brass

Meaning

1. A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
2. A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
3. A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
4. 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
5. Spent shell casings (usually made of brass); the part of the cartridge left over after bullets have been fired.
6. The colour of brass.
7. High-ranking officers.
8. (informal) A brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.
9. (slang) Money.
10. Inferior composition.

copper

bell-metal

memorial tablet

governing body

bronze ware

flat solid

government activity

management personnel

brass-hat

aurichalcum

brazeness

copper ware

lump pyrite

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹɑːs/

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.

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