n.; pl. Brasses [ OE. bras, bres, AS. bræs; 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Coin made of copper, brass, or bronze. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey. Matt. x. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Impudence; a brazen face. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. Utensils, ornaments, or other articles of brass. [ 1913 Webster ]

The very scullion who cleans the brasses. Hopkinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. pl. (Mining) Lumps of pyrites or sulphuret of iron, the color of which is near to that of brass. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word brass as used in Sculpture language is a translation for copper or some kind of bronze. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Brass is often used adjectively or in self-explaining compounds; as, brass button, brass kettle, brass founder, brass foundry or brassfoundry. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] A sum formerly levied to pay the expense of coinage; -- now called seigniorage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an armor plate that protects the arm. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. brassard, fr. bras arm. See Brace, n. ] Armor for the arm; -- generally used for the whole arm from the shoulder to the wrist, and consisting, in the 15th and 16th centuries, of many parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of various tropical American orchids with usually solitary fleshy leaves and showy white to green nocturnally fragrant blossoms solitary or in racemes of up to 7. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. inflexibly entrenched; as, brassbound traditions.
Syn. -- ironclad, unchangeable. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. having trim or fittings of brass; as, a brassbound campaign chest; the heavy brass-bound door. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Perh. a transposition of barse; but cf. LG. brasse the bream, G. brassen Cf. Bream. ] (Zool.) A spotted European fish of the genus Lucioperca, resembling a perch. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a small restaurant serving beer and wine as well as food; usually cheap. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. See Brassart. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a genus of tropical American epiphytic orchids having striking axillary racemes of yellow to green spiderlike flowers with long slender sepals and warty lips; the spider orchids.
Syn. -- genus Brassia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]