brass balls

English

Noun

brass balls pl (plural only)

1. (slang) Shamelessness, cheek, brazenness.
   • 1986, Tim Kazurinsky, Denise DeClue, About Last Night, spoken by Bernie (Jim Belushi):

     You've got a lot of brass balls, you know that. I do all the work, you take all the credit. You know what your problem is? Your face.

   • 1992, David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross, spoken by Blake (Alec Baldwin):

     Gentlemen, do you know what it takes to sell real estate? (Picks up a physical pair of brass balls and holds them at groin height.) It takes brass balls to sell real estate.

Related terms

• brass-balled
• brass neck

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “brass ball n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang