brass

Noun

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

Adj

1. Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
2. Of the color of brass.
3. (informal) Impertinent, bold: brazen.
4. (slang) Bad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.
5. Of inferior composition.

Verb

To coat with brass.

Adj

Brass monkey; cold.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹɑːs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bras, bres

Inherited from Old English: bræs

Cognate with Middle Dutch: braspenninc

In summary

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.

Synonyms

copper

bronze

plaque

brazen

cheek

governance

face

organisation

bell-metal

establishment

memorial tablet

boldness

nerve

brass instrument

administration

organization

brass section

governing body

horn

audacity

impudence

gold

governing

immodesty

insolence

lead

leaders

leadership

line

metal

🤘

noisemaker

pay up

plate

presumptuousness

puke

sap

saxhorn

scale

sheet

silver

slab

start

tile

tombac

tuba

wind

wind instrument

yellow metal

BR

bronze ware

Translations

Messing

laiton

ottone

latón

messing

latão

mosiądz

geelkoper

llautó

orichalcum

ορείχαλκος

aurichalcum

bronze

pirinç

🍚

brons