Brain Definition
- intellect
- thinker
- mind
- intellectual
- wit
- understanding
- sense
- intelligence
- Often used in plural: brainpower
- mentality
- einstein
- brainiac
- mastermind
- genius
- nous
(figuratively) To destroy; to put an end to.
To conceive in the mind; to understand.
- To exert or expend great mental effort:
She beat her brains out during the examination.
- Obsessively in mind:
The coach has winning on the brain.
- To explore another's ideas through questioning.
- To think long and hard:
I racked my brain for hours trying to recall her name.
- to be obsessed by
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Brain
- beat (one's) brains (out)
- on the brain
- pick (someone's) brain
- rack (one's) brain
- have on the brain
- pick someone's brains
Origin of Brain
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From Middle English brain, from Old English bræġen (“brain”), from Proto-Germanic *bragną (“brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mreghmno-, *mreghmo- (“skull, brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mreK- (“marrow, sinciput”). Cognate with Scots braine, brane (“brain”), North Frisian brayen, brein (“brain”), West Frisian brein (“brain”), Dutch brein (“brain”), Low German Brägen (“brain”), Bregen Ancient Greek βρεχμός (brechmos, “front part of the skull, top of the head”).
From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English brægen
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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