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. --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.
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Dutch a. Pertaining to Holland, or to its inhabitants.
Dutch auction. See under Auction.
Dutch cheese, a small, pound, hard cheese, made from skim milk.
Dutch clinker, a kind of brick made in Holland. It is yellowish, very hard, and long and narrow in shape.
Dutch clover Bot., common white clover (Trifolium repens), the seed of which was largely imported into England from Holland.
Dutch concert, a so-called concert in which all the singers sing at the same time different songs. [Slang]
Dutch courage, the courage of partial intoxication. [Slang] --Marryat.
Dutch door, a door divided into two parts, horizontally, so arranged that the lower part can be shut and fastened, while the upper part remains open.
Dutch foil, Dutch leaf, or Dutch gold, a kind of brass rich in copper, rolled or beaten into thin sheets, used in Holland to ornament toys and paper; -- called also Dutch mineral, Dutch metal, brass foil, and bronze leaf.
Dutch liquid Chem., a thin, colorless, volatile liquid, C2H4Cl2, of a sweetish taste and a pleasant ethereal odor, produced by the union of chlorine and ethylene or olefiant gas; -- called also Dutch oil. It is so called because discovered (in 1795) by an association of four Hollandish chemists. See Ethylene, and Olefiant.
Dutch oven, a tin screen for baking before an open fire or kitchen range; also, in the United States, a shallow iron kettle for baking, with a cover to hold burning coals.
Dutch pink, chalk, or whiting dyed yellow, and used in distemper, and for paper staining. etc. --Weale.
Dutch rush Bot., a species of horsetail rush or Equisetum (Equisetum hyemale) having a rough, siliceous surface, and used for scouring and polishing; -- called also scouring rush, and shave grass. See Equisetum.
Dutch tile, a glazed and painted ornamental tile, formerly much exported, and used in the jambs of chimneys and the like.
Note: ☞ Dutch was formerly used for German.
Germany is slandered to have sent none to this war [the Crusades] at this first voyage; and that other pilgrims, passing through that country, were mocked by the Dutch, and called fools for their pains. --Fuller.