What is "brass"

Brass \Brass\, n.; pl. Brasses. [OE. bras, bres, AS. br[ae]s; akin to Icel. bras cement, solder, brasa to harden by fire, and to E. braze, brazen. Cf. 1st & 2d Braze.]

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.
   --Matt. x. 9.

4. Impudence; a brazen face. [Colloq.]

5. pl. Utensils, ornaments, or other articles of brass.

   The very scullion who cleans the brasses.
   --Hopkinson.

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.

Old English bræs "brass, bronze," originally in reference to an alloy of copper and tin (now bronze), later and in modern use an alloy of two parts copper, one part zinc. A mystery word, with no known cognates beyond English. Perhaps akin to French brasser "to brew," because it is an alloy. It also has been compared to Old Swedish brasa "fire," but no sure connection can be made. Yet another theory connects it with Latin ferrum "iron," itself of obscure origin.\n

\nAs brass was unknown in antiquity, use of the word in Bible translations, etc., likely means "bronze." The Romans were the first to deliberately make it. Words for "brass" in other languages (such as German Messing, Old English mæsling, French laiton, Italian ottone) also tend to be difficult to explain.\n

\nThe meaning "effrontery, impudence" is from 1620s. Slang sense of "high officials" is first recorded 1899. The brass tacks that you get down to (1897) probably are the ones used to measure cloth on the counter of a dry goods store, suggesting precision. Slang brass balls "toughness, courage" (emphatically combining two metaphors for the same thing) attested by 1960s.

Etymology 1

1. 1 Of the colour of brass. 2 (context informal English) impertinent, bold: brazen. 3 (context slang English) bad, annoying; ''as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments''. 4 Of inferior composition. n. 1 (context uncountable English) A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications. 2 (context countable music English) A class of wind instruments, usually made of metal (such as brass), that use vibrations of the player's lips to produce sound. 3 Spent shell casings (usually made of brass); the part of the cartridge left over after bullets have been fired. 4 (context uncountable English) The colour of brass. 5 (context uncountable used as a singular or plural noun military English) High-ranking officers. 6 (context uncountable informal English) A brave or foolhardy attitude. 7 (context slang dated English) Money. 8 Inferior composition. v

2. to coat with brass Etymology 2

   a. (context slang English) brass monkey; cold. n. 1 (context uncountable slang English) brass in pocket; money. 2 (context countable slang English) A brass nail; a prostitute.

1. n. an alloy of copper and zinc

2. a wind instrument that consists of a brass tube (usually of variable length) blown by means of a cup-shaped or funnel-shaped mouthpiece

3. the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he quickly became recognized as a member of the establishment" [syn: administration, governance, governing body, establishment, organization, organisation]

4. impudent aggressiveness; "I couldn't believe her boldness"; "he had the effrontery to question my honesty" [syn: boldness, nerve, face, cheek]

5. an ornament or utensil made of brass

6. the section of a band or orchestra that plays brass instruments [syn: brass section]

7. a memorial made of brass [syn: memorial tablet, plaque]

1. Redirect List of Marvel Comics characters: B#Brass

Brass is a 1923 silent film romance produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by Sidney A. Franklin. This movie stars Monte Blue, Marie Prevost and Irene Rich. The well regarded film survives in 16mm format.

Brass is a board game set in Lancashire, England during the Industrial Revolution. It was developed by Martin Wallace. The object is to build mines, cotton factories, ports, canals and rail links, and establish trade routes, all of which will be used to score points. The game is divided into two historical periods: the canal period and the rail period. Victory points are scored at the end of each. Depending on the card the player draws, he or she will be limited in the choices they make.

Brass is an integrated marketing agency based in Leeds, United Kingdom, which provides marketing and advertising solutions both nationally and globally.

Brass is a metal alloy made of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other within the same crystal structure.

By comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin. However, bronze and brass may also include small proportions of a range of other elements including arsenic, phosphorus, aluminium, manganese, and silicon. The term is also applied to a variety of brasses, and the distinction is largely historical. Modern practice in museums and archaeology increasingly avoids both terms for historical objects in favour of the all-embracing "copper alloy".

Brass is used for decoration for its bright gold-like appearance; for applications where low friction is required such as locks, gears, bearings, doorknobs, ammunition casings and valves; for plumbing and electrical applications; and extensively in brass musical instruments such as horns and bells where a combination of high workability (historically with hand tools) and durability is desired. It is also used in zippers. Brass is often used in situations in which it is important that sparks not be struck, such as in fittings and tools used near flammable or explosive materials.

Brass is a metal alloy of copper and zinc.

