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double in brass
Idioms and Phrases
Serve in two capacities, as in In this company everyone is asked to double in brass occasionally . This expression was originally used in the traveling circus, where, for example, a clown was also expected to play an instrument in the street parade. The original allusion, however, is to an instrumentalist who plays more than one instrument in an ensemble, a practice particularly common among players of brass instruments. [Late 1800s]Example Sentences
We're on the air 15 hours a week, mostly without script, so everyone has to double in brass.
Instead, it requires that the individual service chiefs of staff double in brass as members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which functions under a nonvoting chairman as a sort of advisory committee seeking unified military policy.
Can a working newsman double in brass as a working public personality without fear of embarrassment?
Well, that's up to you," says I. "Can't some of your crowd double in brass?
Alfred read and re-read the letter and finally answered: Mr. Charles Duprez: Respected Sir: I do not double in brass or anything else.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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