different between insolence vs brass

English

Etymology

From Middle French insolence, from Latin ?nsolentia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ns?l?ns/

Noun

insolence (countable and uncountable, plural insolences)

1. Arrogant conduct; insulting, bold behaviour or attitude.
   • c. 1908–52, W.D. Ross, transl., The Works of Aristotle, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Rhetoric, II.1389b11, by Aristotle, ?OCLC, page 636:

     They are fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume III, Chapter 14:

     all the insolence of imaginary superiority

2. Insolent conduct or treatment; insult.
3. (obsolete) The quality of being unusual or novel.
   • 1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe:

     Her great excellence / Lifts me above the measure of my might / That being fild with furious insolence / I feele my selfe like one yrapt in spright.

Derived terms

• insolency

Translations

Verb

insolence (third-person singular simple present insolences, present participle insolencing, simple past and past participle insolenced)

1. (obsolete) To insult.

Anagrams

• incensole, selenonic

French

Etymology

From Latin ?nsolentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.s?.l??s/

Noun

insolence f (plural insolences)

1. insolence

Related terms

• insolent

Further reading

• “insolence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b???s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b?æs/
• Rhymes: -??s, -æs

Etymology 1

From Middle English bras, bres, from Old English bræs (“brass, bronze”), origin uncertain. Perhaps representing a backformation from Proto-Germanic *brasnaz (“brazen”), from or related to *bras? (“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", literally, "silver-penny"; > Dutch braspenning), Old Frisian bress (“copper”), Middle Low German bras (“metal, ore”).

In the military sense an ellipsis of the brass hats.

Noun

brass (usually uncountable, plural brasses)

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

6. (military, uncountable, used as a singular or plural noun, metonymically) High-ranking officers.

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

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

Derived terms

References

• “brass”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• “brass, noun.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

Translations

Adjective

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.

   • 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.

   • 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.

Translations

Verb

brass (third-person singular simple present brasses, present participle brassing, simple past and past participle brassed)

1. (transitive) To coat with brass.

Derived terms

• brass up

Translations

Related terms

• braze
• brazen
• brazier

Etymology 2

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

Noun

brass (usually uncountable, plural 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.

Adjective

brass

1. (slang) Brass monkey; cold.

See also

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

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2021) , “Brass”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database
• “brass”, in Mindat.org?^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2021.

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pras?/
• Rhymes: -as?

Noun

brass n (genitive singular brass, no plural)

1. (music, slang) brass

Declension