brass-balled
Slang for someone who displays extraordinary courage, audacity, or nerve — a more emphatic spin on 'brass balls,' itself a way of saying someone has the boldness of metal where softer people might flinch.
Definitions
Slang for someone who displays extraordinary courage, audacity, or nerve — a more emphatic spin on 'brass balls,' itself a way of saying someone has the boldness of metal where softer people might flinch. A brass-balled move is one that requires either tremendous bravery or a spectacular disregard for consequences. It's admiring in tone, though crude in delivery, and typically reserved for acts of genuine daring rather than mere recklessness.
It was a brass-balled decision to walk into the board meeting and tell the CEO the entire strategy was wrong.
Comments
(slang) courageous, brave.
Comments
Have a better definition?
Add your own interpretation of "brass-balled".
🗺️About Regional & Other slang
Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.
Tags
Other words near "brass-balled" (B)
Browse all slang words starting with B.
Related terms
People also read
Semantically related
- brass balls85%
(slang) Shamelessness, cheek, brazenness.
- brass ovaries77%
A feminist riff on 'brass balls', this phrase means exceptional courage, audacity, or nerve — specifically applied to women or used to describe boldness in a gender-neutral or feminist framing. When someone has brass ovaries, they're not just brave — they're willing to do what most people wouldn't dare, whether that's standing up to authority, taking a massive risk, or refusing to back down under pressure. It reclaims the macho 'balls' idiom and turns it into a celebration of female boldness.
- brass it out77%
British slang meaning to brazen something out — to face down a difficult or embarrassing situation through sheer nerve and confidence rather than honesty or apology. The 'brass' element invokes the idea of bold, hard-faced audacity. Used in informal British speech for situations requiring bluffing through trouble.
- balls of steel76%
An idiomatic slang expression for exceptional courage, audacity, or nerve, the kind that allows someone to do something most people would find terrifying or foolish. Typically used admiringly, though ironic applications exist. The image implies someone whose metaphorical balls are so hard they cannot be threatened or crushed. Common across English-speaking cultures in informal speech. The phrase is frequently applied after the fact to describe decisions that looked reckless at the time but ultimately paid off.