LEXICON: brass monkey

Extremely Cold Weather. An expression, whereby it's cold enough to 'freeze the balls off a brass monkey'. There are many assumptions associated with this expression, the most notable of which is that the brass monkey in question didn't read the weather forecast and failed to dress accordingly. The origin of the expression is often said to be from the British navy who used a type of brass rack or plate referred to as a ‘monkey’ onto which pyramids of cannonballs were stored next to the cannons. This brass plate contracted in very cold weather causing the the balls on the bottom row to move and the pile to fall off the plate.