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单词 brain
释义

brainn.

Brit. /breɪn/, U.S. /breɪn/
Forms: Old English brægen, Old English brægn, Old English bragen, early Middle English brachen, early Middle English braȝen, early Middle English brein, Middle English brawn, Middle English breine, Middle English breyn, Middle English breyne, Middle English–1500s brane, Middle English–1600s braine, Middle English–1600s brayn, Middle English–1600s brayne, Middle English– brain, 1600s breane; Scottish pre-1700 braen, pre-1700 braine, pre-1700 bran, pre-1700 brane, pre-1700 brawne, pre-1700 brayn, pre-1700 brayne, pre-1700 brean, pre-1700 breane, pre-1700 1700s– brain; Irish English (Wexford) 1700s brian, 1800s bryne.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian brein , (in compounds) brīn , brain (West Frisian brein ), Middle Dutch brāgen , brēgen , breyn (1477 in Teuthonista; Dutch brein , †brijne , †bryne ), Middle Low German brēgen (German regional (Low German) Brägen , Brēgen organ of thought, head, skull ( > German (northern) Brägen , Bregen brain of an animal used as food (chiefly in Brägenwurst ‘brain sausage’), (northern, colloquial and humorously) head, skull), German regional (East Friesland) brein organ of thought, head, skull), all denoting the organ contained in the skull of humans and other vertebrates, as well as that organ considered as the centre of mental activity; further etymology uncertain and disputed (see below). The word has no immediate cognates outside of continental West Germanic; in German and the Scandinavian languages, the word for ‘brain’ is the respective cognate of harn n.1A recurring suggestion is that the word is perhaps related to ancient Greek βρεχμός and its by-form βρέγμα , both in sense ‘forehead’ (see bregma n.). A. Liberman Analyt. Dict. Eng. Etymol. (2008) at cited word, as well as summarizing earlier scholarship, makes an alternative suggestion, that the word may be a borrowing from the presumed Celtic etymon of bran n.1, assuming that the word referred originally to the texture of the brain, and was perhaps a slang word in the donor language. Greater certainty seems highly unlikely in this instance. In sense 2b after classical Latin cerebrum cerebrum n. (in this specific sense in Pliny), in turn after ancient Greek ἐγκέϕαλος, transferred use of ἐγκέϕαλος brain (see encephalo- comb. form). In Old English a strong neuter (brægen ), with i-mutated stem vowel. A by-form with unmutated stem vowel (bragen ) is also occasionally attested; further evidence for this form appears in the field name Catesbragen , Wiltshire (13th cent.). Cat's brain is a very common field name in southern counties (occurring from c1200 onwards in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Surrey), and probably denotes a soil consisting of rough clay mixed with stones. It is unclear whether the place names Bregnesford , Worcestershire (11th cent. in a copy of a charter of 963; now Bransford), Bragefeld , Northamptonshire (1086; now Brafield-on-the-Green), Bragenfeld , Buckinghamshire (early 13th cent. in a copy of a charter of 967; now Cold Brayfield), show the same word. N.E.D. included the phrase of the same brain , but this was spurious, arising from a misreading of branne , a form of bran n.2
I. Senses denoting organic structures.
1.
a. The organ contained in the skull of humans and other vertebrates, consisting of soft grey or white tissue with (esp. in mammals) a conspicuously convoluted surface. Also (as a mass noun): the substance or tissue of this organ (comprising nerve cells and nerve fibres). Cf. grey matter n. at grey adj. and n. Compounds 1c(a), white matter n. at white adj. and n. Compounds 1g(d).The association of the brain with thought, sensation, and motion was recognized very early (cf. sense 3). It is now known to integrate and coordinate the activities of the nervous system, and to be the source of the advanced behavioural, emotional, and cognitive capabilities of humans and other mammals, in whom it reaches its greatest size and degree of complexity. The human brain is divided into larger anterior and smaller posterior portions (the cerebrum and cerebellum, respectively) and into right and left halves (hemispheres).See also forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain, etc. infundibulum of the brain: see infundibulum n. 2.mammalian, reptilian brain, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [noun]
brainOE
harna1154
member mandant1543
pia mater1592
encephalos1708
encephalon1741
sensorium1760
box1908
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xvii. 172 Þa ongunnon ða Iudei, hine eft torfian, mid heardum stanum, and heora an hine sloh, mid ormætum stencge, inn oð þæt bragen [OE Hatton 114 brægen].
OE Ælfric Gloss. (St. John's Oxf.) 297 Cerebrum, brægen [OE Corpus Cambr. bragen].
OE tr. Medicina de Quadrupedibus (Vitell.) ix. 260 Bares brægen gesoden & to drence geworh[t] on wine, ealle sar hyt geliðegaþ.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 736 His blod & his brain [c1300 Otho braȝen] ba weoren to-dascte.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 9164 King henryes brain & gottes & eyen ibured were At reins in normandie.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 1133 (MED) Þe emperour..smot nenny þoru þe helm somdel toward þe braine.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 1463 (MED) The wit and reson..Is in the celles of the brayn.
c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 75 (MED) He shal make þe ryuer rynne wiþ blode & wiþ brayn.
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. Biiij Rewarde youre hawke with the Brayne and the necke.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. B ij The membres of flematike complexion, as the brayne and nuche.
1577 Vicary's Profitable Treat. Anat. sig. B.ijv The Sinew..hauing his beginning from the braine, or from Mynuca, whiche is the marow of the backe.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 449 The convolutions of the Brain.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler 179 Pearch..have in their brain a stone. View more context for this quotation
1731 T. Apperley Observ. in Physick 31 Intercept but their Passage in the Nerve, and all Communication between that Part and the Brain, the usual Residence of the Mind, is lost.
1774 J. Priestley Inst. Relig. III. 196 The power of thinking depends..upon the brain.
1829 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. 2nd Ser. I. xv. 492 The power of thinking is no more in the brain than in the hair.
1872 J. H. Bennett Text-bk. Physiol. III. 495 Other substances have been found in brain, termed cerebrin, cerebrol, and cerebrote.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xxi. 662 Another feature of the mammal's brain is the thorough way in which it is bound into unity by bridges of nerve-fibres.
1980 H. Engel Suicide Murders (1985) iii. 22 Well, about an hour ago he put a bullet through his brain.
1994 S. Pinker Lang. Instinct xi. 364 All the evidence suggests that it is the precise wiring of the brain's microcircuitry that makes languages happen, not gross size, shape, or neuron packing.
2009 New Yorker 27 Apr. 35/3 Ampakines..target a type of glutamate receptor in the brain; it is hoped that they may stem the memory loss associated with diseases like Alzheimer's.
b. In plural in the same senses.Now usually as a mass noun, chiefly in Cookery.
ΚΠ
?c1400 tr. Secreta Secret. (Sloane) (1977) 11 (MED) Many heres and softe signyfies buxomnes and coldnes of braynes.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 139, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Leden Þer cummen nerues fro þe braine beringe compassioun of akkeþ led in fro þe wounde of þe place to þe braines.
1485 Malory's Morte Darthur (Caxton) iii. vi. sig. eiiij/v Sir gauayne smote hym so hard thorow the helme that it went to the braynes and the knyght felle doune dede.
1525 Anothomia in tr. H. von Brunschwig Noble Experyence Handy Warke Surg. sig. Aivv/1 Than within be ij. small fleces named dura mater and pia mater, than the substance of the braynes.
1584 G. Whetstone Mirour for Magestrates f. 26 These expert Shifters..wyll make their Purses as emptie of Money, as the Catte the Mouses headde of Braynes.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 5 b/2 The worthyest partes of the bodye, as the Braynes, Harte, Liver, or throte.
1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor iii. v. 6 Ile giue them leaue to take out my braines and butter them.
1622 in H. Johnstone Churchwardens' Presentments Pt. I: Archdeanery of Chichester (1949) 27 A litle childe had like to have her braynes beaten out with a cricket batt.
?1701 New Tract Cure Wounds 10 When there is a moving of the brain from its natural place..sometimes it is more gentle wherein no vessels are broken, sometimes more violent wherein the vessels are broken and the brains shaken.
1709 J. Sintelaer Scourge Venus & Mercury 222 He had his Skull open'd with a Trepanum twenty years after his Cure, when the Membranes of his Brains were found corroded and putrify'd.
1807 J. Barlow Columbiad vii. 269 All the tar-beat floor Is clogg'd with spatter'd brains and glued with gore.
1811 E. D. Clarke Trav. Var. Countries I. 506 They are well-tasted, but extremely greasy..; consisting of minced meat, or brains, rolled up in pancakes, which are afterwards fried in butter, or oil, and served hot.
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 441 Soon..does the lamprey push his tongue through the bony plates of the skull, and draw it back, with a sample of brains adhering.
1915 P. G. Wodehouse Something Fresh viii In his hour of affliction it soothed him to read of Hungarian Goulash and Escalloped Brains.
1966 J. J. Phillips Mojo Hand iv. 34 She joined the others at the door and received her food—brains and eggs, and a cake of dry grits.
1990 S. Morgan Homeboy lxii. 377 One of the other masked rioters crushed his skull with a fire extinguisher.., spurting brains like pulp from a burst fruit.
