"Cold enough to freeze the balls off (or on) a brass monkey" is a colloquial expression used by some English speakers to describe extremely cold weather.
The reference to the testes (as the term balls is commonly understood to mean) of the brass monkey appears to be a 20th-century variant on the expression, prefigured by a range of references to other body parts, especially the nose and tail.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, small monkeys cast from the alloy brass were very common tourist souvenirs from China and Japan. They usually, but not always, came in a set of three representing the Three Wise Monkeys carved in wood above the Shrine of Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan. These monkeys were often cast with all three in a single piece. In other sets they were made singly. Old brass monkeys of this type are collectors' items. [1] [2] Michael Quinion, advisor to The Oxford English Dictionary and author of the website World Wide Words, writes, "it's more than likely the term came from them". [3]
Early references to "brass monkeys" in the 19th century have no references to balls at all, but instead variously say that it is cold enough to freeze the tail, nose, ears, and whiskers off a brass monkey; or hot enough to "scald the throat" or "singe the hair" of a brass monkey. [4]
The "brass monkey" is the nickname of the house flag of the Cunard Line, adopted in 1878, a lion rampant or on a field gules holding a globe. [11] The reference is almost certainly irreverent humour, rather than a source of the expression, of which variants predate it.
A "brass monkey" is one of any number of citrus-flavored alcoholic drinks.[ citation needed] In 1986, the hip hop band the Beastie Boys released a single called " Brass Monkey" from their album Licensed to Ill, although the song's lyrics are focused on the cocktail of the same name.
US Patent 4634021 (1987) describes:
A release mechanism is disclosed for releasing an object such as a ball from a body under the force of gravity. A bimetallic element obstructs or opens an opening in the body for retaining or releasing the object depending upon the temperature of the bimetallic element. The release mechanism may be incorporated into a novelty "brass monkey" for "emasculating" the monkey when the temperature decreases to a predetermined temperature at which the balls in the "brass monkey" are permitted to drop to a base which is designed to produce an audible sound when struck by the balls. [12]
It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off. [13] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be a myth. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy, [14] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). [15]
They give five main reasons:
The phrase is most likely just a humorous reference to emphasize how cold it is. [15]
it was first recorded in the USA, in the 1850s...in the oldest example known, from Herman Melville's Omoo (1850)
"Cold enough to freeze the balls off (or on) a brass monkey" is a colloquial expression used by some English speakers to describe extremely cold weather.
The reference to the testes (as the term balls is commonly understood to mean) of the brass monkey appears to be a 20th-century variant on the expression, prefigured by a range of references to other body parts, especially the nose and tail.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, small monkeys cast from the alloy brass were very common tourist souvenirs from China and Japan. They usually, but not always, came in a set of three representing the Three Wise Monkeys carved in wood above the Shrine of Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan. These monkeys were often cast with all three in a single piece. In other sets they were made singly. Old brass monkeys of this type are collectors' items. [1] [2] Michael Quinion, advisor to The Oxford English Dictionary and author of the website World Wide Words, writes, "it's more than likely the term came from them". [3]
Early references to "brass monkeys" in the 19th century have no references to balls at all, but instead variously say that it is cold enough to freeze the tail, nose, ears, and whiskers off a brass monkey; or hot enough to "scald the throat" or "singe the hair" of a brass monkey. [4]
The "brass monkey" is the nickname of the house flag of the Cunard Line, adopted in 1878, a lion rampant or on a field gules holding a globe. [11] The reference is almost certainly irreverent humour, rather than a source of the expression, of which variants predate it.
A "brass monkey" is one of any number of citrus-flavored alcoholic drinks.[ citation needed] In 1986, the hip hop band the Beastie Boys released a single called " Brass Monkey" from their album Licensed to Ill, although the song's lyrics are focused on the cocktail of the same name.
US Patent 4634021 (1987) describes:
A release mechanism is disclosed for releasing an object such as a ball from a body under the force of gravity. A bimetallic element obstructs or opens an opening in the body for retaining or releasing the object depending upon the temperature of the bimetallic element. The release mechanism may be incorporated into a novelty "brass monkey" for "emasculating" the monkey when the temperature decreases to a predetermined temperature at which the balls in the "brass monkey" are permitted to drop to a base which is designed to produce an audible sound when struck by the balls. [12]
It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off. [13] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be a myth. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy, [14] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). [15]
They give five main reasons:
The phrase is most likely just a humorous reference to emphasize how cold it is. [15]
it was first recorded in the USA, in the 1850s...in the oldest example known, from Herman Melville's Omoo (1850)