Brazen

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7419
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Brazen

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:27 pm

• brazen •

Pronunciation: bray-zên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Impudently bold, aggressive, rude, brassy. 2. Having a loud, harsh sound. 3. (Archaic) Made of brass; resembling brass in color or strength.

Notes: This word presents no problems at all—it is even spelled the way it is pronounced. The adverb and noun are the usual ones, brazenly and brazenness.

In Play: Today's word refers to an utter lack of civility: "With brazen disregard for other theater-goers, Ali Katz answered a cellphone call in the middle of the movie." It also has an overtone of daring: "Horace ran a brazen dope business while he was in jail for running one outside."

Word History: Today's Good Word was, in Old English, bræsen "made of brass" from bræs "brass". By Middle English it had become brasen "made of brass" and, finally, what it is today. The English verb braze may have originally meant "to harden in fire"; today it means "to hard solder". This means it could be related to Old Swedish brasa "fire" and Danish brase "to roast". English still has a verb braise "to sauté then simmer in liquid". This would place it as a descendant of French braiser "to stew", which French borrowed from some Germanic language. Germanic inherited the word from PIE bhreu- "burn, heat", which became brew, bread, broth in English. (Our old friend Chris Stewart was brazen enough to suggest today's shiny, brassy Good Word.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

tkowal
Lexiterian
Posts: 129
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 8:43 am

Re: Brazen

Postby tkowal » Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:12 am

In Spanish and Portuguese we find the word "brasa" which means ember or cinder. This word appears in "brazilwood" ("pau brasil" in Portuguese) from which the name of the South American country was derived.

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Brazen

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:17 pm

The noun hussy is often preceded by the adjective brazen. As a child I thought they made a single word brazenhussy. Aren't all hussies brazen? is there a similar word to hussy to call a man?
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Brazen

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:19 am

We also use the term "brassy" with a similar meaning, and I've always wondered why. Why would we refer to, usually a woman, who is over the top outgoing as "brassy." Why brass? Because brass instruments can blare?
pl

misterdoe
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 619
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:21 am
Location: New York City area
Contact:

Re: Brazen

Postby misterdoe » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:48 am

I never really knew just what kind of cooking braise referred to. Turns out I wound up having to braise some diced chicken I cooked the other day. I tried to saute it but some pieces turned out to be too thick for that style of cooking, so I added some water to the basil pesto I'd added while sautéing, covered the pan and let it simmer for 25 minutes or so. I wound up cooking it that way accidentally but it came out pretty good. :)


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 61 guests