Idioms
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations: Idioms 1 key example

Definition of Idiom

An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Book 2, Chapter 31
Explanation and Analysis—Too Much Brass:

In the play set in Denmark that Pip and his companions attend in Chapter 31, Dickens uses a humorous idiom that also functions as a simile, likening the character of the Queen of Denmark to the metal she wears: 

The Queen of Denmark, a very buxom lady, though no doubt historically brazen, was considered by the public to have too much brass about her; her chin being attached to her diadem by a broad band of that metal (as if she had a gorgeous toothache), her waist being encircled by another, and each of her arms by another, so that she was openly mentioned as “the kettle-drum.”