brass monkeys
See also: Brass Monkeys
English edit
Etymology edit
From the phrase cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey - supposedly a reference to the brass container for cannon balls on a British man-of-war (but this seems to have been discredited).
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective edit
brass monkeys (not comparable)
- (Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, idiomatic, informal) very cold
- Blimey, it's brass monkeys out there today.