What is a "Brass Monkey"?

The story goes that cannonballs used to be stored aboard ship in piles, on a brass frame or tray called a 'monkey'. In very cold weather the brass would contract, spilling the cannonballs: hence very cold weather is 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.

The phrase is actually first recorded as 'freeze the tail off a brass monkey'.

It therefore seems most likely that the phrase is simply a humorous reference to the fact that metal figures will become very cold to the touch in cold weather.

More Info: www.oxforddictionaries.com

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112 Comments

Carole Benner

If you don't respect the writer, why do you belong to Quizz Club? Or why not write yourself. dcgustin,

Alvaro Freay

It also a song by the Beastie Boys....

Karen Mulhollem

dcgustin, if you believe SNOPES!

Dave Freese

It's not a brass plate but a brass frame to hold the cannonballs next to the cannon for quick loading in battle. In very cold weather the brass would contract more than the iron cannonballs and they would fall off.

Bill Coe

dcgustin is 100% correct. They would not store canonballs in any kind of tray on deck. They would roll all over. decgustin invited you to check it out on snopes.com. Quit abusing him and do check it out.

Stephen Huskisson

The questioner must have known it is also a statue otherwise why put it in as an answer. Very very poor.

Player

Finally someone with a sense of humor

gum bob

A brass monkey is also a statue.

Gerald Larkins

I was expecting "cocktail" to be one of the options because of the Beastie Boys song.

Stu

That funky monkey

sampem

The phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off (or on) a brass monkey" is a colloquial expression used by some English speakers. 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. The Brass Monkey of Stanthorpe, Queensland, (a Statute) a place known for its "brass monkey weather", complete with a set of balls. Wikipedia

collin

Actually, a brass monkey was a brass frame that was used to store cannon balls. It had a different Collison of expansion to cannon balls and so hense the expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey "