English

Noun

brass neck ‎(plural brass necks)

1. (idiomatic, Britain, Ireland) Gall, shamelessness, cheek.

   2014 March 18, John Hyde, “Help for Heroes? Not from this government”, in The Law Society Gazette, archived from the original on 20 March 2014:

   This year's commemorations of the start of World War One are a stark reminder of the sacrifices politicians make with other people's lives – except nowadays they'll do so wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt (almost entirely covering their brass necks). When it comes to the hypocritical lauding of the armed forces while simultaneously shafting them, no one does it better than this government.

2. (idiomatic, Britain, Ireland) A person with gall.

Related terms

• brass-necked
• brass-neck (verb)
• [to have] a neck like a jockey's bollocks (Irish slang)

Notes

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1. ↑ Cassell's Dictionary of Slang