• enPR: brāzʹn, IPA: /ˈbɹeɪzən/

brazen

1. (archaic) Pertaining to, made of, or resembling brass (in color or strength).
   • 1786, Francis Grose, Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, London: Printed for S. Hooper […], OCLC 745209064 ↗; republished as Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, volume II, new [2nd] edition with material additions and improvements, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […]; & G. Kearsley, […], 1801, OCLC 435979550 ↗, page 262 ↗:

     smallcaps Brazen or rather copper swords seem to have been next introduced; these in process of time, workmen learned to harden by the addition of some other metal or mineral, which rendered them almost equal in temper to iron.

2. Sounding harsh and loud, like brass cymbals or brass instruments.
   • 1697, Virgil; John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 839376905 ↗; republished as The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden. In Three Volumes'', volume III, 5th edition, London: Printed by Jacob Tonson […], 1721, OCLC 181805247 ↗, book IX, page 822, lines 667–670 ↗:

     And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouze the sleepy War. / The Souldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heav'n, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds.

3. (archaic) Extremely strong; impenetrable; resolute.
4. Shamelessly shocking and offensive; audacious; impudent; barefaced; immodest, unblushing. [from 1570s.]

   She was brazen enough to deny stealing the handbag even though she was caught on closed-circuit television doing so.

• French: cuivreux,
• German: messingen
• Italian: ottone, ottonato
• Russian: бро́нзовый

• French: aigu, aigue
• Italian: squillante

• French: dur comme de la pierre, impénétrable

• French: grossier, grossière, brutal, brutale, éhonté, éhontée
• German: dreist, schamlos
• Italian: faccia di bronzo, sfacciato, sfrontato
• Portuguese: descarado
• Russian: бессты́жий

brazen (brazens, present participle brazening; past and past participle brazened)

1. (intransitive) To turn#Verb|turn a brass color.
2. (transitive) Generally followed by out or through: to carry through in a brazen manner; to act boldly despite embarrassment, risk#Noun|risk, etc. [from 1550s.]
   • 1887, William Black, “Flight”, in Sabina Zembra: A Novel [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., OCLC 22523627 ↗, page 171 ↗:

     Sabina brazened it out before Mrs. Wygram; but inwardly she was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect.