brassとは意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Middle English bras, bres, from 古期英語 bræs (“brass, bronze”), origin uncertain. 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 made fire”), Danish brase (“to fry”); French braser ("to solder"; > English braise) from the same Germanic root. Compare also Middle Dutch braspenninc ("a silver coin", 字義どおりに, "silver-penny"; > Dutch braspenning), Old Frisian bress (“copper”), Middle Low German bras (“metal, ore”).

In the military sense an ellipsis of the brass hats.

名詞

brass (usually uncountable, 複数形 brasses)

1. (uncountable) A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.

   Coordinate term: bronze

   1. A memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten
   2. Fittings, utensils, or other items made of brass
2. (music) 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
3. Spent shell casings (usually made of brass); the part of the cartridge left over after bullets have been fired.
4. (uncountable) The colour of brass.

   brass:  

6. (military, uncountable, used as a 単数形 または 複数形 noun, metonymically) High-ranking officers.

   The brass are not going to like this.

   The brass is not going to like this.

7. (uncountable, informal) A brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.

   Synonym: bronze

   You've got a lot of brass telling me to do that!

8. (slang, dated) Money.
9. Inferior composition.

派生語

参照

• “brass”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
• “brass, noun.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

形容詞

brass (comparative more brass, superlative most brass)

1. Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
2. Of the colour of brass.
3. (informal) Impertinent, bold: brazen.
   • 1869, Calendar of State Papers, domestic series, of the reign of Charles I, 1637-1638, edited by John Bruce, page 147:

     At the Council board, I hope to charge him with that he cannot answer, and yet I know his face is brass enough.

   • 1872, Elsie Leigh Whittlesey, Helen Ethinger: or, Not Exactly Right, page 154:

     [...] he continued in the same insulting strain. "If you were not quite brass, you would know it is not proper to be making promises you dare not tell of."

   • 2011, Paul Christopher, The Templar Conspiracy:

     It was a show of very large and very brass cojones, [...]

   • 1996 May 24, 2:00 am, Sherman Simpson, Want license key for AGENT FOR WINDOWS95, alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent:

     Maybe (probably so), but it's rare someone is brass enough to post a msg for all to see asking for a software key, that the vast majority have paid for in support of the development effort.

   • 2000 Aug 18, 2:00 am, David Ryan, strangest bid retraction /illegal lottery NOT, rec.collecting.coins:

     After cornering the dutch auction, the seller was brass enough to send him the whole lot without one.

   • 2000 Aug 19, 3:00 am, n4mwd, for RMB, alt.support.anxiety-panic:

     Try to keep in mind that not all of his converts are brass enough to challenge the benzo pushers in this group, [...]

4. (slang) Bad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.
   • 1888, Mr. & Mrs. Bancroft on and off the stage: written by themselves, volume 1, page 90:

     Grindoff, the miller, 'and the leader of a very brass band of most unpopular performers, with a thorough base accompaniment of at least fifty vices,' was played by Miss Saunders.

   • 1900, The Training of Seamen, published in The Saturday Review, 3 November 1900, volume 90, number 2349, page 556:

     I must confess that to me there is something almost pathetic in the sight of a body of bluejackets improving their muscles on the quarter deck by bar-bell exercise, accompanied by a brass — a very brass — band, [...]

   • 1908, The Smith Family, published in Punch, March 4 1908, bound in Punch vol. CXXXIV, page 168:

     Mr. REGINALD SMITH, KC, the publisher, followed, but he had hardly begun his very interesting remarks when a procession headed by a very brass band entered Smithfield from the west, and approached the platform.

   • 1937, Blair Niles, A journey in time: Peruvian pageant, page 166:

     There are soldiers, policemen, priests and friars, as well as a motley mass of women, children, babies and dogs, and upon special occasions a very brass band.

   • 1929, Philippine Magazine, volume 6, page 27

     The padre in my neighborhood — Santa Ana — was having some kind of a fiesta, and had hired a very brass band. This band kept up its martial airs for hours and hours after I got home, with grand finales — or what each time I hoped would be the grand finale, every five minutes.

5. Of inferior composition.
   • 1939, The New York times film reviews, volume 3:

     As Honest Plush Brannon then, Mr. Beery is one of San Francisco's fancier con men and hence more brass than plush

動詞

brass (三人称単数 現在形 brasses, 現在分詞 brassing, 過去形および過去分詞形 brassed)

1. (transitive) To coat with brass.

派生語

• brass up

関連する語

• braze
• brazen
• brazier

語源 2

By ellipsis from "brass nail," in turn from "nail[ing]" (fig.) and "brass blonde" (see "brazen").

名詞

brass (usually uncountable, 複数形 brasses)

1. (countable, slang) A brass nail; a prostitute.
   • 1996, Will Self, The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, Bloomsbury 2011, p. 2:

     Richard didn't want the man on the corner to go up and fuck one of the brasses.

形容詞

brass

1. (slang) Brass monkey; cold.

参考

• althorn
• chalcography
• cornet
• euphonium
• flugelhorn
• French horn
• mellophone
• Muntz metal
• saxhorn
• sousaphone
• trombone
• trumpet
• tuba
• Appendix:Colors

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2022), “Brass”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “brass”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2022.