The expression to have brass on one’s face is used in the South Atlantic region of the United States to describe someone who is bold or overconfident. There’s a similar idea in the word brazen, which derives from an Old English word for brass. This...
A ride on the carousel in San Diego’s Balboa Park has Martha pondering the origin of the phrases to grab the brass ring, meaning to achieve something difficult, and to reach for the brass ring, meaning to try hard to reach a goal, and by...
scarecrow n.— «The NYPD is using unmanned police cars on major highways as a deterrent to speeders, the Daily News has learned. The vacant vehicles—derisively referred to as scarecrows by some cops—were blasted by the city’s police union...
brass adj.— «He keeps moaning how brass [rubbish] Fosters are, seeing as he’s a Stella man.» —“Blood on the tracks” by Esther Addley Guardian (United Kingdom) Jan. 20, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued...
caming n.— «Some of the windows are made of hundreds of pieces of glass held together using brass strips, a technique called caming.» —“Saving Frank Lloyd Wright” by Tim Louis Macaluso City Newspaper (Rochester...
twink n.— «On the Brass Rail stage, a lithe, boyish-looking dancer (or “twink,” in scenester parlance) twirls around the pole wearing red fairy wings and little else.» —“The Meat Merchant” by Diablo...