2004 M. Oke Times of our Lives 51 With every penny counting, perhaps you were served chitlings, sweetbreads, lights, braised heart, kidneys, tongue, brawn, brains and oxtail.
†c. Anatomy. The cerebrum, as opposed to the cerebellum. Cf. after-brain n. at after- prefix 3, petty-brain n. at petty adj. and n. Compounds 1a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > cerebrum
brain1578
cerebrum1615
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man v. f. 77v The quadruplication of Dura mater..lyeth betwene the brayne and Cerebellum.
1657 N. Culpeper & W. Rand tr. J. Riolan Sure Guide iv. i. 119 The contained, or internal [parts of the head], are the Brain, the Cerebellum, or petty brain, the four roots of the Spinal Marrow· and such Particles as are included in their Cavities.
1732 A. Monro Anat. Humane Bones (ed. 2) ii. 69 The Cranium..consists of several Pieces; which joined, form a vaulted Cavity for lodging and defending the Brain, Cerebellum, Membranes, and Vessels.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. III. 5 The cerebrum or brain, properly so called, the cerebel or little brain, and the oblongated marrow.
d. A principal ganglion or other part of the nervous system of an invertebrate that is considered to be comparable or analogous to the vertebrate brain.
ΚΠ
1685 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis (new ed.) i. 175 From the Head to the Tail, there are about thirteen large Nodes therein; which he [sc. Malpighius] conceives to be, as it were, so many little Brains.
1744 Philos. Trans. 1742–3 (Royal Soc.) 42 471 The prodigious Swiftness with which the Course of the Blood is accelerated in this Place [sc. near the head of a worm]; it seems as if it were darted forcibly into the Brain.
1799 B. Hunter Biogr. Medica I. 492 In the snail, the brain forms a circular nerve... In the insect the brain has a more compact form.
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. 5 It [sc. the nervous system of insects] originates in a small brain placed in the head.
1880 T. H. Huxley Crayfish iii. 105 A transversely elongated mass of ganglionic substance termed the Brain or cerebral ganglion.
1908 W. H. Gaskell Origin of Vertebr. iii. 147 There is a cartilaginous covering of the brain of cephalopods.
1965 J. D. Carthy Behaviour of Arthropods i. 7 (caption) Diagram of frontal section through the brain of a cricket.
2001 Nature 24 May p. ix/2 A novel neurogenetic study involving a temperature-sensitive dynamin gene has been used to look at the action of the mushroom body in the insect brain.
†2.
a. Bone marrow. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > substance of bones > [noun] > bone-marrow
marroweOE
braina1398
medulla?a1425
bone marrow1590
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. v. ii. 170 Alle þe schape of þe body haþ moysture of þe naisschnes of þe brayne [L. cerebri] þat is iclosed wiþinne þe boones.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Brayne, or marrow of the legge, musculus.
1898 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 10 68 The Indians believe that the pain of the disease is in the marrow, the ‘brain’ of the bones.
1913 H. Stewart Provinc. Russia ii. 35 The cold gets in under the clothes, then into the muscles, the bones, to the brain of the bones as is said.
b. The terminal bud of a palm tree, esp. a date palm; a palm heart. Obsolete (historical in later use) .
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > tissue > pith or soft internal tissue
marroweOE
pitheOE
flesh1574
fat1575
pulp1578
medulla1583
brain1601
matrix1633
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 386 These [date-trees] haue in the very head and top, a certain pleasant..marow, which they terme, The braine.
1707 tr. M. Dacier Life of Pythagoras lvii. 127 The Antients write, that the Bud which the Greeks call the Brain of the Palm-Tree, is very sweet to the Taste.
1791 tr. G. Mariti Trav. through Cyprus, Syria, & Palestine I. xxiii. 350 The palm tree is propagated by planting those shoots which arise from the root, or by sowing the stones of the dates, or a part of the germ of the top, called the brain.
1868 Hours at Home Apr. 493/1 It is, in fact, that brain of the date, which is celebrated in Athenæus as finding such acceptance among gourmêts.
1921 J. H. Kellogg New Dietics 274 Xenophon mentions palm cabbage as being a favourite among the young Greeks, who he says greatly enjoyed the ‘brain’ of the palm as well as its luscious dates.
II. Senses relating to function.
3.
a. The human brain (sense 1a) considered as the centre of mental activity; the organ of thought, memory, or imagination. Also in plural.cell of the brain: see cell n.1 7a; rule of brain: see rule n.1 Phrases 2h.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [noun] > as seat of mind
braineOE
pericranium1590
sensorium1613
brainpana1641
pericrane1682
pericrany1699
brain-box1816
memory box1832
think-tank1889
think box1910
thinking box1911
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xviii. 139 Ðæt feax ðonne on hira heafde getacnað ða uterran geðohtas, ðæt grewð & scinð ofer ðæm brægene, & his mon ðeah ne gefred.
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxvii. 222 Sio wamb sio ðe bið cealdre oððe wætre gecyndo oððe misbyrdo, him cymð brægenes adl & ungewitfæstnes him bið.
?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 9 Ad tornionem capitis. Þis ys se lacecræft be þan manne, þat hym þing[þ], þæt hyt turnȝe abotan hys heafod and farþ furwendun brachenum.
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 516 Þine ehnen schule doskin,..& of þi breines turnunge þin heaued aken sare [L. caput vertigine fatigatur].
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. x. l. 54 In Monnes Brayn he is most and mihtiest to knowe..whonne Blod is Bremore þen Brayn, þen is Inwit I-bounde.
c1410 (c1350) Gamelyn (Harl. 7334) l. 598 (MED) Þy drynk is not good; It wold make mannes brayn to lien in his hood.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 24 To grete feblenesse of her brayne.
c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Order of Fools (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 449 (MED) Bachus and Iuno haue set a-broche a tonne And brouht þe braynes on-to the exegent.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xx. 318 (MED) The[i] drinke..and trouble so theire braynes, that thei sette litill wacche.
1536 R. Morison Remedy for Sedition p. ii b Full of bones, but voyde of brayne.
1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 4 To doubt yt youre braine is distempered.
1604 King James VI & I Counterblaste to Tobacco sig. B4 The Nose being the proper Organ and conuoy of the sense of smelling to the braines.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 38 In his braine [printed braiue], Which is as drie as the remainder bisket After a voyage. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 91 Ye sacred Muses, with whose Beauty fir'd, My Soul is ravish'd, and my Brain inspir'd. View more context for this quotation
1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xx. 317 Their Ideas..will lie in the Brain unsorted, and thrown together without Order.
a1777 F. Fawkes tr. Apollonius Rhodius Argonautics (1780) ii. 91 In dizzy fumes involv'd, his brain runs round, And swims beneath his feet the solid ground.
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers ii. ix. 276 They make a continued chain of ideas coyled up in the brain.
1829 C. Knowlton Elem. Mod. Materialism xxviii. 367 Knowledge is as essential to intellectual superiority as a good brain; but a good brain will acquire knowledge with greater facility than a poor one.
1833 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Loire 234 He was affected by a reeling of the brain and a swimming of the eyes.
1845 B. Disraeli Sybil III. v. xi. 147 You have a clear brain and a bold spirit; you have no scruples...You ought to succeed.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. II. 512 Was that plan the conception of any one brain?
1902 W. S. Maugham Mrs. Craddock iii. 25 But Bertha's calm was merely external, her brain was in a whirl and her heart beat madly.
1969 J. Singer et al. tr. I. B. Singer Estate i. viii. 98 Fantasies tortured her brain. Sleep came in fits and starts, filled with spasmodic dreams.
1992 M. Anderson Impostors in Temple v. 147 I had known Thernstrom many years ago and there wasn't a racist thought in his brain.
2007 P. Goodliffe Code Craft 498 Don't feel obliged to write a test harness for every scrap of code. But don't forget to use your brain, either.
b. Intellectual power, intellect, sense, thought, imagination. Cf. brain power n. at Compounds 1a(b).From the 16th cent. often plural.addle-brain, bacon-brains, bird brain, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > [noun]
i-witc888
anyitOE
understandinga1050
ferec1175
skillwisenessa1200
quaintisec1300
brainc1325
cunning1340
reder1340
cunningnessa1400
sentencec1400
intelligence?1435
speculation1471
ingeny1474
cunningheadc1475
capacity1485
pregnancyc1487
dexterity1527
pregnance?1533
shift1542
wittiness1543
ingeniousness1555
conceitedness1576
pate1598
conceit1604
ingeniosity1607
dexterousness1622
talent1622
ingenuousness1628
solertiousnessa1649
ingenuity1651
partedness1654
brightness1655
solerty1656
prettiness1674
long head1694
long lega1705
cleverness1755
smartness1800
cleverality1828
brain power1832
knowledgeability1834
braininess1876
cerebrality1901
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 9389 (MED) Is brayn & wit is so feble þat þer nis of him no drede.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. l. 89 That is noght for lacke of brain.
c1450 J. Lydgate Secrees (Sloane 2464) l. 573 (MED) For lak of brayn they wern maad so wood Thyng to be-gynne which they nat vndirstood.
c1500 Piers of Fulham (Trin. Cambr.) in C. H. Hartshorne Anc. Metrical Tales (1829) 129 So is he begyled that stondith atte sterne, For the loodsman that shulde hem lerne, Lakkyth brayne, and also the lanterne is out.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) 1 Tim. vi. 4 He wasteth his braynes aboute questions.
