BRASS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Brass

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noun

Brass n. (pl. brasses)

1.

An alloy (usually yellow) of copper and zinc, in variable proportion, but often containing two parts of copper to one part of zinc. It sometimes contains tin, and rarely other metals.

2.

(Mach.) A journal bearing, so called because frequently made of brass. A brass is often lined with a softer metal, when the latter is generally called a white metal lining. See Axle box, Journal Box, and Bearing.

3.

Coin made of copper, brass, or bronze. (Obs.) "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey."

4.

Impudence; a brazen face. (Colloq.)

5.

pl. Utensils, ornaments, or other articles of brass. "The very scullion who cleans the brasses."

6.

A brass plate engraved with a figure or device. Specifically, one used as a memorial to the dead, and generally having the portrait, coat of arms, etc.

7.

pl. (Mining) Lumps of pyrites or sulphuret of iron, the color of which is near to that of brass. Note: The word brass as used in Sculpture language is a translation for copper or some kind of bronze. Note: Brass is often used adjectively or in self-explaining compounds; as, brass button, brass kettle, brass founder, brass foundry or brassfoundry.

Brass band (Mus.), a band of musicians who play upon wind instruments made of brass, as trumpets, cornets, etc.

Brass foil, Brass leaf, brass made into very thin sheets; called also Dutch gold.

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Etymology of 'Brass'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Brass" Quotes from Famous Books

... preparation of metals generally; in the construction of houses and railroads; in electrical works; in book-binding, wood-carving and joining; in the making of footwear and clothing; file making; the making of knives and brass goods; in manufacturing combs, buttons, gold thread and gas implements; in the making of tanned goods and trunks; in making starch and chicory preparations; in metallurgy, wood-planing, umbrella making and fish manufacturing; the preservation of fruit, vegetables and meat; in the making of ...

— Woman under socialism • August Bebel

... will be nothing difficult to do in this case. Gorgibus is a simpleton, a boor, who will readily believe everything you say, provided you speak to him of Hippocrates, of Galen, and that you have brass enough. ...

— The Flying Doctor - (Le Medecin Volant) • Jean Baptiste Poquelin de Moliere

... any in a month, that he could see. A couple of new floodlights put in, perhaps. Some brass were emerging from the control bunker. Colonel Sagen, several others. He recognized them all. Two were SSP's—Space ...

— Next Door, Next World • Robert Donald Locke

... valve is screwed down onto the valve seat, which is a plane, and where the water-tightness is made by the insertion of a rubber or leather washer that can always be cut out with a knife from a piece of old belting or harness. The faucets may be nickeled or left plain brass, and the advantage of the added expense of nickel is in the appearance alone. If the faucets themselves are nickel, then the piping also should be nickel; that is, brass nickel-plated. Galvanized iron piping and brass faucets ...

— Rural Hygiene • Henry N. Ogden

... every day. But for one who is at work continually in his library, and is referring constantly to his books, the repeated opening and closing of glass doors would be something more than irritating. Charles V. of France had grilles of brass wire put in the windows of his library in the Louvre, to preserve the books from the attacks of 'birds and other beasts.' The document recording the payment for this work makes the sinister remark that the books were in the tower ...

— The Book-Hunter at Home • P. B. M. Allan

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