brass monkeys

adjective

Very cold.

“Blimey, it's brass monkeys out there today.”

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Meanings

brass monkeys1

adjectivebrass monkeys (not comparable)
  1. CommonwealthIrelandUKidiomaticinformalnot comparableVery cold.

    Blimey, it's brass monkeys out there today.

noun
  1. pluralplural of brass monkey

Brass Monkeys2

noun
  1. pluralplural of Brass Monkey

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
brickcoldfreezing coldfrostyice-coldstone cold

Origin

From the phrase cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey - supposedly a reference to the brass container for cannon balls on a British man-of-war (but this seems to have been discredited).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

brass monkeys. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brass%20monkeys

MLA

“brass monkeys.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brass%20monkeys. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brass monkeys,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brass%20monkeys.

Source: brass monkeys on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.