Brass may also refer to:

• Brass, a novel by Helen Walsh
• Brass (board game), a board game set in England during the industrial revolution
• Brass (Slang), English slang for money i.e. Brass in pocket
• Brass (comics), a fictional mutant character in the Marvel Comics universe
• Brass (company), British marketing agency
• Brass (film), a 1923 silent film romance
• Brass instrument, a musical instrument where the sound is produced by the vibration of the player's lips
• Brass (TV series), a 1980s British television series starring Timothy West
• Brass (album), an album by Minibosses
• Brass, Nigeria, a city in Bayelsa State, Nigeria
• Brass, Saskatchewan, Canada
• "Brass", the metallic body of a cartridge case, usually made of brass
• Horse brass, a plaque used to decorate shire horses
• Monumental brass, commemorative plates laid down in British and European churches
• Very important officials; in particular, high-ranking Officer (armed forces)
• Brass in Pocket, a song by The Pretenders, covered by several others including Suede
• United States Army branch insignia

Brass was a British television comedy-drama, made by Granada Television for ITV and eventually Channel 4.

Set mostly in Utterley, a fictional Lancashire mining town in the 1930s, Brass was a comedy satirising the working-class period dramas of the 1970s (most significantly When the Boat Comes In) and the American productions such as Dallas and Dynasty. Unusually for ITV comedies of the time, there was no laughter track and the humour deliberately kept extremely dry, using convoluted wordplay and subtle commentary on popular culture. Brass is northern English slang for "money" as well as for "effrontery". The series also gleefully parodied the 1977 Granada TV dramatisation of Dickens' Hard Times, which also starred Timothy West.

The series, created by John Stevenson and Julian Roach, was set around two feuding families—the wealthy Hardacres and the poor, working-class Fairchilds—who lived in a small terraced house rented from the Hardacre empire. The Hardacre family was headed by the ruthless self-made businessman Bradley ( Timothy West), who espoused Thatcherite rhetoric, while coming up with various harebrained schemes to make his businesses more efficient so he could sack workers and his alcoholic aristocratic wife Lady Patience ( Caroline Blakiston). The head of the Fairchilds was the stern "Red" Agnes ( Barbara Ewing), who spread militant socialist rhetoric around the Hardacre mine, mill and munitions factory and her doltish, forelock-tugging husband George ( Geoffrey Hinsliff; Geoffrey Hutchings in the 1990 series), who is dominated by his wife and his boss. In a twist, Agnes was also Bradley Hardacre's mistress.

Other characters in the series were the children of the families. The Fairchilds had two sons—Jack ( Shaun Scott), a defiant miner and Matthew ( Gary Cady), a sensitive clerk who wrote very poor verse. The Hardacre children were Bentley (deceased; his memorial stone is featured in the first episode), nymphomaniac Isobel (Gail Harrison), innocent budding feminist Charlotte (Emily Morgan), ambitious heir to the Hardacre empire Austin ( Robert Reynolds) (Patrick Pearson in the 1990 series) and Morris ( James Saxon), a gay Cambridge student with a fondness for teddy bears (c.f. Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited). Bentley, Austin and Morris are named after British car manufacturers; Jack and Matt were named after terms used in the game of bowls.

Not only were Bradley and Agnes lovers, with Bradley being most likely the father of Matthew but Isobel and Jack were also lovers and afterwards it was revealed that Charlotte was not Bradley's daughter but the result of an affair between Lady Patience and the elderly Lord Mountfast, whom Isobel married. Charlotte married Matthew, to whom Morris Hardacre had at one time been attracted. To complicate matters even further Lady Patience also had a brief fling with Matthew Fairchild.

Despite his wealth and social connections, Bradley had been brought up in the Utterley Cottage workhouse and had made his money himself, obviously not legally or fairly.

Apart from the Hardacres and the Fairchilds the most significant other character was the Scottish idealist, Dr McDuff, played by David Ashton and satirising Dr Finlay of Dr Finlay's Casebook.

Brass ran for two series on ITV, shown between 1982 and 1984 but was brought back for a third series in 1990 on Channel 4, set in 1939. This third series saw the Hardacres move to London and later to a country mansion called Yonderley but making frequent trips to Utterley or Swarfside, where the Hardacre business empire was still based. The Fairchilds had also moved to London as Agnes was now MP for Utterley.

Some scenes are set at Croydon Airport but were filmed at Barton Airport, whose distinctive control tower shows in the film. Some of the opening scenes are of Thorn St in Summerseat, Bury. Greater Manchester.

The series is available on DVD in the United Kingdom.