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
It’s hard to figure out where the heart of a city council district is when its shape reminds you of brass knuckles.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2023
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
Did you know Jacques Lacan, the most celebrated psychoanalyst of his time, used to carry a set of brass knuckles?
From Washington Post • May 15, 2018
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.
