberate with this riot / Of brazen sounds, whose singing cadence swells / The harmony of bleating and lambs' bells.
ref: 2001, R[alph] N[ixon] Currey, “The Horn”, in Collected Poems, Oxford: James Currey; Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, →ISBN, page 246:
glosses: Sounding harsh and loud, like brass cymbals or brass instruments.
examples: text: The giant [Goliath] was thus conquered by the youth [David]; the man-at-arms by the unarmed; the stone of the shepherd pierced the brazen defences of the warrior.
ref: 1870, The Sunday at Home: A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading, volume XVII, London: Religious Tract Society, →OCLC, page 587:
text: In the autumn, when a small group of us heard him [Frank Wedekind] read from Heracles, his last work, I was amazed at his brazen energy. For two and a half hours without stopping, without once lowering his voice (and what a strong, brazen voice it was), barely pausing for breath for even a moment between acts, bent motionless over the table, he read – half from memory – those verses wrought in brass, looking deep into the eyes of each of his listeners in turn.
ref: 2015, Bertolt Brecht, “Frank Wedekind”, in Marc Silberman, Steve Giles, Tom Kuhn, editors, Brecht on Theatre, 3rd rev. and updated edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 19:
glosses: Extremely strong; impenetrable; resolute.
examples: text: She was brazen enough to deny stealing the handbag even though she was caught on camera doing so.
text: He looked at her for a long moment. Slowly, a smile lit in his eyes. "Never a shrew. A fighter and a brazen hussy." / Placing a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up. "And, I'd say, you're the only brazen hussy who blushes." / A brazen hussy. She should be offended. But the smile in his eyes, the touch of his finger moving slowly and feather-light from chin to throat and along the sensitive skin of her neck made it impossible to concentrate on rebuke.
ref: 1993, Karla Hocker, A Deceitful Heart (Zebra Regency Romance), New York, N.Y.: Zebra Books, Kensington Books, →ISBN:
text: If one had to lie at all, the brazen lie was better because brazen lies were so outrageous many people failed to question them.
ref: 2012, Michelle West, Skirmish: A House War Novel (DAW Books Collectors; no. 1571), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →ISBN:
text: This brazen action further helps convince Kurita that the Johnston is actually a cruiser, since, obviously, no mere destroyer would dare risk this kind of charge, nor achieve this kind of damage!
ref: 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 18:25 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022:
glosses: Shameless or impudent; shocking or audacious; brash.
Derived terms: brazen age
brazen bull
brazenface
brazen-face
brazen-faced
brazenfaced
brazenly
brazenness
brazenry
brazen sea
Related terms: braze