Forms: 1 bræsen, 2–7 brasen, 4 brassen, 4–5 brasun, 4–6 brasin, -yn, 5–6 brason, 6 brassin, 7 brassen, brazon, 6– brazen. [OE. bræsen, f. bræs, BRASS; see -EN1.]
1. Made of brass.
a. 1000. Lamb. Psalter xvii[i]. 35 (Bosw.). Ðu ʓesettest swa swa boʓan bræsenne earmas mine.
c. 1200. Ormin, 17424. Þatt brasene neddre.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12193. Als a chim or brasin [v.r. brassen, brasen] bell.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 90. Heþun men had sex kyndis of similacris, cleyen, treen, brasun, stonun, silueren & golden.
1444. Test. Ebor. (1855), II. 112. My best brasyn pottis.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech., 52. A brassin ymage.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. iii. 33. Brazen Trumpet. Ibid. (1602), Ham., I. i. 73. Brazon Cannon.
1662. J. Chandler, Van Helmont’s Oriat., 85. Let there be a brassen Bottle.
1740. Swift, Let. Mrs. Whiteway, 29 April. In Phalaris’s brazen bull.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 142. Like brazen pots, which when they are struck continue to sound.
b. Referring to the strength rather than the actual material of brass; hence, strong as brass.
1382. Wyclif, Jer. xv. 20. And I shal ȝyue thee to this puple in to a strong brasene wal.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., Pref. He may breake it [the earth] with all the iron and brasen strength, with all the golden and syluer glistering therof.
1574. trans. Marlorat’s Apocalips, 24. As a brazen wall agaynst all the land of Juda.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. iv. 4. Wer’t thou inuiron’d with a Brazen wall.
1873. Morley, Rousseau, II. 26. A region … which the spirit of their time had shut off from them with brazen barriers.
2. transf. and fig. Resembling brass in color, sound, etc. (Often to be referred back to Homer’s οὐρανὸς χάλκεος, πολύχαλκος, ὄπα χάλκεον.)
1596. Spenser, Hymn Heav. Beautie, 263, Wks. 1842, V. 428. Heavenly notes and carolings … that filles the brasen sky.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. viii. 36. Trumpeters, with brazen dinne blast you the citties eare.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XVIII. 191. His brazen voice once heard.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 496. The Serpent … with brazen Eyes And hairie Main terrific. Ibid., XI. 713. The brazen Throat of Warr had ceast to roar.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 104. I … Hear the faint echo of those brazen throats.
a. 1827. Longf., Burial of Minn., i. The glory that the wood receives At sunset in its brazen leaves.
1856. Bryant, Summer Wind, 16. Bright clouds, Motionless pillars of the brazen heavens.
3. fig. Hardened in effrontery; shameless.
1573. [see BRAZEN-FACE 1].
1588. T. L., To Ch. Rome (1651), 11. Seeking (after their hard and brazen progenitors) t’establish a righteousnesse … of their owne.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, I. xix. (1640), 220. A brazen forehead, that is never a whit abashed.
1731. Swift, To Gay. I knew a brazen minister of state, Who bore for twice ten years the public hate.
1853. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. v. 70. The outcast woman whom human scorn would have hardened into brazen effrontery.
1869. Parkman, Disc. Gt. West., x. (1875), 124. A rare monument of brazen mendacity.
4. Phrases. Brazen age: the third of the four mythological ages of mankind, said to come between the silver and the iron age. † Brazen dish: ‘the standard dish or measure by which the wooden dishes for measuring the lead duties in Derbyshire are gauged’ (Tapping’s Gloss. Lead Mining Terms, 1851).
1631. Star Chamb. Cases (1886), 90. The deputy Barre Masters, measured the oare with a brasen dish.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. India, I. 257. These last bear some resemblance to the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greeks.
5. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic: a. lit. (often transl. Gr. χαλκο-, χαλκεο-), as brazen-floored, -footed, -gated, -headed, -hilted, hoofed, -mailed, -pointed; b. (fig.), as brazen-barking, -browed, -fisted, -fronted, -lunged. Also BRAZEN-FACE, -ED.
1651. More, in Enthus. Tri. (1656), 276. As Dionysius calls him, that *brazen-barking Cerberus.
1682. Sir T. Browne, Chr. Mor., 42. Noon day vices & *brazen-brow’d iniquities.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., VIII. 397. The *brazen-floor’d abode Of Jove.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, IV. (1868), 132. The two *brazen-footed bulls.
1842. J. B. Fraser, Allee Neemroo, I. 255. Answer my questions, thou *brazen-fronted knave, or take the consequences.
1832. Tennyson, Œnone, 137. The *brazen-headed spear.
1726. Amherst, Terræ Filius, xxxi. 165. A new bob-wig, and a *brazen-hilted sword.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., VII. (1593), 155. The *brazen-hooffed bulles.
1596. Fitz-Geffray, Sir F. Drake (1881), 22. Encarving characters of memorie, in *brasen-leav’d books of eternitie.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. I. 20. The Achaian warriors, *brazen-mailed.
