brass knuckles
Americannoun
Usage
What else does brass knuckles mean? Brass knuckles are a piece of metal designed to fit around the fingers by the lower knuckles and gripped by the hand. They can pack a powerful, potentially lethal punch. How do you pronounce brass knuckles?[ bras nuhk-uhls ]
Etymology
Origin of brass knuckles
An Americanism dating back to 1850–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The nation’s largest retailer will also be required to stop selling and allowing any sales of brass knuckles on its website.
From Seattle Times • May 23, 2023
Olivar was saddled with the debut of young Czech pianist Lukás Vondrácek, who banged through Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto as if he had brass knuckles on his fingers.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2021
Business and civic leaders, in the large corporations and the elite universities, should grow some brass knuckles, too.
From Salon • Nov. 20, 2020
He crafts dialogue with the florid, evocative quality endemic to writers who get their start on pulp literature, wielding similes like brass knuckles.
From The Guardian • Mar. 22, 2019
Last week, agents at U.S. airport security checkpoints intercepted 45 guns, an assortment of knives and brass knuckles, and several deactivated hand grenades.
From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2015
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