1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (ix. 12) David did not vpon his oun brayn appoint God a dwelling place there.
1618 P. Holderus tr. J. van Oldenbarneveld Barneuel's Apol. sig. Giij Hee that hath any brayne, sees hee is not well in his wittes.
1654 J. Cleveland Idol of Clownes (new ed.) To Rdr. sig. A4v Tyler had no brains, he could not plot, nor contrive.
1679 J. Dryden Troilus & Cressida iv. ii. 49 With too much Blood, and too little Brain, these two are running mad before the Dog-days.
1743 A. Pope Ess. Man ii. 47 Tricks to shew the stretch of human brain.
1764 C. Churchill Candidate 2 Let Those, who boast the uncommon gift of brains, The laurel pluck.
1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene I. i. 7 Benjamin..was without exception one of the handsomest men that ever was seen... But Nature, who delights in a draw back, had contrived to leave him almost without brains.
1861 J. Brown Horæ Subs. 1st Ser. 171 ‘Pray, Mr. Opie, may I ask you what you mix your colours with?’.. ‘With brains, sir!’ was the gruff reply.
1921 H. C. Witwer Rubyiat of Freshman 23 What do you mean by getting engaged[?] I sent you to college to get brains not Janes.
1963 L. Biggle All Colors of Darkness xvi. 135 I thought no woman would ever have the brains to see it.
1989 S. Anglo in K. Cameron From Valois to Bourbon i. 9 He has been kept firmly in place as a Huguenot of little brain whose sole significance is that he dared write against one of the great men of the Renaissance.
2005 S. Lang Accidental Terrorist ii. 8 Men called Stevo and Anthill, or Davo and Bill, strong men with few brains who yet..had lives just as rich as his own.
c. figurative. See also sense 4.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > control > [noun] > direction > place from which operation is directed
brain1806
brain-box1876
control room1885
control centre1896
cockpit1936
control1958
1806 R. Bloomfield in Wild Flowers 28 Teach me unjust distinctions to deride, And falsehoods gender'd in the brain of Pride.
1861 M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France Introd. p. xxiii Frenchmen proclaim..Paris to be the brain of Europe.
1915 F. C. Howe Mod. City & its Probl. i. 5 The twentieth-century city is the brain of a cosmic machine.
1933 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 37 11 The control tower houses, as it were, the eyes and brain of the airport.
1993 W. H. Branson in A. Giovannini Finance & Devel. i. ii. 28 In this context, the financial sector is the brain of the economy.
2000 Wired Feb. 179/1 By partnering with young companies..that make so-called middle-office software to build intranet portals, Autonomy is aiming to become the language lobe in the evolving big brain of the modern corporation.
4. colloquial. A person.
a. the brain(s): the person in control , the directing intelligence, the mastermind; the cleverest person (in a group, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > high intelligence, genius > [noun] > person of superior intellect, genius
wit1508
angel1655
eagle wit1661
genie1676
prodigya1684
genio1684
mastermind1692
genius1711
athlete1759
the brain(s)1844
master-brain1857
gaon1892
supermind1903
poindexter1981
dexter1985
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen ii. 19 The accomplished Mysseri..was, in fact, the brain of our corps.
1873 B. Harte Mliss xv. 48 ‘You are already the brains of the firm,’ said the elder gentleman, ‘and soon you will be able to go alone.’
1925 H. Leverage Dict. Underworld in Flynn's 3 Jan. 693/1 Brains, the one who works out plans for a robbery.
1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom i. vi. 75 The Brain's got what it takes.
1958 Times 20 Jan. 5/5 Admiral Sir William Wynter, ‘the brains’ of the victory.
1965 M. Stonehouse J. W. North & Reform Frontier 59 Isaac Atwater and his Yale friend Shelton Hollister were the brains behind its composition.
1974 J. Baumbach Reruns 49 You were the brain in the class, remember?
1988 B. Orser Orser: Skater's Life iii. 106 Janice is the brains of the family and we all knew that she had the smarts.
1996 D. Pokhrela & A. Willett Shadow over Shangri-la 38 We have information that you were the brain of this kidnapping plot.
2006 R. Kelts Japanamerica (2007) viii. 197 He would be the brains behind the business, and Shoji Murahama..would be left to create the magic.
b. In plural. Usually with capital initial. A nickname for: a clever or studious person (sometimes ironic). Also as a form of address.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > name or appellation > [noun] > nickname or additional name > specific
sixpence1600
goody-two-shoes1785
stupid1790
stupe1855
brain1865
1865 Harper's Mag. Aug. 331/2 My name is Susan Mory, ma'am, but they mostly call me ‘Brains’. They say I've an old head to be on such young shoulders.
1913 G. L. Burton Tackling Matrimony ii. 27 She had a head on her, lots of sense, and read a lot, so everybody called her ‘Brains’.
1935 Boys' Life Oct. 36/4 No wonder he had acquired that nickname, ‘Brains’, that he had come to detest so!
1956 A. Gesell et al. Youth vii. 157/1 Hello, brains.
1986 R. Thomas White Dove xxi. 566 He was a slow-witted boy of nineteen... The other men teased him, calling him ‘Brains’.
2008 C. Morton-Shaw Hunt for Seventh ii. 23 Hey, Einstein!.. Come on, brains, your turn now.
c. A clever or studious person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > [noun] > intelligent person
wit1508
callent1637
intelligent1640
headpiece1647
intelligence1648
long head1744
intellect1842
sharpshins1883
brain1914
brain-box1942
brainiac1975
1914 W. Owen Let. 21 Dec. (1967) 309 This gentleman is, all round, an ‘interesting’ pupil, and what the French call ‘a Brain’.
1923 E. Wallace Captains of Souls xxxv. 197 I felt like a fourth form boy listening to a ‘brain’, and found myself being respectful!
1957 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 10 Feb. 11 Brain, a swot, a bookworm.
1988 A. Tyler Breathing Lessons iii. i. 193 ‘Tomorrow she leaves for college,’... ‘College! Well, she always was a brain.’
2006 P. Wolfe Choices 106 She's very pretty. And she's a real brain.
5. An electronic device that performs complicated control operations, calculations, etc., comparable to the activity of the human brain; spec. an electronic computer. Cf. electronic brain n. at electronic adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > computer > [noun] > electronic
brain1934
thinking machine1950
1934 Scoops 10 Feb. 15/2 An attempt to construct a mechanical man who can think..is to be made by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The ‘Brain’ of the new robot is an accomplished fact.
1945 War Illustr. 7 Dec. 492/1 The ‘brain’ of the shell is a fuse, a tiny radio set—transmitter, receiver and aerial all combined—in the nose of the shell.
1951 R. A. Knox Stimuli iii. xxi. 129 Recently the Press recorded the invention of a calculating machine... They called it a ‘brain’.
1978 N.Y. Mag. 3 Apr. 16/1 Donald Cammell's film takes place in the proximate future when a giant computer with a hypertrophic brain outwits the human beings running it.
1993 R. J. Pond Introd. Engin. Technol. (ed. 2) ii. 33 In manufacturing, the microprocessor is the ‘brain’ of the machine.
2001 S. Johnson Emergence iii. 114 Forget about gray matter and synapses. When someone like Wright says ‘giant brain’, he means a device for processing and storing information.

Phrases

P1.
a. to dash (also knock) a person's (or one's) brains out: to strike a person a blow that completely shatters the skull, to strike one's head so hard that the skull is completely shattered. Cf. to-dash v.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > kill [verb (transitive)] > by braining
braina1382
cervylle1483
to-brain1490
to dash a person's brains out1565
to blow a person's (also one's) brains out1730
c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) l. 3563 (MED) Wiþ his hint fot he him smot And to-daschte al is brain.]
1565 J. Hall Courte of Vertue f. 142 Some in a bushe would closely lurke For thys most fylthy gaynes, And wyth a club most murderously, Knocke out the true mans braynes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) i. i. 196 To knocke out an honest Athenians braines . View more context for this quotation
1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 178 [He] ranne his head at the wall with such a horrible force as he therewith dash'd out his braines.
1691 J. Dryden King Arthur i. i. 6 Lift high thy thund'ring Arm, let every blow Dash out a mis-believing Briton's Brains.
1731 Gentleman's Mag. 1 221/2 As Mr. Richards..was viewing a Windmill by Bow, the Sweeps turning of a sudden dash'd out his Brains.
1754 S. Foote Knights i. 14 If you tell Father, he'll knock my Brains out; for he says I'll disparage the Family.
1782 Young Philosopher I. xxxiv. 239 I retreated back a few steps, and catching up a large stone, I threatened to dash his brains out, if he did not leave me instantly.
1811 L. Aikin Juvenile Corr. xiii. 67 They began to beat him with great clubs, and soon knocked his brains out.
1852 S. Moodie Roughing it in Bush I. i. 3 He started up and knocked his head, for he was very tall, against the ceiling. ‘Confound your low cribs! I have nearly dashed out my brains.’
1864 Ld. Tennyson Boadicea 68 Dash the brains of the little one out.
1919 Outing Mar. 313/2 He then threw him down, set his foot upon his head, and scalped him alive; then took up one of the broken guns and knocked out his brains.
