top brass

Multiple Entries:
  top brass    brass  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
top brass

▶noun see brass (sense 3).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
brass/brɑːs/

▶noun

• 1 a yellow alloy of copper and zinc.

  ■ (also horse brass) Brit. a flat brass ornament for the harness of a draught horse.

  ■ a memorial consisting of a flat piece of inscribed brass set into the wall or floor of a church.

  ■ a brass block used for stamping a design on a book binding.

• 2 brass wind instruments forming a band or section of an orchestra.

• 3 (also top brass) informal people in authority.

• 4 Brit. informal money.

– phrases
brassed off Brit. informal exasperated.
brass monkey Brit. informal used to indicate extremely cold weather: cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. [from a type of brass rack or ‘monkey’ in which cannonballs were stored and which contracted in very cold weather, ejecting the balls.]
get down to brass tacks informal start to consider the basic facts or practical details.

– origin OE bræs, of unknown origin.