• IPA: /bɹæʃ/

brash (comparative brasher, superlative brashest)

1. (of people or behaviour) Overly bold or self-assertive to the point of being insensitive, tactless or impudent; shameless.

   Synonyms: audacious, brassy, brazen, cocky, undiplomatic

   a brash young businessman; a brash tabloid; a brash sense of humour

   • 1925, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 17, in Arrowsmith‎:

     Trouble with Silzer is, he’s too brash—shoots off his mouth too much—likes to hear himself talk.

   • 1958, Peter De Vries, chapter 14, in Mackerel Plaza, Penguin, published 1986, page 209:

     The American’s brash unconcern for nuance indicates a young and vigorous country, the Briton’s clipped speech an ancient, proverbial reserve.

2. (of actions) Overly bold, impetuous or rash.

   Synonyms: foolhardy, reckless

3. (of things) Bold, bright or showy, often in a tasteless way.

   Synonyms: flashy, garish, loud, splashy, Thesaurus:gaudy

   brash colours

   a brash perfume

   • 1963, Ian Fleming, Thrilling Cities, London: Jonathan Cape, Chapter 1, “Hong Kong,”

     There are scores of brash and noisy bars along Lockhart Street and in Wanchai and North Point (on the island) and throughout the back lanes of Kowloon […]

   • 1996, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 24, in The Englishman's Boy‎, New York: Picador, published 1998, page 243:

     The driveway is filled with vehicles parked bumper to bumper and the house is lit up like I’ve never seen it before, brash yellow light streaming from every window on every floor, and the tinny, nasal sound of gramophone jazz trumpeting inside.

   • 2001, Walt Dohrn et al. “Artist Unknown”, SpongeBob SquarePants, season 2, episode 18b, Nickelodeon

     Squidward: How about this one? I call it, Bold and Brash.

     Art Curator: More like, belongs in the trash!

• French: suffisant, m'as-tu-vu
• German: dreist, forsch, frech, schnodderig, keck
• Portuguese: procaz
• Spanish: procaz

• German: nassforsch, übermütig

• French: criard (for colors)
• German: schrill, grell, knallig

brash

1. A rash or eruption; a sudden or transient fit of sickness.
2. A sudden burst of rain.
3. (obsolete) An attack or assault.

brash (brashes, present participle brashing; simple past and past participle brashed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To disturb.

brash (comparative brasher, superlative brashest)

1. (US, colloquial, dated) Brittle (said e.g. of wood or vegetables).
   • 1886, The Lumberman's Hand Book, page 24:

     Hickory axles […] all cut from tough butt logs. Brash timber is excluded.

   • 2000, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand, Précis of the Lectures on Architecture (page 94)

     […] brash timber, which is liable to snap; […]

brash

1. Leaf litter of small leaves and little twigs as found under a hedge.
2. (geology) Broken and angular rock fragments underlying alluvial deposits.
   • 1839, Sir Charles Lyell, Elements of Geology:

     Alluvium differs from the rubble or brash , just described , as being composed of sand and gravel , more or less rolled

3. Broken fragments of ice.
   • 1853, Elisha Kent Kane, The U. S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin:

     The sea dashed in an angry surf over its inclined sides, rattling the icy fragments or “brash” against its irregular surface

Two main origins:

• Scottish surname; probably from brash, a nickname for an impetuous person.
• Americanized spelling of German Braasch.

1. Surname.