"brass neck" meaning in English

See brass neck in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-brass neck.ogg Forms: brass necks [plural]
Etymology: From stick one's neck out. Head templates: {{en-noun}} brass neck (plural brass necks)
  1. (idiomatic, UK, Ireland) Gall, shamelessness, cheek. Tags: Ireland, UK, idiomatic Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-brass_neck-en-noun-DVSvDzjL Disambiguation of People: 69 31 Categories (other): British English, Irish English
  2. (idiomatic, UK, Ireland) A person with gall. Tags: Ireland, UK, idiomatic
    Sense id: en-brass_neck-en-noun-xxHZ0wvi Categories (other): British English, Irish English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 58 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 41 59 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 37 63
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: brass-balled, brass-necked, brass-neck [verb], [to have] a neck like a jockey's bollocks [Irish, slang]

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From stick one's neck out.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brass necks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "brass neck (plural brass necks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "brass-balled"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "brass-necked"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "brass-neck"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "Irish",
        "slang"
      ],
      "word": "[to have] a neck like a jockey's bollocks"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Irish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 18, John Hyde, “Help for Heroes? Not from this government”, in The Law Society Gazette, archived from the original on 2014-03-20:",
          "text": "This year's commemorations of the start of World War One are a stark reminder of the sacrifices politicians make with other people's lives – except nowadays they'll do so wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt (almost entirely covering their brass necks). When it comes to the hypocritical lauding of the armed forces while simultaneously shafting them, no one does it better than this government.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 March 27, Helen Pidd, “Government's laughable cycling blueprint does nothing to boost safety”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "That’s why it’s particularly outrageous for the government to sneak out its rubbish “blueprint” for cycling and walking on Easter Sunday, and having the brass neck to try to spin its laughably small investment in cycling and walking as a genuine attempt to make them people’s choice for shorter journeys and to reduce the rate of cyclists killed or seriously injured.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 September 6, Jessica Elgot, “UK's chief Brexit negotiator has 'brass neck', says former May aide”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Theresa May’s former chief of staff has accused the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, of having a “brass neck” after he said the UK government had “blinked first” in negotiations.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Gall, shamelessness, cheek."
      ],
      "id": "en-brass_neck-en-noun-DVSvDzjL",
      "links": [
        [
          "Gall",
          "gall"
        ],
        [
          "shamelessness",
          "shamelessness"
        ],
        [
          "cheek",
          "cheek"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) Gall, shamelessness, cheek."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Irish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 63",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010 [2006], Robert Harris, Imperium (Cicero Trilogy), Random House, →ISBN, page 72:",
          "text": "And it will need a strong hand to wield that knife, and it will need a steady nerve besides, because they have necks of brass, these aristocrats, I tell you: brass necks, all of them!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, Stuart Ritchie, Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science, Random House, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Mostly, though, open data acts as a deterrent against committing fraud in the first place, since it would take the brassiest of brass necks to post a fake dataset on a public website.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person with gall."
      ],
      "id": "en-brass_neck-en-noun-xxHZ0wvi",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) A person with gall."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-brass neck.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-brass_neck.ogg/En-au-brass_neck.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-brass_neck.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Green's Dictionary of Slang"
  ],
  "word": "brass neck"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From stick one's neck out.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brass necks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "brass neck (plural brass necks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "brass-balled"
    },
    {
      "word": "brass-necked"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "brass-neck"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Irish",
        "slang"
      ],
      "word": "[to have] a neck like a jockey's bollocks"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Irish English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 18, John Hyde, “Help for Heroes? Not from this government”, in The Law Society Gazette, archived from the original on 2014-03-20:",
          "text": "This year's commemorations of the start of World War One are a stark reminder of the sacrifices politicians make with other people's lives – except nowadays they'll do so wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt (almost entirely covering their brass necks). When it comes to the hypocritical lauding of the armed forces while simultaneously shafting them, no one does it better than this government.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 March 27, Helen Pidd, “Government's laughable cycling blueprint does nothing to boost safety”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "That’s why it’s particularly outrageous for the government to sneak out its rubbish “blueprint” for cycling and walking on Easter Sunday, and having the brass neck to try to spin its laughably small investment in cycling and walking as a genuine attempt to make them people’s choice for shorter journeys and to reduce the rate of cyclists killed or seriously injured.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 September 6, Jessica Elgot, “UK's chief Brexit negotiator has 'brass neck', says former May aide”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Theresa May’s former chief of staff has accused the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, of having a “brass neck” after he said the UK government had “blinked first” in negotiations.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Gall, shamelessness, cheek."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Gall",
          "gall"
        ],
        [
          "shamelessness",
          "shamelessness"
        ],
        [
          "cheek",
          "cheek"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) Gall, shamelessness, cheek."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Irish English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010 [2006], Robert Harris, Imperium (Cicero Trilogy), Random House, →ISBN, page 72:",
          "text": "And it will need a strong hand to wield that knife, and it will need a steady nerve besides, because they have necks of brass, these aristocrats, I tell you: brass necks, all of them!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, Stuart Ritchie, Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science, Random House, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Mostly, though, open data acts as a deterrent against committing fraud in the first place, since it would take the brassiest of brass necks to post a fake dataset on a public website.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person with gall."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) A person with gall."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-brass neck.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-brass_neck.ogg/En-au-brass_neck.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-brass_neck.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Green's Dictionary of Slang"
  ],
  "word": "brass neck"
}

Download raw JSONL data for brass neck meaning in English (3.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.