Brown Bess

noun

Brown Bess

noun

Etymology From an archaic meaning of brown, meaning plain or ordinary, and Bess, a nickname for Elizabeth associated with the lower class and prostitutes.

1

Informal The British Army's Land Pattern Musket or any of its derivatives, standard-issue weapons for British soldiers in the American Revolution.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.