| 释义 |
brain-box, n.
Brit. |ˈbreɪnbɒks|, U.S. |ˈbreɪnˌbɑks|
[‹ brain n. + box n.2 Compare earlier brain-case n. at brain n. Compounds 2, brain-pan n.]
1.
a. The part of the body of a person or animal where the brain is located; the head, the skull (also colloq.); spec. the calvarium, the neurocranium.
Now rare in scientific use.
1823Edinb. Mag. July 70 He sparred for a hit, which he planted with ease and affection, Right on the brain-box of Neat. 1835Lady's Bk. Dec. 269/2 Those bumps which are supposed to be more numerous upon Ashentee and Irish skulls than upon any other specimen brain-boxes. 1884E. Coues N. Amer. Birds II. iv. 157 The Squamosal..bounds the brain-box laterally. 1900Daily News 19 Mar. 10/6, I had no more patience, but hit him on the brain-box with the copper stick. 1913Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 18 829 Earlier, historically, is noted the type having tall, heavy physique, and small flattened brain-box. 1929H. Basedow Austral. Aboriginal 95 Tribes south of Adelaide used human calvaria as drinking vessels. The facial skeleton of a complete skull was broken away so as only to leave the brain-box. 1931J. T. Saunders & S. M. Manton Man. Pract. Vertebr. Morphol. xii. 121 The brain-box and sense capsules form the neurocranium. 1949K. Amis Let. 9 May (2000) 203 Old B takes one hell of a crack on the brain-box, and is laid out for some time. 1956Incorporated Statistician 7 24 About twenty-nine measurements are taken on the skull alone, of which nineteen are on the calvarium (or brain-box). 1998P. Muldoon Hay 132 One blackfellow drew and fired..Into the cow-pony's head. A double spurt Of flame giving vent To a double spurt of brain from the brain-box.
b. colloq. (allusively). The brain as the seat of a person's intelligence or intellect.
1839S. Lover Hall Porter ii. i. 16 Tho. Jim, that's no go; she has summut in her brain-box, my boy. Jam. 'Fraid she has. What a bore a sensible gal is. 1851Littell's Living Age 12 July 53/1 These are samples of the details which editors of what many will call humble prints are expected to give in illustration of a minor branch of a single department of knowledge. Truly, their brainboxes had need be furnished on a liberal scale. 1891Bot. Gaz. 16 272 If a worker in the botanical vineyard..may be permitted to ask a question.., perhaps a little illumination may be graciously let into his unsystematic brain-box. 1945Tee Emm (Brit. Air Ministry) 5 38 Getting the general impression..to register in the old brain-box. 1983Listener 27 Jan. 25/2 What stretched this particular old brain-box—stretched it, indeed, into an extreme of incredulity—was the historical afterword tacked on to the end of the play. 2001Press (Canterbury, N.Z.) (Electronic ed.) 26 Feb. I haven't seen her for that long but I recognised her straight away. Something clicked at the back of the old brain-box.
2. colloq. In extended use: a control centre, a nerve centre; the part of a machine or device which controls its operation.
1876Centennial Newspaper Exhib. 197 Having surveyed the Publication Office, let us now ascend to the Editorial Department, or ‘Brain Box’, as printers call it, of the establishment. 1952R. P. Bissell Monongahela xix. 217 While the deckhand is tying off you jump down out of the brain box and knock the face wires loose. 1973Times 1 June 11/5 It tests the water every night, working its little two-inch square brain-box attached to the softener. 1997T3 Feb. 96/2 Just stand outdoors and the little brainbox scans the skies for the nearest GPS satellites. 2001Smarthouse Feb.–Mar. 24/1 The newly built show house..is not just a beauty—it also has a brain box. The communications cabinet on the wall of the cupboard on the first floor landing is the nerve centre for 3,000 metres of cable.
3. colloq. A very clever or well-informed person; a precocious or exceptionally diligent pupil.
1942B. Bandel Let. 20 June in S. J. Bugbee Officer & Lady (2004) 3 The other 8 are all Phoenix... One is an ex-physiotherapist & World War I veteran. She & the little redhead brainbox are the only 2 Phoenicians I would bet on. 1970D. H. Parker Schooling for What? xi. 203 Some of the world's outstanding criminals and dictators have been brain boxes who absorbed knowledge like a sponge. 1976M. Kenyon Brainbox & Bull i. 5 Among mates in the classroom... He was Brainbox. 1986Radio Times 2 Aug. 4/1 He..starred in last year's BBCtv play Time Trouble. ‘I played a brainbox child prodigy chess player.’ 1994Jrnl. Blacks in Higher Educ. No. 6. 72 At the right-hand bottom edge..is the small ‘cognitive elite’ of brain-boxes with IQs above 125. |