brass
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
government
lifestyle
military
music
politics
war
Etymology: 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.
Inflected forms:
form: brasses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more brass
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most brass
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: brasses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: brassing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: brassed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: brassed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
usually
gloss: A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
usually
gloss: A 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.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: A few measures later, the brass comes in strong!
gloss: Spent cartridge casings (usually made of brass): the part of the cartridge left over after bullets or shells have been fired.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: The color of brass (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: High-ranking officers: the brass hats.
pos: noun
tags: metonymically
uncountable
usually
examples: 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.
gloss: A brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.
pos: noun
tags: informal
uncountable
usually
examples: You've got a lot of brass telling me to do that!
gloss: Money.
pos: noun
tags: Northern-England
dated
slang
uncountable
usually
gloss: Inferior composition.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
pos: adj
gloss: Of the color of brass.
pos: adj
gloss: Impertinent, bold: brazen.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: 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, [...]
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.
After cornering the dutch auction, the seller was brass enough to send him the whole lot without one.
Try to keep in mind that not all of his converts are brass enough to challenge the benzo pushers in this group, …
gloss: Bad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: 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 brass — band, [...]
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.
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.
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.
gloss: Of inferior composition.
pos: adj
examples: As Honest Plush Brannon then, Mr. Beery is one of San Francisco's fancier con men and hence more brass than plush
gloss: To coat with brass.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Derived words: 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 button
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
Dutch brass
firebrass
German brass
get down to brass tacks
green brass
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
where there's muck there's brass
white brass
with brass knobs on
Translations:
lang: Albanian
word: tunxh
lang: Arabic
word: شَبَه
roman: šabah
lang: Arabic
word: صُفْر
roman: ṣufr
lang: Arabic
word: صُفَّر
roman: ṣuffar
lang: Armenian
word: արույր
roman: aruyr
lang: Old Armenian
word: արոյր
roman: aroyr
lang: Azerbaijani
word: bürünc
lang: Bashkir
word: еҙ
roman: yeź
lang: Basque
word: letoi
lang: Belarusian
word: лату́нь
roman: latúnʹ
lang: Bengali
word: পিতল
roman: pitol
lang: Bulgarian
word: ме́синг
roman: mésing
lang: Bulgarian
word: пиринч
roman: pirinč
lang: Burmese
word: ကြေးဝါ
roman: kre:wa
lang: Catalan
word: llautó
lang: Chakma
word: 𑄛𑄨𑄘𑄮𑄣𑄴
roman: pidol
lang: Cherokee
word: ᏣᏱ
roman: tsayi
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 黃銅 /黄铜
roman: huángtóng
lang: Crimean Tatar
word: cez
lang: Czech
word: mosaz
lang: Danish
word: messing
lang: Dutch
word: messing
lang: Dutch
word: geelkoper
lang: Esperanto
word: latuno
lang: Estonian
word: messing
lang: Faroese
word: messing
lang: Finnish
word: messinki
lang: French
word: laiton
lang: Galician
word: latón
lang: Galician
word: azofar
lang: Georgian
word: თითბერი
roman: titberi
lang: German
word: Messing
lang: Greek
word: ορείχαλκος
roman: oreíchalkos
lang: Hebrew
word: פְּלִיז
roman: pliz
lang: Hindi
word: पीतल
roman: pītal
lang: Hungarian
word: sárgaréz
lang: Hungarian
word: messing
lang: Icelandic
word: látún
lang: Irish
word: prás
lang: Italian
word: ottone
lang: Japanese
word: 黄銅
roman: ōdō
lang: Japanese
word: 真鍮
roman: shinchū
lang: Kazakh
word: жез
roman: jez
lang: Khmer
word: ទង់ដែង
roman: tŭəng daeng
lang: Korean
word: 황동
roman: hwangdong
lang: Korean
word: 놋쇠
roman: notsoe
lang: Kyrgyz
word: латунь
roman: latun
lang: Lao
word: ທອງເຫລືອງ
roman: thǭng lư̄ang
lang: Lao
word: ທອງຫ້າວ
roman: thǭng hāo
lang: Lao
word: ຄ້ວງ
roman: khūang
lang: Latin
word: aurichalcum
lang: Latin
word: orichalcum
lang: Latvian
word: misiņš
lang: Lithuanian
word: žálvaris
lang: Macedonian
word: месинг
roman: mesing
lang: Malay
word: loyang
lang: Malay
word: kuningan
lang: Malay
word: tembaga kuning
lang: Malayalam
word: പിച്ചള
roman: piccaḷa
lang: Maltese
word: ram
lang: Manx
word: prash
lang: Māori
word: parāhi
lang: Māori
word: kuratea
lang: Mongolian
word: гууль
roman: guulʹ
lang: Khiamniungan Naga
word: tàushûa
lang: Navajo
word: béésh łitsoii
lang: Norman
word: jaûne tchuivre
lang: Norman
word: pâlîn
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: messing
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: messing
lang: Occitan
word: laton
lang: Old English
word: ār
lang: Old Tupi
word: itaîubaíba
lang: Persian
word: برنج
roman: berenj
lang: Plautdietsch
word: Messinkj
lang: Polish
word: mosiądz
lang: Portuguese
word: latão
lang: Romanian
word: alamă
lang: Russian
word: лату́нь
roman: latúnʹ
lang: Sanskrit
word: आर
roman: āra
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: pràis
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: мед
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: мјед
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: месинг
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: med
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: mjed
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: mesing
lang: Sicilian
word: attuni
lang: Sicilian
word: lattuni
lang: Slovak
word: mosadz
lang: Slovene
word: med
lang: Spanish
word: latón
lang: Spanish
word: azófar
lang: Spanish
word: alatón
lang: Swedish
word: mässing
lang: Tajik
word: биринҷ
roman: birinj
lang: Tajik
word: латун
roman: latun
lang: Telugu
word: ఇత్తడి
roman: ittaḍi
lang: Thai
word: ทองเหลือง
roman: tɔɔng-lʉ̌ʉang
lang: Tibetan
word: རག
roman: rag
lang: Turkish
word: pirinç
lang: Turkmen
word: bürünç
lang: Ukrainian
word: лату́нь
roman: latúnʹ
lang: Ukrainian
word: мося́ж
roman: mosjáž
lang: Unami
word: wisaw-ahsën
lang: Urdu
word: پیتل
roman: pītal
lang: Uzbek
word: jez
lang: Uzbek
word: latun
lang: Vietnamese
word: đồng thau
lang: Volapük
word: läten
lang: Yiddish
word: מעש
roman: mesh
lang: Zazaki
word: rız (diq)
lang: Zazaki
word: berence
lang: Bashkir
word: еҙ
roman: yeź
lang: Bulgarian
word: месингов
roman: mesingov
lang: Bulgarian
word: пиринчен
roman: pirinčen
lang: Bulgarian
word: меден
roman: meden
lang: Czech
word: mosazný
lang: Dutch
word: messing
lang: Dutch
word: geelkoperen
lang: Esperanto
word: latuna
lang: French
word: en laiton
lang: German
word: messingen
lang: German
word: aus Messing
lang: Hungarian
word: sárgaréz
lang: Latin
word: orichalcus
lang: Latin
word: aurichalcus
lang: Mongolian
word: гуулин
roman: guulin
lang: Persian
word: برنجی
roman: berenji
lang: Polish
word: mosiężny
lang: Portuguese
word: de latão
lang: Russian
word: лату́нный
roman: latúnnyj
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: pràiseach
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: месинган
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: меден
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: мједен
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: mesingan
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: meden
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: mjeden
lang: Unami
word: wisaw-ahsëni