brass monkey

adjective

Very cold.

“It's brass monkey weather today, isn't it?”

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Meanings

brass monkey1

adjectivebrass monkey (not comparable)
  1. idiomaticnot comparableVery cold.

    It's brass monkey weather today, isn't it?

    3 more examples

    This is brass monkey weather and it'll get worse.

    1987, Brian Carter, Jack

    I forgot it'd be brass monkey weather in good old London.

    1997, Maeve Haran, A family affair

    Had to milk cows besides, and them winters up there in Wisconsin is brass monkey cold.

    2005, John G. Watson, The Golden Ball, page 115
nounbrass monkey (plural brass monkeys)

plural brass monkeys

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Brass Monkey (“cocktail”).

Brass Monkey2

proper noun
  1. A brand of inexpensive liquor.
nounBrass Monkey (plural Brass Monkeys)

plural Brass Monkeys

  1. A cocktail of vodka, rum and orange juice, sometimes with the addition of Galliano.

Origin

From the phrase cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. According to the U.S. Naval Historical Center, which cites the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, 'the first recorded use of the term "brass monkey" appears to dates^([sic]) to 1857 when it was used in an apparently vulgar context by C.A. Abbey in his book Before the Mast in the Clippers, where on page 108 it says "It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey."' A number of false etymologies have been suggested. For more information, see brass monkey on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

brass monkey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brass%20monkey

MLA

“brass monkey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brass%20monkey. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brass monkey,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brass%20monkey.

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