brass monkeys

See also: Brass Monkeys

English

Etymology

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).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

brass monkeys (not comparable)

1. (British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, idiomatic, informal) very cold

   Blimey, it's brass monkeys out there today.

Noun

brass monkeys

1. plural of brass monkey