See get down to brass tacks in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for get down to brass tacks meaning in English (6.7kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas. One theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard). Another possibility is the 19th-century American practice of using brass tacks to spell out the initials of the deceased on the top of their coffin. Yet another theory is that the phrase arose from the practice of adorning one’s gunstock with brass tacks, as was common in the early American West. Brass was frequently used because it could be easily polished and didn’t rust. According to author Stanley Vestal, “Brass tacks hammered into the stock of the rifle marked the tally of the mountain man’s victims. Brass tacks.”",
"forms": [
{
"form": "gets down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "getting down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "got down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "gotten down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "got down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "get<,,got,gotten:got> down to brass tacks"
},
"expansion": "get down to brass tacks (third-person singular simple present gets down to brass tacks, present participle getting down to brass tacks, simple past got down to brass tacks, past participle gotten down to brass tacks or got down to brass tacks)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1863, January 21, 1863, The Tri-Weekly Telegraph, newspaper of Houston, Texas\nWhen you come down to brass tacks – if we may be allowed the expression – everybody is governed by selfishness."
},
{
"text": "1935, Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty\nThat's no answer. Get down to brass tacks."
},
{
"text": "1972, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream\nLet's get down to brass tacks here. How much for the ape?"
},
{
"text": "1979, Stephen King, The Dead Zone\nWe're gonna stop playing games with these Arabs and get down to brass tacks!"
},
{
"ref": "1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel)",
"text": "You must be Jules, which would make you Vincent. Let's get down to brass tacks, gentlemen. If I was informed correctly, the clock is ticking. Is that right, Jimmie?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 April 2, Pippa Crerar, Robyn Vinter, quoting Lisa Nandy, “Suella Braverman denies Brexit to blame for Dover queues of 14 hours”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "And if the government got a grip, got down to brass tacks and started doing their actual job, all these things could be avoided.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"to start to discuss or consider the most important details or facts about something."
],
"id": "en-get_down_to_brass_tacks-en-verb-WdNKZLPs",
"links": [
[
"important",
"important"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, chiefly US) to start to discuss or consider the most important details or facts about something."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "drill down"
},
{
"word": "get down to bedrock"
},
{
"word": "get down to business"
},
{
"word": "get down to cases"
},
{
"word": "get right down to cases"
},
{
"word": "get down to the nitty-gritty"
},
{
"word": "get down to nuts and bolts"
},
{
"word": "roll up one's sleeves"
},
{
"word": "cut to the chase"
}
],
"tags": [
"US",
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "ter zake komen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "mennä asiaan"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "käydä asiaan"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "passer aux choses sérieuses"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "zur Sache kommen"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "koma sér að efninu"
},
{
"code": "is",
"english": "brass tacks, the heart of the matter",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "kjarni málsins"
},
{
"code": "is",
"english": "brass tacks, facts",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"plural"
],
"word": "staðreyndirnar"
},
{
"code": "is",
"english": "brass tacks, the relevant issues",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "þau atriði sem máli skipta"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "darsi da fare"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "rimboccarsi le maniche"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "venire al sodo"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "darsi una mossa"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "entrare nei dettagli"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "przechodzić do rzeczy"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "przejść do rzeczy"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "perexoditʹ k suti dela",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "переходить к сути дела"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "ir al grano"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "perejty do spravy",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "перейти до справи"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "perejty do suti",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "перейти до суті"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-get down to brass tacks.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e4/En-au-get_down_to_brass_tacks.ogg/En-au-get_down_to_brass_tacks.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/En-au-get_down_to_brass_tacks.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "get down to brass tacks"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas. One theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard). Another possibility is the 19th-century American practice of using brass tacks to spell out the initials of the deceased on the top of their coffin. Yet another theory is that the phrase arose from the practice of adorning one’s gunstock with brass tacks, as was common in the early American West. Brass was frequently used because it could be easily polished and didn’t rust. According to author Stanley Vestal, “Brass tacks hammered into the stock of the rifle marked the tally of the mountain man’s victims. Brass tacks.”",
"forms": [
{
"form": "gets down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "getting down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "got down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "gotten down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "got down to brass tacks",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "get<,,got,gotten:got> down to brass tacks"
},
"expansion": "get down to brass tacks (third-person singular simple present gets down to brass tacks, present participle getting down to brass tacks, simple past got down to brass tacks, past participle gotten down to brass tacks or got down to brass tacks)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with unknown etymologies",
"English verbs"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1863, January 21, 1863, The Tri-Weekly Telegraph, newspaper of Houston, Texas\nWhen you come down to brass tacks – if we may be allowed the expression – everybody is governed by selfishness."
},
{
"text": "1935, Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty\nThat's no answer. Get down to brass tacks."
},
{
"text": "1972, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream\nLet's get down to brass tacks here. How much for the ape?"
},
{
"text": "1979, Stephen King, The Dead Zone\nWe're gonna stop playing games with these Arabs and get down to brass tacks!"
},
{
"ref": "1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel)",
"text": "You must be Jules, which would make you Vincent. Let's get down to brass tacks, gentlemen. If I was informed correctly, the clock is ticking. Is that right, Jimmie?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 April 2, Pippa Crerar, Robyn Vinter, quoting Lisa Nandy, “Suella Braverman denies Brexit to blame for Dover queues of 14 hours”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "And if the government got a grip, got down to brass tacks and started doing their actual job, all these things could be avoided.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"to start to discuss or consider the most important details or facts about something."
],
"links": [
[
"important",
"important"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, chiefly US) to start to discuss or consider the most important details or facts about something."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-get down to brass tacks.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e4/En-au-get_down_to_brass_tacks.ogg/En-au-get_down_to_brass_tacks.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/En-au-get_down_to_brass_tacks.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "drill down"
},
{
"word": "get down to bedrock"
},
{
"word": "get down to business"
},
{
"word": "get down to cases"
},
{
"word": "get right down to cases"
},
{
"word": "get down to the nitty-gritty"
},
{
"word": "get down to nuts and bolts"
},
{
"word": "roll up one's sleeves"
},
{
"word": "cut to the chase"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "ter zake komen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "mennä asiaan"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "käydä asiaan"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "passer aux choses sérieuses"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "zur Sache kommen"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "koma sér að efninu"
},
{
"code": "is",
"english": "brass tacks, the heart of the matter",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "kjarni málsins"
},
{
"code": "is",
"english": "brass tacks, facts",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"plural"
],
"word": "staðreyndirnar"
},
{
"code": "is",
"english": "brass tacks, the relevant issues",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "þau atriði sem máli skipta"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "darsi da fare"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "rimboccarsi le maniche"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "venire al sodo"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "darsi una mossa"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "entrare nei dettagli"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "przechodzić do rzeczy"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "przejść do rzeczy"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "perexoditʹ k suti dela",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "переходить к сути дела"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "ir al grano"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "perejty do spravy",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "перейти до справи"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "perejty do suti",
"sense": "deal with the important details",
"word": "перейти до суті"
}
],
"word": "get down to brass tacks"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.