brain
[noun]
Synonyms: mind, gray matter, head, upper story, upperworks, wit, intellect, intellectual, intelligence, brainpower, mentality, mother wit, sense

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. brain¹ S2 W2 /breɪn/ noun
[Language: Old English; Origin: brægen]

1. ORGAN [countable] the organ inside your head that controls how you think, feel, and move:
Messages from the brain are carried by the central nervous system.
the chemistry of the brain
the human brain
the right/left hemisphere of the brain (=the right or left side of the brain)
Emotional responses are a function of the right hemisphere of the brain.
She died of a brain tumour.
brain tissue/cell

2. INTELLIGENCE [countable usually plural, uncountable] the ability to think clearly and learn quickly:
If you had any brains, you’d know what I meant.
The job requires brains.
Something’s addled your brains (=made you confused).
Come on, use your brain, John.

3. PERSON [countable usually plural] informal someone who is intelligent, with good ideas and useful skills:
Some of our best brains are leaving the country to work in the US. ⇒ brain drain

4. FOOD [uncountable] (also brains [plural]) the brain of an animal, used as food

5. have something on the brain informal to be always thinking about something:
I’ve got that song on the brain today.

6. be the brains behind/of something to be the person who thought of and developed a particular plan, system, or organization, especially a successful one:
Danny’s definitely the brains of the project.

7. brain dead
a) in a state where your brain has stopped working properly, even though your heart may still be beating
b) informal in a state in which you seem stupid or uninteresting, especially because you live a boring life or are very tired

8. something is not brain surgery informal used to say that something is not difficult to do
⇒ bird-brain, hare-brained, ⇒ beat your brains out at beat¹(22), ⇒ pick sb’s brains at pick¹(7), ⇒ rack your brain(s) at rack²(2)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. brain² verb [transitive] informal
to hit someone very hard on the head – used humorously:
I wanted to brain him.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

brain
noun
I. part of the body
ADJ. human | left, right The left brain controls the right-hand side of the body.
BRAIN + NOUN cell, tissue | region | function, process | activity | damage, disease, disorder, failure, haemorrhage, illness, injury, tumour | scan | surgeon, surgery
PREP. in the/your ~ Doctors tried to reduce the swelling in his brain.
on the/your ~ He was found to have a blood clot on his brain. (figurative) He's got football on the brain (= thinks about nothing but football).
PHRASES blow your brains out While cleaning his shotgun he had accidentally blown his own brains out.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

brain
II. ability to think/intelligence
ADJ. fertile, fine, good, great, quick | muddled, tired My tired brain couldn't cope with such a complex problem.
analytical
VERB + BRAIN rack We racked our brains but we couldn't come up with a solution.
pick sb's (= ask sb for information because they know more about a subject than you) I need to pick your brains: what can you tell me about credit unions?
take It doesn't take much brain to work out that both stories can't be true.
BRAIN + VERB function, tick over, work It's important to keep your brain ticking over.
reel His brain reeled as he realized the implication of his dismissal.
register sth The stopping distance includes the time taken for the brain to register the need to stop.
BRAIN + NOUN power (also brainpower)
PREP. ~ behind the brains behind the robberies
PHRASES brains and brawn/brains and not brawn, etc. They relied on brains rather than brawn (= intelligence, not strength).
have a brain for sth She has a good brain for mathematics.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

brain

have brains
You should have more brains than to smoke.
use your brain
It’s easy if you just use your brain.
rack your brains (=try very hard to think of something)
If we all rack our brains we should come up with some ideas.
pick sb’s brains (=ask someone for ideas)
I thought I’d pick Greg's brains about what to take with us.
it takes/requires brains to do something
It takes brains to think of a plan like that.
something addles your brain (=makes you unable to think clearly)
The alcohol had addled his brain.
a good/quick brain
It was obvious that Ann had a good brain.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

brain
to strike a person on the head
The spectator was brained in the middle of the match with a tennis ball.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

brain
breɪn
See: beat one's brains out , blow one's brains out , on the brain , rack one's brain , get one's brains fried

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