Brass Knuckle

Brass knuckles

Brass knuckles are melee weapons used primarily in hand-to-hand combat. They are fitted and designed to be worn around the knuckles of the human hand. Despite their name, they are often made from steel, wood, aluminium, plastics or carbon fibers and not necessarily brass.

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic, and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally 2⁄3 copper and 1⁄3 zinc. In use since prehistoric times, it is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other within the same crystal structure.

Knuckle

The knuckles are the joints of the fingers. The word is cognate to similar words in other Germanic languages, such as the Dutch "knokkel" (knuckle) or German "Knöchel" (ankle), i.e., Knöchlein, the diminutive of the German word for bone (Knochen). Anatomically, the knuckles consist of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and interphalangeal (IP) joints of the finger. The knuckles at the base of the fingers may be referred to as the 1st or major knuckles while the knuckles at the midfinger are known as the 2nd and 3rd, or minor, knuckles. However, the ordinal terms are used inconsistently and may refer to any of the knuckles.

brass

Noun

1. A metallic alloy of copper and zinc used in many industrial and plumbing applications.
2. A memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten: a monumental brass.

Adjective

1. Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.
2. Of the color of brass.

knuckle

Noun

1. Any of the joints between the bones of the fingers.
2. A mechanical joint.

Verb

1. To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles (noun sense 1).
2. To strike or punch.