brass

Meanings

Noun

• A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
• 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
• Spent shell casings (usually made of brass); the part of the cartridge left over after bullets have been fired.
• The colour of brass.
• High-ranking officers.
• A brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.
• Money.
• Inferior composition.
• A brass nail; a prostitute.

Adjective

• Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
• Of the colour of brass.
• Impertinent, bold: brazen.
• Bad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.
• Of inferior composition.
• Brass monkey; cold.

Verb

• To coat with brass.

Origin

• , Old Frisian bress, Middle Low German bras.
• In the military sense an .
• By ellipsis from "brass nail," in turn from "nail[ing]" (fig.) and "brass blonde" (see "brazen").