Meaning & origin

Where there's muck there's brass

2 sources
2 alternate wordings
3 usage examples

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Meaning

Dirty, unpleasant or unglamorous work can produce worthwhile profit or prosperity. Informal and often approving of practical enterprise, though it can also criticize profit made from pollution or squalor. Regional use: Northern England, especially Yorkshire and Lancashire; also known in Ireland.

Origin

Northern English 'brass' has long meant money. John Ray recorded the related idea 'muck and money go together' in 1678, and 'where there is muck there is money' appears in the 19th century. The familiar brass form is documented in industrial northern England in 1907 and became especially associated with Yorkshire and Lancashire enterprise.

Research Sources

References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.

'Where there's muck, there's brass': meaning and origin Word Histories
Where there's muck there's brass Cambridge University Press

Variants

Where there's muck there's luck
Where there's muck there's money

Usage Examples

The waste contractor built a thriving firm on the principle that where there's muck there's brass.
Where there's muck there's money, said the farmer as he sold another load of compost.
The old mill town knew that where there's muck there's brass, though the prosperity came at a cost.

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