brass n.2
1. a prostitute.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Cheapjack 203: The other words he used to describe them were ‘molls,’ ‘skirts,’ and ‘brassnails,’ although this last word is only used as a rule in reference to ladies of a certain definite profession. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Farewell, Mr Gangster! 279: Slang used by English criminals [...] Brass nob – a prostitute. | |
| They Drive by Night 261: Queenie wasn’t such a bad-looking brass. | |
| ‘The Dark Diceman’ Bitten by the Tarantula (2005) 205: He thrust on [...] towards the brass nails on the batter. | |
| Way of Life 34: The girl looked at him with a touch of hauteur. [...] ‘Stuck up brass, ain’t she?’ said the sailor. | |
| ‘The Little Welsh Girl’ in Late Night on Watling Street (1969) 135: Course you could see she wasn’t a brassnob by the way she looked at you. | |
| Cut and Run (1963) 55: She had tried them all. Starting as a shop-lifter and ‘brass-nail’ on the beat. | |
| Up the Junction 37: What d’you think I am? Some high-class brass? | |
| Sir, You Bastard 43: A couple of brasses would have to be found later. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | (con. mid-1960s) Glasgow Gang Observed 109: There [...] we could ‘chat up brass nails’. | |
| GBH 62: A brass here [i.e. outside London] would be highly-polished in a different way, to express her occupation, not to conceal it. | |
| (con. 1900–30) in Samuel East End Und. 281: Brass nail – Prostitute. The girls had the cheek of the devil. | |
| Indep. on Sun. 11 Oct. 32: There is also a young lady [...] she is either Mrs Gruber or an upmarket brass. | |
| Raiders 23: [He] had a stream of top-class brasses tending to his nightly needs. | |
| Viva La Madness 64: Sonny told me [...] to go and find myself a friendly sauna and punt for the deluxe polish off a creamy brass. |
2. a woman; a wife or girlfriend.
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 24 Sept. 🌐 But don’t tell the old brass. She’ll clip you round the earhole. The ladies don’t really like a toker. |
In phrases
a woman who associates with the prostitute milieu but is not a ‘working girl’ herself.
| DSUE (8th edn) 522: [...] mid-C.20. | |
| Lowspeak. |