1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings i. ii. 39 Even with horses his touch was not held to be infallible: according to the Kálfsvísa he fell off one..at Lake Väner,..and according to Snorri fell off another at a sacrifice and knocked his brains out on a stone.
2003 V. O. Carter Such Sweet Thunder 512 For an instant Amerigo contemplated dashing his brains out on the rails below.
b. to blow a person's (also one's) brains out: to shoot a person (or oneself) in the head, to kill by a shot to the head.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > kill [verb (transitive)] > by braining
braina1382
cervylle1483
to-brain1490
to dash a person's brains out1565
to blow a person's (also one's) brains out1730
1730 Proc. Old Bailey 8 Apr. 13/2 I am sorry I did not blow your Brains out.
1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild iii. iv, in Misc. III. 210 Our Hero next applied himself to another of his Gang, who instantly received his Orders, and instead of hesitating at a single Murther, asked if he should blow out the Brains of all the Passengers, Coachman and all.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. vi. i. 223 A man's running in debt, and spending other people's substances, for no reason in the world but just because he can blow out his own brains when he's done.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. vi, in Fraser's Mag. Mar. 306/2 Establish himself in Bedlam; begin writing Satanic Poetry; or blow out his brains.
1889 G. Bishop Beachcombers (1900) xvi. 101 As soon's he stepped on the deck the skipper puts his revolver to his head an' blew his brains out.
1929 S. L. Cook Torchlight Parade iii. 29 Her name was coupled with Eaton's at this time and when the husband blew his brains out she married him.
1967 Esquire July 59 The new pornography depicts practitioners acting out another, murkier drive: people staving teeth in, ripping guts open, blowing brains out, and getting even with all those bastards.
2003 Sight & Sound Dec. 55/2 Whereas Hooper's gang of doomed teenagers pick up a jittery hitchhiker whose behaviour creeps them out so much they throw him from their van, his equivalent here blows her brains out in full view of the audience.
c. to fry a person's brain: see fry v.1 Additions.
P2.
a. to turn a person's brain: to make a person dizzy or giddy; figurative to disturb a person's mental balance, to make a person foolish or rash (cf. turn v. 33a).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > confuse, bewilder [verb (transitive)]
bewhapec1320
mara1350
blunder?a1400
mada1425
to turn a person's brainc1440
astonish1530
maskc1540
dare1547
bemud1599
bedazea1605
dizzy1604
bemist1609
muddify1647
lose1649
bafflea1657
bewildera1680
bother?1718
bemuse1734
muddlea1748
flurrya1757
muzz1786
muzzle1796
flusker1841
haze1858
bemuddle1862
jitter1932
giggle-
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 516 Þine ehnen schule doskin,..& of þi breines turnunge þin heaued aken sare [L. caput vertigine fatigatur].]
c1440 (?a1396) W. Hilton in G. G. Perry Eng. Prose Treat. (1921) 18 He..by vndiscrete trauellynge turnes þe braynes in his heuede.
1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 104 Cosimus, a kinde of charmed sower mares milke very forcible to turne the braine.
1663 S. Tuke Adventures of Five Hours iii. 34 Fortune has lifted me to such a Height Of Happiness, that it may Turn my Brain, When I look down upon the rest o'th' world.
1714 D. Manley Adventures of Rivella 59 Her Pride working to an excessive Height, soon turn'd her Brain.
1745 E. Young Complaint: Night the Eighth 26 An Eminence, though fancy'd, turns the Brain.
1816 W. Scott Black Dwarf v, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 115 Your plays and romances have positively turned your brain.
1852 J. H. Newman Callista (1856) xxvi. 235 Her friends say that the fright has turned her brain.
1905 Strand Mag. 30 790/2 ‘Poor child,’ said another woman; ‘the terror of the wolves has turned her brain.’
1932 E. Lasker Man. Chess iv. 168/1 And if he by chance had more time for it and in addition had genius for the game, to see through hundreds of variations would turn his brain [1927 heat his head].
2008 J. Komlosy Cracking Up x. 83 My mother was putting on her heeled shoes, which really worried me as the operation had obviously turned her brain. ‘You can't wear high heeled court shoes to climb hills and cross bumpy moors.’
†b. to bear a brain: to be able to think; to remember; to be cautious, thoughtful, or intelligent; (cf. bear v.1 5). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > have intelligence [verb (intransitive)]
to bear a braina1529
a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Diiiiv I counsell you bere a brayne.
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 120 Some Potestats..will by fittes [printed firres] beare a braine.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iii. 31 I had then laid wormewood to my dug... My Lord and you were then at Mantua, nay I do beare a braine . View more context for this quotation
a1652 R. Brome City Wit v. sig. Gv, in Five New Playes (1653) O my kind Brother, you have got the rich Widdow; and you have borne a brain Mother.
1693 G. Powell Very Good Wife iv. 29 Bear a Brain Monsieur Dancer, or I may chance shew you a cross Caper.
1763 C. Churchill Ghost iv. 189 The infidels at Court, Who make our City Wits their sport, Shall hail the honours of my reign, And own that Dullman bears a brain.
1773 E. de Franchetti Granny's Predict. 42 O! I do bear a brain, and I warrant, an I should live a thousand year, I should not forget it.
1808 W. Scott Marmion vi. xvi. 341 Eustace, thou bear'st a brain.
1830 J. Boaden Life Mrs. Jordan II. v. 108 To use a phrase of the great author, Kemble, one way, was qualified to act Falstaff,—he did ‘bear a brain’; he understood well what he said.
1884 R. Browning Ferishtah's Fancies 38 Justly would whoso bears a brain object ‘Giving is giving, gift claims gift's return.’
c. to pick a person's brain (also brains): see pick v.1 11d.
d. to have —— for brains and variants (with a worthless or disgusting substance specified): to be extremely stupid or foolish. Cf. to have shit for brains at shit n. and adj. Phrases 20.
ΚΠ
1800 W. Gifford Proc. Trial R. Faulder in Baviad & Mæviad (ed. 6) 146 Meaning that the said John had brickdust for brains.
1833 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 533 He must have saw-dust for brains, water for blood, and a heart, not of stone, but cut out of a boiled turnip.
1901 H. B. Fuller Under Skylights 287 Nobody but a man with cotton-batting for brains could ask a thing like that!
1979 P. Anthony Source of Magic v. 89 You tell him for me that he has bird droppings for brains.
2004 E. Reid D.B. xiii. 326 A kid, really, with a drug habit, an unpredictable temper, and soup for brains.
e. on the brain: being an obsession, obsessing a person. Frequently to have (also have got ) (something) on the brain.
ΚΠ
1838 Times 6 Jan. 6/2 The same thought stamped on the brain of every one, from him who wears a coronet to him who drives a costermonger's cart; same thought on the brain, same word on the tongue.
1862 E. C. Gaskell Lett. (1966) 698 Our poor people would get work, and..we should not be killed with ‘Poor on the Brain’, as I expect we shall before the winter is over.
1869 Congress. Globe Jan. 182/2 The Gazette seems to have the franking privilege ‘on the brain’.
1884 Cromer Let. 11 Mar. in Marq. of Zetland Lord Cromer (1932) ix. 100 I have got it on the brain that much writing is not a good thing for the moment.
1900 C. M. Yonge Mod. Broods i. 12 Child, I believe you have bicycles on the brain.
1911 A. Bennett Hilda Lessways ii. iv. 173 Tom..had for the moment got Beethoven on the brain.
1957 M. Spark Comforters v. 108 Caroline had it very much on the brain that her phantom should be outwitted in this one particular.
1981 P. T. Bauer Equality (1982) ii. 26 (heading) Class on the brain.
2005 S. Amick Lake, River & Other Lake xxvii. 115 We apologize for our under-boy there, Joslyn. Kid's got sex on the brain.
P3.
a. to busy one's brains: to spend time trying to think about something, esp. something considered trivial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > earnest attention, concentration > be absorbed in [verb (intransitive)]
buryc1380
porec1387
sinka1400
withgoa1400
founce1430
resta1500
intend?1504
to busy one's brains?1532
lose1604
immerse1667
to give into ——1692
to make a study of1884
?1532 J. G. tr. Myrrour or Lokynge Glasse of Lyfe xii. sig. h.iiiv His enemye the deuyll..is redy to busy his braynes about worldly maters.
1600 J. Lane Tom Tel-Troths Message 14 The Monkes like monkies hauing long blacke tailes, Tell olde wiues tales to busie simple braines.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 214 Let me rather busie my brains in quest of what a Magus was.
1718 C. Cibber Non-juror p. ii It may be necessary to divert the Sullen and Disaffected from busying their Brains to disturb the Happiness of a Government.
1796 G. Colman Iron Chest ii. ii. 51 What would you say, now, should a meddling knave Busy his brains with matters..Which concern you alone?
1837 F. Chamier Walsingham I. xiv. 273 When first I was taken to the Café, I busied my brains how I could turn it to account to avoid you.
1892 W. A. Ellis tr. R. Wagner Art-work of Future (1993) 143 Only the second- or third- rate poetasters..still busied their brains with the players.
1917 J. H. Moulton Treasure of Magi ii. v. 161 This will serve as a fair sample of the ingenuities with which the mediaeval Parsi Fathers busied their brains.
