brass
/bɹæs/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.05 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
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.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "A few measures later, the brass comes in strong!"
- "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."
- "You've got a lot of brass telling me to do that!"
- "At the Council board, I hope to charge him with that he cannot answer, and yet I know his face is brass enough."
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”) and برنج (branj, “brass”) In the military sense an ellipsis of the brass hats.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɹæs/
- British English: /bɹɑːs/
Usage
Inflected Forms
brasses (plural)
more brass (comparative)
most brass (superlative)
brasses (present, singular)
brassing (participle, present)
brassed (participle, past)
brassed (past)