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get down to brass tacks. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
get down to brass tacks, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
get down to brass tacks in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Uncertain.[1] Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas.[1] One theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard). Another possibility is the 19th-century American practice of using brass tacks to spell out the initials of the deceased on the top of their coffin.
Pronunciation
Verb
get down to brass tacks (third-person singular simple present gets down to brass tacks, present participle getting down to brass tacks, simple past got down to brass tacks, past participle gotten down to brass tacks or got down to brass tacks)
- (idiomatic, chiefly US) To start to discuss or consider the most important details or facts about something.
- 1863, January 21, 1863, The Tri-Weekly Telegraph, newspaper of Houston, Texas
- When you come down to brass tacks – if we may be allowed the expression – everybody is governed by selfishness.
- 1935, Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty
- That's no answer. Get down to brass tacks.
- 1972, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
- Let's get down to brass tacks here. How much for the ape?
- 1979, Stephen King, The Dead Zone
- We're gonna stop playing games with these Arabs and get down to brass tacks!
1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel):You must be Jules, which would make you Vincent. Let's get down to brass tacks, gentlemen. If I was informed correctly, the clock is ticking. Is that right, Jimmie?
2023 April 2, Pippa Crerar, Robyn Vinter, quoting Lisa Nandy, “Suella Braverman denies Brexit to blame for Dover queues of 14 hours”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:And if the government got a grip, got down to brass tacks and started doing their actual job, all these things could be avoided.
Synonyms
Translations
deal with the important details
- Dutch: ter zake komen
- Finnish: mennä asiaan, käydä asiaan
- French: passer aux choses sérieuses
- German: zur Sache kommen (de)
- Icelandic: koma sér að efninu, (brass tacks, the heart of the matter) kjarni málsins m, (brass tacks, facts) staðreyndirnar (is) f pl, (brass tacks, the relevant issues) þau atriði sem máli skipta
- Italian: darsi da fare (it), rimboccarsi le maniche, venire al sodo, darsi una mossa, entrare nei dettagli
- Polish: przechodzić do rzeczy impf, przejść do rzeczy pf
- Russian: переходить к сути дела (perexoditʹ k suti dela)
- Spanish: ir al grano
- Swedish: komma till saken
- Ukrainian: перейти до справи (perejty do spravy), перейти до суті (perejty do suti)
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References