2007 K. Larson Reenchantment liii. 231 Especially those folks who busy their brains with talk of what's fair, as if that's the most important thing we need to consider in our lives.
b. to rack one's brains: see rack v.1 3d.
c. to puzzle one's brain(s): to think long and hard; see also to bother one's brains (also brain) at bother v. and int. Phrases 1a. Cf. puzzle-brain n. and adj. at puzzle v. Compounds. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 82 A hope of something after death? Which pusles the braine, and doth confound the sence.
1637 J. Shirley Hide Parke ii. sig. D3v Puzzle Your braine to make an Elegie.
1702 T. Brown Select Epist. Cicero 322 This treacherous Memory of mine has unhappily lost it, by the same token, I have puzzled my Brain, to no purpose, all this Morning, in hopes to recover it.
1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Oct. 68 Though he puzzled his Brain, in order to find out the Cause, yet he could never discover it.
1798 F. W. Haussner Phraseologia Anglo-Germanica 87/2 I puzzled my brains about this secret, but could not come at it.
1848 C. Kingsley Saint's Trag. ii. iii. 74 I puzzled my brains about choosing my line.
1870 ‘Ouida’ Puck III. iv. 95 From my dusky corner I watched, and wondered, and listened, and puzzled my brain.
1923 J. C. Tregarthen John Penrose xxx. 260 I puzzled my brain as to how I could wound his feelings.
1936 G. H. Hill Retreat from Death (2005) ii. 479 I puzzled my brains. The 11th of November! What could it be?
1978 J. T. Flexner Young Hamilton (1997) xi. 111 Hamilton undoubtedly puzzled his brain to determine the correct American strategy, but he was not consulted.
d. to cudgel one's brains: to make a tremendous effort to think about or remember something; see also to beat the brains at beat v.1 29a, to break one's brain at break v. 12b, to burst one's brain at burst v. 10.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > think [verb (intransitive)] > hard
to burst one's brainc1385
to break one's mind (heart)a1450
to break one's brain, mind, wind1530
to beat the brains1579
to rack one's brain (also brains, wit, memory, etc.)1583
hammer1598
beat1604
to cudgel one's brains1604
to bother one's brains (also brain)1755
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet v. i. 56 Cudgell thy braines no more about it. View more context for this quotation
1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xv. 131 When a gentleman is cudgelling his brain to find any rhyme for sorrow, besides borrow and to-morrow.
1898 Argosy Oct. 554 The captain cudgeled his active brain with the utmost vigor.
1949 F. Towers Tea with Mr. Rochester (1952) 156 I suppose you have friends all over the world cudgelling their brains what beautiful thing they can send you.
1998 Independent 23 Nov. ii. 5/6 No longer shall I cudgel my brains for a picturesque form of words describing oddness, when I have the phrase ‘He's as queer as Dick's hatband that went nine times around and wouldn't meet’.
e. to crack one's brain(s) (cf. crack v. 19): (a) (also to crack a person's brain(s)) to make oneself (or another person) insane, to drive mad; (b) to make a great effort to think about something.
ΚΠ
1630 W. Vaughan Newlanders Cure 8 Wee haue crackt our Braines, shortned our breathing faculties, corrupted our Liuer, inframed our Blood, and all with excesse of varieties of meates and drinkes.
1634 W. Laud Ann. Accts. Province in Hist. Troubles (1695) i. i. 531 I doubt his Violence hath crackt his Brain, and do therefore use him the more tenderly, because I see the Hand of God hath overtaken him.
1655 W. Rider Twins ii. i. 13 If I now should crack my brain with study.
1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 43 It would crack my brain to find so many whernesses there, to stow each of them in.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 526. ⁋3 Lest this hard student should..crack his brain with studying.
1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel I. viii. 216 ‘Romances have cracked her brain!’ said Dame Ursula.
1869 E. C. Stedman in N.-Y. Tribune Sept. 4/6 The sudden ruin had crazed his heart, Shattered his senses, cracked his brain.
1927 D. H. Lawrence Let. 9 Oct. (2000) 365 I nearly cracked my brains listening to the patter at the Marionette Theatre in the Kurhaus this afternoon.
1929 H. H. Richardson Fortunes Richard Mahony III. ii. i. 94 Nor need he crack his brains for a time over the problem of an education for the children in this wilderness.
1996 L. Goran Tales from Irish Club iv. ix. 115 Go to hell, Mahoney, the Jesuits cracked your brain.
2007 O. Thulesius Man who made Monitor iii. 26 He went to his drawing-board and cracked his brain for a solution.
†f. to drag one's brains: to search one's memory, to try hard to remember something. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 72 While I dragg'd my brains for such a song.
P4. Chiefly with reference to Shakespeare's uses.
†a.
hot brain n. Obsolete (a) an active or vivid imagination; (b) an acute intelligence.
ΚΠ
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xx. 732/1 Shee well knew that this Lambert was but an Idoll, hammered out of the hote braine of that Boutefew Richard Simon, yet she embraceth the occasion, countenanceth the Imposture.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 684 Here is more matter for a hot braine . View more context for this quotation
1840 N. P. Willis Romance of Trav. v. 214 Since Yvain's death, heaven knows what fancy he may bring hither in his hot brain!
1902 F. R. Stockton Kate Bonnet xxii. 231 It was in pursuit of a woman that every sail was spread, that the lookout swept the sea, and that the hot brain of the captain worked steadily and hard.
†b.
boiled brains n. Obsolete rare hot-headed young men.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. iii. 63 Would any but these boylde-braines of nineteene, and two and twenty hunt this weather? View more context for this quotation

Compounds

C1.
a. General attributive.
(a) Of the physical brain.
† brain atom n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1890 M. C. Keith Young Lady's Private Counselor xvi. 162 This change is no doubt a change which affects the entire brain atoms.
brain capacity n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > [noun] > capacity of
brain capacity1861
1861 All Year Round 1 June 239/2 The most essential difference [between the human and gorilla skeleton] is in the brain-capacity of the skull.
1936 Discovery Nov. 351/2 The largest [skull on record] is that of Turgenev, the Russian novelist, which had a brain capacity of 2,030 c. cm.
2006 C. Stringer Homo Britannicus Introd. 44 A skullcap even lower and flatter than the Neanderthal one, with huge brow ridges and a much smaller brain capacity.
brain condition n.
ΚΠ
1854 Jrnl. Psychol. Med. & Mental Pathol. 7 587 I think it assumes importance when viewed in association with the other brain conditions described in the post-mortem examination.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 399 We speculate on the brain-condition during all these different perversions of personality.
1999 Times 8 June i. 5/2 The court had heard that the child had been born with the brain condition hydranencephaly.
brain cortex n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > cortex
cortex1741
brain matter1809
brain cortex1867
roof-brain1940
1867 Biennial Retrospect Med., Surg., & Allied Sci. 1865–6 (New Sydenham Soc.) 76 Gummy deposits in the pia mater pressing upon the brain-cortex may produce atrophy and induration.
1939 H. Ansbacher et al. tr. K. Goldstein Organism i. 15 As our starting point, we are taking phenomena exhibited in man when the brain cortex is damaged.
1991 Acta Neuropathologica 81 552/2 Samples of the brain cortex were obtained during autopsy in nine cases of AIDS.
brain matter n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > cortex
cortex1741
brain matter1809
brain cortex1867
roof-brain1940
1809 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) III. 182 If any application..from you in my name can procure the due quantum of Brain-matter to be sent down to this Knight of the Empty Skull, I pray you, make it as soon as possible.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 865 The unstable condition of brain matter..is hereditary in the neuropath, and in the offspring of drunkards.
1961 W. R. Russell & M. L. E. Espir Traumatic Aphasia iv. 43 The wound was about 1 in. in diameter with extruding brain matter.
2001 Y. Berg Power of Kabbalah (2004) v. 181 All cells begin in an undifferentiated state. Our DNA then determines which cells will evolve to become internal organs, bone, brain matter, or other tissues.
brain softening n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [noun] > disorders of brain > softening of brain
softening of the brain1819
white softening1827
red softening1834
brain softening1844
1844 London Med. Gaz. 27 Dec. 414/2 Half the cases of brain softening are unattended with mental disturbance.
1883 Harper's Mag. June 125/1 Brain-softening or degeneration of the spinal cord.
1960 Language 36 100 The necrotic tissue degenerates; liquefaction (brain-softening) sets in.
2006 L. R. Caplan in L. R. Caplan & W. J. Manning Brain Embolism i. 4 The pathological findings included descriptions of brain softening and intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhages.
brain symptom n.
ΚΠ
1834 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 15 260 Has been quiet;..skin comfortable; brain symptoms greatly relieved.
1904 Lancet 30 Apr. 1182/1 In these instances the brain symptom is often the most prominent and sometimes the sole prominent symptom of the eye troubles.
2006 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 17 Nov. a31 As it is established that these mental illnesses..can be characterized in terms of brain symptoms, the false distinctions between them and cancer or heart disease will become impossible to sustain.
brain tumour n.
ΚΠ
1783 T. Holcroft Human Happiness 65 Tortur'd by brain-tumours.
1830 Lancet 23 Jan. 361/1 (heading) Disease of the brain-tumours of the corpus striatum and tuber annulare.
1920 Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. 52 456 A brother and sister both died of brain tumor.
