# brass

Pronunciation: US say "BRAS" /bɹæs/; UK say "BRAHS" /bɹɑːs/

## Noun

1. A metallic alloy of copper and zinc, used for many purposes in industry and in plumbing.
   - Simple: A metal made from copper and zinc mixed together, used in industry and for water pipes.
   - _The plumber swapped the leaking plastic valve for a sturdier one made of brass._
   - _The foundry produces several brasses, each with a slightly different ratio of copper to zinc._
3. Wind instruments, usually metal, whose sound comes from the vibration of the player's lips; also, the band or orchestral section made up of them.
   - Simple: Wind instruments, usually metal, played by buzzing the lips, or the group in a band or orchestra that plays them.
   - _When the brass enters in the last movement, the whole hall seems to shake._
   - _She switched from woodwinds to brass after hearing a jazz trumpeter play live._
4. The high-ranking officers of the military, or the senior leaders of a business or other organization, considered as a group.
   - Simple: The people with the most power in a group, such as top army officers or company bosses.
   - _The plan looked fine on paper, but the brass at headquarters rejected it within a day._
   - _Company brass flew in from Chicago to announce the layoffs in person._
5. Objects made of brass, such as fittings and utensils.
   - Simple: Handles, pans, and other things made of brass.
   - _The sailors spent the morning polishing the ship's brass._
   - _Antique brasses from the estate sold quickly at the auction._
6. Spent cartridge casings, usually made of brass, that remain after bullets or shells have been fired.
   - Simple: The empty metal cases left over after bullets or shells are fired.
   - _Shooters at the range are asked to sweep up their brass before leaving._
   - _Investigators photographed every piece of brass on the sidewalk before bagging it as evidence._
7. A tablet commemorating the dead or marking a tomb, usually made of brass or latten; also called a monumental brass.
   - Simple: A metal plate, usually made of brass, that marks a grave or helps people remember someone who died.
   - _The brass on the tomb shows the knight in full armor, with his wife beside him._
   - _Visitors kneel on the stone floor to make rubbings of the brasses marking the old merchants' graves._
8. The warm yellowish color of brass.
   - Simple: The yellow, gold-like color of brass.
   - _The new car came in a metallic brass that looked almost gold in the sun._
   - _Her dress was a soft brass that caught the candlelight._
10. A brave or foolhardy attitude, or the impudence to say or do what others would not dare. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The bold, sometimes foolish courage to say or do rude or risky things.
   - _It took real brass to walk into the champion's gym and challenge him in front of everyone._
   - _He had the brass to demand a refund after breaking the blender himself._
14. A prostitute. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person who takes money for sex.
   - _The detective spent the night asking the brasses along the street what they had seen._
   - _She had worked as a brass in the city for years before she found a way out._

## Adjective

2. Made of brass, or relating to brass.
   - Simple: Made of brass, or having to do with brass.
   - _A row of brass candlesticks lined the dining room mantel._
   - _The town's brass foundries once employed half of its workers._
9. Having the warm yellowish color of brass.
   - Simple: Having the yellow, gold-like color of brass.
   - _Smoke from the fires filled the valley with a dull brass light all afternoon._
   - _Under the old streetlights, the wet street shone brass._
13. Made of inferior stuff; of poor composition.
   - Simple: Made of poor, low-quality stuff.

## Verb

12. To cover the surface of something with a coating of brass.
   - Simple: To cover something with a layer of brass.
   - _Some makers brass cheap steel buttons to give them a warm, golden shine._
   - _The restorer brassed the iron handles to match the cabinet's original fittings._

## Noun

11. Money. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Money that people spend and save.
   - _He made his brass in the coal business and spent most of it on horses._
   - _She wouldn't lend him any more brass until he paid back what he owed._
15. A traditional unit of length roughly equal to a fathom, varying by country, especially the Spanish braza, the Portuguese braça, or the French brasse. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old unit for measuring length, close to a fathom, whose exact size differed from country to country.

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Rudely bold in a way that shows no embarrassment; brazen.
- (adjective) Cold; the same as brass monkey.
- (adjective) Bad or annoying, used as a pun, especially of brass instruments and the bands that play them.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–13** — Old English bræs ("brass, bronze") became Middle English bras, bres. Its origin is uncertain. It may be a back-formation from Proto-Germanic *brasnaz ("brazen"), which comes from or is related to *brasō ("fire, pyre"). Similar words include Old Norse and Icelandic bras ("solder"), Danish brase ("to fry"), Swedish brasa ("a small controlled fire"), and French braser ("to solder"), which comes from the same Germanic root. In the military sense the word is short for the brass hats.
**Meaning 14** — By ellipsis from brass nail, Cockney rhyming slang for "tail" (a prostitute); also shortened from the Cockney rhyming slang brass flute for "prostitute".
**Meaning 15** — Ancient Greek brakhíōn ("upper arm") gave Latin bracchium ("arm, cubit"), whose plural brachia became Old Spanish and Old Galician-Portuguese braça, the source of Portuguese braça and Spanish braza.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/brass (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).