Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

brass monkeys

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English

Syllables
brass -mon-keys
IPA
23
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Very cold.

British usage; Informal

noun

plural of brass monkey

noun

plural of Brass Monkey

Example Sentences

Etymology

From the phrase cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey - supposedly a reference to the brass container for cannon balls on a British man-of-war (but this seems to have been discredited).

Usage

Questions

What does brass monkeys mean?
Very cold.
Where does brass monkeys come from?
From the phrase cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey - supposedly a reference to the brass container for cannon balls on a British man-of-war (but this seems to have been discredited).

How to pronounce brass monkeys

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “brass monkeys”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “brass monkeys”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “brass monkeys” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.