2006 Daily Tel. 15 May 23/6 My recurring headaches were being caused not by a brain tumour but by overuse of codeine-based painkillers.
brain weight n.
ΚΠ
1866 Lancet 28 Apr. 459/2 The author establishes the ratio of the brain-weight of the sane in the two sexes.
1907 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 21 221 Brain-weight is influenced by many factors, including..body-build, state of nutrition and mode of death.
1994 S. Pinker Lang. Instinct ix. 288 Head size, brain weight, and thickness of the cerebral cortex..continue to increase rapidly in the year after birth.
(b) Of the brain as the seat of intelligence or imagination.
brain-ache n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > [noun] > a pang
stitch?c1225
prong1440
twitch?1510
pang1534
pincha1566
aculeusa1612
twinge1622
twang1721
tang1724
twinging1816
brain-ache1836
1836 Southern Literary Messenger Jan. 104/2 The presence of ambition—that brain-ache—would have made him [sc. Chatterton] miserable, had he lived beyond the green season of youth even to its gratification.
1862 E. Bulwer-Lytton Strange Story II. xxxiv. 280 His crown, with its brain-ache of care.
2000 M. Fitt But n Ben A-go-go p. xi Some readers may suffer a mild brain-ache from the novelty of seeing, for the first time, Scots words written down on the printed page but, after a few pages, such symptoms should quickly pass.
† brain-being n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > product of
chimera1587
brainbrat1630
brain-being1659
capriccio1678
whim1678
whimsy1712
caprice1721
1659 T. Fuller Appeal Iniured Innocence ii. 51 A meer Wit work, or Brain-Being, without any other real existence.
brainbrat n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > product of
chimera1587
brainbrat1630
brain-being1659
capriccio1678
whim1678
whimsy1712
caprice1721
1630 R. H. in J. Taylor Wks. sig. A3v One Bacchus, and some other Venus urges, To blesse their brain-brats.
1888 Homiletic Rev. Nov. 464/2 An ‘enterprising’ firm proposes to buy up ‘rejected manuscripts’ for print... The public intelligence does not feel that it is insulted, and will doubtless receive to its homes these outcast brain brats of nameless paternity.
1997 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 7 Aug. b1 The brainchild turned into a brainbrat, landing many more expensive players than generous sponsors.
† brain-fancy n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1650 M. à Vauts Husband's Authority Unvail'd 12 This cannot surely be through brain-fancies and airy Notions.
1837 R. H. Horne Death of Marlowe i. ii. 13 What's i' the wind?—nobleman, or gentleman, or a brain-fancy.
1921 J. C. Miller Veils of Samite 69 Never wild brain-fancies, flighty, Dragging men down with their lure.
† brain-giddiness n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > giddiness, empty-headedness > [noun]
giddiheadc1275
giddinessa1290
lighthead1340
vanityc1386
glaikitnessa1500
idleness1535
levity1564
emptiness1577
vainness1591
frivolousnessa1631
volageness1633
grollery1637
brain-giddinessa1652
desipience1656
desipiencya1682
frothinessa1716
inanity1756
frivolity1796
unpracticalness1828
unpracticality1840
bird-wittedness1854
scattiness1959
a1652 R. Brome Queenes Exchange (1657) iv. i The brain-giddiness of these wilful Lords.
brain labour n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > [noun] > process of thinking
i-thankc1000
thoughtOE
cogitation?c1225
thinkinga1382
imaginationa1393
pansing?a1505
beating1606
brainwork1606
brain labour1638
headwork1642
thought process1850
thought-action1860
thought-production1881
nutting1951
1638 R. Brathwait Surv. Hist. 82 What shall we judge of him, who without study or premeditation sets hand to paper: as if Works of that nature were onely Manuall, and no braine labour?
1696 tr. Present State Europe Apr. 124 It will cost a world of Brain-labour to get clear of so many Confessions and Detections of the Conspirators themselves.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 74 Prodigal of all brain-labour he.
1993 Computer Dealer News (Nexis) 8 Mar. 14 If a particular piece of software saves brain labor, fine. If not, why bother.
brain-lit adj. poetic
ΚΠ
1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 23 And Petrarch pale, Who from his brainlit heart hath thrown A thousand thoughts beneath the sun, Each perfumed with the name of One.
?1937 R. Jeffers Sel. Poetry (1938) 595 The star's on the mountain, the stream snoring in flood; the brain-lit drunkard Crosses midnight and stammers to bed.
brain power n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > [noun]
i-witc888
anyitOE
understandinga1050
ferec1175
skillwisenessa1200
quaintisec1300
brainc1325
cunning1340
reder1340
cunningnessa1400
sentencec1400
intelligence?1435
speculation1471
ingeny1474
cunningheadc1475
capacity1485
pregnancyc1487
dexterity1527
pregnance?1533
shift1542
wittiness1543
ingeniousness1555
conceitedness1576
pate1598
conceit1604
ingeniosity1607
dexterousness1622
talent1622
ingenuousness1628
solertiousnessa1649
ingenuity1651
partedness1654
brightness1655
solerty1656
prettiness1674
long head1694
long lega1705
cleverness1755
smartness1800
cleverality1828
brain power1832
knowledgeability1834
braininess1876
cerebrality1901
1832 New Monthly Mag. 34 453 Phrenology, indeed, teaches the more comfortable doctrine of greater equality in brain power than is usually supposed.
1878 J. D. Hooker & J. Ball Jrnl. Tour Marocco 150 By their superior brain-power.
1985 T. O'Brien Nucl. Age ix. 181 The best weapon is brain-power.
2008 H. Engel-Smothers & S. M. Heim (title) Boosting your baby's brain power.
b. Objective.
(a)
brain-wright n.
ΚΠ
1602 J. Davies Mirum in Modum sig. B2v The Brayn-wrights skill, And wisdome infinite.
1886 Western Antiquary Mar. 239/1 Everybody, nowadays, must write a book, either for pay or popularity; and hence we have a host of mere book-bunglers..or scrappy compilers, instead of painstaking observers and honest and studious brain-wrights or genuine book-thinkers.
1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 37/2 Brain-wright, 1) Someone who does the thinking for another who is perhaps deemed to be less intelligent or capable... 2) Someone who comes along to keep you company when you are agreeing a contract or deal, in order to give a second opinion or to listen in to make sure the wool isn't being pulled over your eyes.
(b)
brain-breaking adj.
ΚΠ
1664 T. Killigrew Comedies & Trag. 117 A pox on such brain-breaking thoughts.
1683 W. Kennett tr. Erasmus Witt against Wisdom 86 All this to purchase the aiery commendations of a few understanding Readers, which at most is but a poor reward for all their fastings, watchings, confinements, and brain-breaking tortures of Invention.
1778 Trip to Melasge II. xxv. 184 Any skull-cracking, brain-breaking, puzzling..folio.
1892 T. A. Pinkerton New Saint's Trag. iii. 39 All concerned had jumped at ‘Posy’ for the next arrival, and had fervently hoped there was to be no more of such brain-breaking work.
1908 B. Harraden Interplay xiv. 155 Was she perhaps reading that brain-breaking volume of Political Economy?
2007 Daily Record (Nexis) 2 Nov. 71 Other games give you tooled-up uber-hunks, brain-breaking puzzles, speed, action and blood.
† brain-crazing adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1796 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) I. 190 My present brain-crazing circumstances made this an improper time.
1884 Current (Chicago) 8 Mar. 170/1 People are not as fond of the brain-crazing liquid as the manufacturers imagine.
1919 Los Angeles Times 23 June ii. 4/2 These heart-breaking and brain crazing problems that harass, distress and distract the world now will be seen to be no problems at all.
brain-fretting n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1857 Graham's Illustr. Mag. Apr. 362/2 The best refuge from nervous irritability and brain-fretting..is a glass of Scotch ale before going to bed.
1862 J. Pycroft Agony Point (ed. 2) xxxviii. 339 The truth was, Tom Langley..had been so long sapping and exhausting his nervous energy by the predominance of one brain-fretting trouble—with meals not relished nor rest enjoyed for weeks and months—that he positively required the doctor to set him up again.
1959 P. Wayne tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust Pt. II i. 43 How, workers misjudging, Would these keep their state, With all their brain-fretting?
brain-picker n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > [noun] > one who carries out
delverc888
trier1547
scrutinist1669
brain-picker1810
seeker after truth1840
burrower1854
researcher1883
researchist1901
1810 Lady Lyttelton Let. 11 Feb. (1912) 94 He will meet a formidable body of brain-pickers.
1963 Times 25 Mar. 15/1 Very successful farmers are apt to be inveterate brain-pickers.
1992 Chicago Tribune 28 Oct. i. 3/1 He's a hired brain-picker trying to figure out what your personal fears, hopes or prejudices are, so that he can advise a politician how to more skillfully lie to you.
brain-picking n. (see to pick a person's brain at pick v.1 11d).
ΚΠ
1843 Knickerbocker Oct. 382 Observe the wisdom of the ensuing sentence, illustrating that sort of brain-picking which some persons resort to.
1971 Times 3 May 3/3 It was, I learnt, the product of much thought, a good deal of brain-picking and some manipulation of balsa wood models.
