high brass

noun

1

: brass containing at least 33 percent zinc compare low brass

2

: high-ranking officers or officials

the living honorees weren't always political or military or railroad high brass

—B. A. Botkin & A. F. Harlow

doesn't know enlisted men and their opinion of high brass

—G. W. Johnson

Word History

First Known Use

1951, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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