2006 C. Langston Bicoastal Babe xvi. 154 It's time to do some serious brain-picking.
brain-purging adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations for treating specific parts > [adjective] > for the brain
brain-purging1616
1616 B. Holyday tr. Persius Sat. 317 Brain-purging, hellebore.
1782 Dear Variety 88 Take a brain purging dose of the country air.
2003 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 9 May d7 The result of all that brain-purging was a new set of eyes and an open mind, which is sort of what Gerry represents.
brain-racking adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > [noun]
tintreghc893
threat971
piningOE
murderOE
anguish?c1225
woea1250
pinec1275
tormentc1290
languorc1300
heartbreakc1330
surcarkingc1330
martyrement1340
threst1340
agonyc1384
martyrdomc1384
tormentryc1386
martyre?a1400
tormentisec1405
rack?a1425
anguishing1433
angorc1450
anguishnessa1475
torture?c1550
heartsickness1556
butchery1582
heartache1587
anguishment1592
living hell1596
discruciation1597
heart-aching1607
throeing1615
rigour1632
crucifixion1648
lancination1649
bosom-hell1674
heart-rending1707
brain-racking1708
tormentation1789
bosom-throe1827
angoisse1910
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > cause of mental anguish or torment > [adjective]
anguishous?c1225
wounding?c1225
asperc1374
derflya1400
rending?c1400
furiousc1405
fretting1413
piercingc1450
anguish1477
piquant1521
anguishing?1566
plaguing1566
asperous?1567
agonizing1570
tormenting1575
wringing1576
cutting1582
tormentous1583
tormentful1596
tormentuous1597
racking1598
torturous1600
lacerating1609
torturing1611
tearinga1616
heart-aching1620
breast-rending1625
crucifying1648
tormentative1654
martyring?a1656
tormentive1655
discruciating1658
cruciatory1660
anguishful1685
brain-racking1708
probing1749
agonized1793
anguished1803
harrowing1810
vulnerary1821
grinding1869
torturesome1889
wrenching1889
tortuous1922
1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 23 Oft at Midnight Lamp [I] Ply my brain-racking Studies.
1764 J. Grainger Sugar-cane iv. 160 The muse, at midnight-hour, This last brain-racking study had not ply'd.
1840 Mechanics' Mag. 19 Sept. 315/1 I could not help thinking..how much deep thinking and brain racking is excited in statement, answer, and replication.
1892 ‘M. Twain’ Amer. Claimant i. 4 My very footfalls time themselves to the brain-racking rhythm.
1964 D. Hymes in Transcultural Stud. in Cognition 34 The nights of beer drinking and brain wracking spent in the Rainbow Café at the edge of Warm Springs reservation.
2001 M. Coleman Snog Log (2009) 102 An OM-free Sunday lunch, an OM-present but gloweringly silent supper, and a brain-racking evening went by before he got it.
brain-smoking adj.
ΚΠ
a1654 J. Selden England's Epinomis iii. §19 in Tracts (1683) Brain-smoaking liquors.
2005 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 14 July 6 When we think of classic comic animation as a reality-defying genre..it's probably the eye-popping, brain-smoking, tongue-rolling, gravity-defying world designed by Fred ‘Tex’ Avery that we have in mind.
brain-spattering adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > [adjective] > braining or brained
brain-spattering1823
disbrained1884
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IX iv. 7 War's a brain-spattering..art.
1996 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 14 June e3 The zombies can only by killed by disgusting, brain-spattering blows to the head.
c. Instrumental and locative.
(a)
† brain-begot adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1833 T. Hood in Comic Ann. 11 No fancy-motion, brain-begot, In eye of timid dreamer.
1884 T. C. Baring tr. Lucretius Scheme of Epicurus v. 272 And life without an end they gave these creatures brain-begot.
brain-born adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > [adjective] > imagined or visualized
presenta1393
conceivedc1425
imaginate1533
conceited1543
imaginedc1550
surmised1578
coined1582
brain-spun1595
brain-born1596
fustian1601
brain-bred1606
humoured1613
imaged1718
visual1817
visualized1817
1596 C. Fitzgeffry Sir Francis Drake sig. B5v Joves braine-borne Pallades.
1765 H. Fuseli tr. J. J. Winckelmann Refl. on Painting & Sculpt. Greeks 4 Ideal beauties, brain-born images.
1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II ii. vii. 64 With brain-born dreams of evil.
1905 Ohio Educ. Monthly May 240/1 Louisa M. Alcott..was the literary mother of ‘Little Women’, ‘An Old-fashioned Girl’, ‘Jack and Jill’, and other brain-born children that are still the loved companions of our own boys and girls.
2008 R. C. Fuller Spirituality in Flesh (Introd.) 19 Brain-born ideas that take a religious form are especially suited to a variety of human needs and interests that are part of the (biologically evolved) human condition.
† brain-bred adj. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > [adjective] > imagined or visualized
presenta1393
conceivedc1425
imaginate1533
conceited1543
imaginedc1550
surmised1578
coined1582
brain-spun1595
brain-born1596
fustian1601
brain-bred1606
humoured1613
imaged1718
visual1817
visualized1817
1606 J. Davies Bien Venu sig. C4 Ye braine-bred Goddesses most sacred Scribes.
1630 J. Taylor Wks. iii. 122/2 His braine-bred Daughter.
1747 W. Blackstone Pantheon 8 Ten thousand hideous brain-bred forms.
1871 R. Phillips Story of Gaútama Buddha 3 No brain-bred hero, red with dragon's gore.
1913 T. M. Browne Drake's Bay 129 Thou an ear attentive lending Then shalt hear How thy brain-bred mists to banish, How to make thy phantoms vanish.
brain-cracked adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
a1652 R. Brome Queenes Exchange (1657) iii. sig. D2v/2 I fear he's brain-crack'd, lunatick.
1780 J. Howie in M. Shields Faithful Contendings Serm. 103 They are fanatics and brain-cracked, giddy-headed bodies.
1843 Ladies' Garland Mar. 268/1 It is the sickly sentimentalities—lachrimoneous lamentations..and unreasonably blind attachments of brain-cracked swains, and soft headed maidens—which are ridiculous.
1998 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 22 July 57 The implementation of so-called ‘quality’ standards egged on by even more braincracked environmentalists will cause further headaches for our farmers and increased employment opportunities for our Whitehall food enforcement police.
brain-crazed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
1632 R. Brome Northern Lasse i. v, in Wks. (1873) III. 11 The Master and the man both brain-cras'd.
1871 E. D. E. N. Southworth Cruel as Grave xiii. 132 There was never a tender glance..passed between the false flirt and the fascinated husband, that was not seen and heard by the heart-broken, brain-crazed young wife!
1988 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 20 Jan. c6 The heroes team up with a dipsomaniac doctor..and are careening around town..pursued by brain-crazed zombies.
brain-spun adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > [adjective] > imagined or visualized
presenta1393
conceivedc1425
imaginate1533
conceited1543
imaginedc1550
surmised1578
coined1582
brain-spun1595
brain-born1596
fustian1601
brain-bred1606
humoured1613
imaged1718
visual1817
visualized1817
1595 tr. G. de S. Du Bartas First Day of Worldes Creation 19 Now go vaine Greece, and weaue heauens curtaincloth Of braine spun threads, such as thy quintessence.
1832 J. C. Hare in Philol. Museum 1 643 Brain-spun systems of metaphysics.
1907 O. Elton Mod. Stud. v. iv. 145 Dr. Courthope's account of the historic setting is not in the least brain-spun or capricious; it is solidly based and charged with learning.
2003 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 30 Mar. 26 These brain-spun fancies were far removed from the long ache of the flesh we were experiencing.
† brain-strong adj. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [adjective] > wilful
onwileOE
wilfulc1200
willesfulc1225
headstronga1398
wilsomea1400
headya1425
overthrowing?a1425
self-willya1425
self-willedc1450
sensual1524
wayward1528
headish1530
affectionate1534
self-will1562
strongheaded1579
hard-mouthed1610
brag-brained1648
self-wilful1648
overwilled1650
will-strong1654
cobby1785
willyart1791
brain-strong1863
1863 G. W. Dasent in North Brit. Rev. 39 533 True it is, as the saw goes, ‘Bairns are brain-strong’.
(b)
brain-worker n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > non-manual worker > [noun] > one who works with his brains
head-worker1829
brain-worker1844
knowledge worker1962
1844 Christian Teacher 6 255 To remove this fear from aspiring youths, a list is given of the longevity of the brain-workers.
1878 M. L. Holbrook Hygiene Brain 91 A farmer may be a brain-worker.
1991 Reason Dec. 47/1 The people now adding the most value to U.S. corporations are brainworkers, whether entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, software experts, marketers, or consultants.
C2.
brain axis n. the brainstem; (also) the longitudinal axis of the brain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > brain-stem
brainstem1874
brain axis1887
1887 Amer. Naturalist 21 545 In both genera (and apparently also in Lepidosiren) they lie in the plane of the general brain-axis.
1911 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 July 80/2 It [sc. epidemic poliomyelitis] is an infectious—if not contagious—disease which may involve the lower portion of the brain axis as well as the spinal cord.
1998 H. Wicht & R. Nieuwenhuys in R. Nieuwenhuys et al. Central Nerv. Syst. Vertebr. I. xi. 504/2 The brain axis is straightened out in later developmental stages, so that the telencephalic and the diencephalic hemispheres come to lie in front of the mesencephalon.
brain ball n. Irish Mythology the brain of an enemy slain in combat made into a ball by mixing it with lime and preserved as a trophy.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > victory > [noun] > sign of victory > enemy's head, brain, or scalp
scalp1601
sculp1743
brain ball1841
shrunken head1875
tsantsa1923
1723 D. O'Connor tr. J. Keating Gen. Hist. Ireland 185 Ceat..placed his Ball of Brains in a Sling.]
1841 C. Otway Sketches in Erris & Tyrawly i. 17 He had heard that Connor, king of Ulster, had a brain ball of great celebrity,—for it was composed of the kernel of the finest and thickest skull that ever bore a blow of a battle-axe in Erin.
1907 Folk-lore June 228 Mesgegra's brain-ball, an object that could be slung from a sling.
2000 R. L. Eickhoff Raid (rev. ed.) iii. 67 Cúchulainn climbed into the chariot, kicking away a bag of brain balls made from the lime-soaked brains of his victims.
brain-break n. (a) something that overstretches the brain; (also) an overloading of the brain; (b) a time of rest from using the brain.
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1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 158 If otherwise, look for brain-breaks from such kind of killing things as these; As an infinite tale of years to have run before the time in which the world, as 'tis, began.
1899 Alienist & Neurologist 20 121 Brilliant, beautiful, little Victory Bateman is an example of pure and simple brain-break under crushing overwork and brain strain that ought to have been spared her.
1994 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 25 Apr. c1 Viewers tune for a brain-break, and more laughs each week than Seinfeld and Simpsons put together.
brain bucket n. slang (a) the skull or head (rare); (b) originally U.S.A.F. a protective helmet.
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1856 Flag of our Union 9 Aug. 255/4 He fetched me such a clip on top of my brain-bucket as to drive all my senses clear down into my boots.
1954 Spokesman-Rev. (Spokane, Washington) 31 Mar. 1/4 ‘A plumber ought to keep his brain bucket on because he's likely to wind up in a prang.’.. In ordinary language it means, ‘A stupid pilot ought to keep his crash helmet on because he is likely to end up in an accident caused by pilot error.’
2004 M. Nykanen Bone Parade viii. 81 Her old helmet had been the principal casualty... The shop had given her this one, and mounted the old brain bucket under a photograph of her atop the winner's stand.
brain buster n. a particularly difficult problem or puzzle.
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1924 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 25 Nov. (Daily Mag. section) 4/1 Neophyte..must have heard the groans from the breasts of puzzlers poring over his brain-buster.
2003 J. L. Hein Discrete Math. vi. 377 Some proofs are straightforward, while others can be brain busters.
brain candy n. †(a) (apparently) a type of candy (obsolete. rare); (b) colloquial (originally and chiefly North American) broadly appealing, undemanding entertainment which is not intellectually stimulating; cf. ear candy n. at ear n.1 Compounds 2.
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1895 Bangor (Maine) Daily Whig & Courier 30 Jan. (advt.) Fox & Co. will sell ‘Brain Candy’ the rest of the week for 20 cents a pound.
1968 Chicago Tribune 22 Nov. ia. 5/1 The westerns, spies, and situation comedies that now fill viewers with brain candy.
2003 M. N. Beck Joy Diet x. 217 The same thing goes for every other type of brain candy, from gossipy magazines to silly cartoons to weird websites.
brain-cap n. now rare the skull; spec. = calvaria n.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > parts of skull > [noun] > top of skull
crownc1275
scalpa1300
calvaria1398
crany1525
crane?1541
cranium1543
brain-cap1812
skull-cap1855
1812 Spirit Irish Wit 58 [A guest] had swallowed an enormous quantity of wine, with just as much effect upon his brain-cap as if it had been poured into any other vessel in the apartment.
1895 A. H. Keane Ethnol. iii. 46 The brain-cap of many savages has been found to be larger and heavier than that of some higher races.
1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Grey Granite iii. 176 The bobbies wouldn't spare pickets now except to bash in their brain-caps, maybe, after seeing one of their lot on the ground.
brain cell n. a neuron forming part of the brain.
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the world > life > the body > nervous system > substance of nervous system > [noun] > nerve cell > types of
nerve vesicle1839
brain cell1848
stellate cell1870
Purkinje cell1872
neuroblast1878
touch cell1878
Golgi('s) cell1892
memory cell1892
astrocyte1896
astroblast1897
motor neuron1897
cytochrome1898
stichochrome1899
monaxon1900
basket cell1901
relay neuron1903
internuncial neuron1906
sheath cell1906
motoneuron1908
adjustor1909
satellite1912
microglia1924
oligodendroglia1924
sympathicoblast1927
pituicyte1930
oligodendrocyte1932
sympathoblast1934
sympathogonia1934
interneuron1938
Renshaw cell1954
1848 Monthly Retrospect Med. Sci. Mar. 25/2 The third layer is formed of brain-cells embedded in soft fibres.
1922 ‘E. Queen’ Siamese Twin Myst. xvii. 275 I've been working the old brain-cells overtime since last night.
1954 I. Asimov Chemicals of Life iii. 34 A baby is born with all the brain cells, for instance, that it will ever have.
2009 Daily Tel. 6 Oct. 15/8 Researchers say that an injection of minocycline immediately after a stroke can reduce damage to brain cells by as much as two thirds.
brain centre n. a region of the brain associated with a particular function; also figurative; cf. nerve centre n. at nerve n. Compounds 2.
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the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > as (supposed) seat of faculty
cella1393
cellulea1400
emporium1683
organ1806
brain centre1844
1844 Lancet 21 Sept. 787/1 I do not fear to avow my opinion that in the main the excito-motory doctrine referring to spinal marrow (instead of brain-centre exclusively)..is absolutely an error.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 1/3 From its brain-centre in the middle of the floor of the New York Stock Exchange the recording instruments of the Exchange Company print out continuously the news of the transactions.
1974 M. W. Fox Understanding your Cat (1992) iii. 65 This organ in the rabbit connects up to the amygdala, a brain center associated with sexual and aggressive..reactions.
2003 Science 7 Feb. 847 (caption) These neurons connect with second-order neurons in other brain centers.
brain chamber n. †(a) the brain or skull as a receptacle or repository (obsolete. rare); (b) the cranium; (c) a ventricle of the brain.
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the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun]
brain chamber1839
1839 Foreign Q. Rev. July 293 We must teach the living plant to grow, not load the brain-chamber merely with volumes of barren memories.
1870 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 14 3 Axial element of the brain chamber a single membrane bone, the parasphenoid.
1922 R. E. Blount Health xii. 193 The germs of infantile paralysis also are thought to invade the brain chamber by way of the nerves of smell.
1987 Cell 50 82 (caption) Sagittal section through a 10.5 day mouse embryo, with the brain chambers indicated.
1996 F. Popcorn & L. Marigold Clicking iii. 461 Someday, there will be tiny computer chips that you can buy—or rent—to insert/implant into one of your own brain-chambers that's been made ready by surgery.
brain chart n. a map or diagram of how a brain functions (also figurative).
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1863 M. I. Brotherton Respectable Sinners I. i. xiv. 214 Besides, and above all, he had not lived with his pretty sister-in-law for two years, and failed to draw her brain-chart pretty accurately.
1870 W. E. Gladstone Primer of Homer (1878) 61 The poetical unity of Homer's brain-chart.
2001 Standard (St. Catharines, Ont.) (Nexis) 22 Feb. b2 Julie scans a brain chart and intuits that Stu is trapped in a ‘nightmare loop’.
brainchild n. colloquial the product of a person's mind; an idea or invention that is the creation of a particular person, organization, etc.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > [noun] > creative design or product
findalOE
ideaa1586
conception1587
creationa1616
birth1625
brainchild1631
constructurea1652
notion1742
construction1796
baby1890
1628 R. Hayman tr. J. Owen Certaine Epigrams i. 8 in Quodlibets All my braines Children fraile and mortall be.]
1631 B. Jonson New Inne i. i. sig. B A brayne-child o'mine owne! and I am proud on't!
1779 C. Murray Exper. Prol. Tonight, this modern practice I disown, My task's to introduce a brain-child of my own.
1881 Househ. Words 1 Oct. 450/2 The brain-children [i.e. novels] of the illustrious dead.
1920 P. G. Wodehouse Jill the Reckless xvii. 312 The almost maternal yearning to see his brain-child once more, which can never be wholly crushed out of a young dramatist.
1958 J. Cannan And be Villain iv. 81 How well I know that filing system. It was my own brain-child.
2001 Farm Industry News mid-Feb. 79 The brainchild of a Kansas wheat farmer, Machinerylink lets you buy, sell, share or trade machinery online.
brain chip n. a computing device incorporating a microchip, implanted into a brain in order to augment its function.
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1976 New Scientist 1 Apr. 56/3 Present theories of the brain suggest that it is ‘wired’ at random, and learns to think and function by reinforcing those nerve pathways which happen to lead to sound results. The Dreadco ‘brain-chip’ will act the same way.
1996 M. Dery Escape Velocity iv. 162 Implanted with a brain chip or genetically engineered to expand its cortical capacity to supercomputer proportions.
2009 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 13 July Fitting a monkey with a hi-tech brain chip,..scientists in the US have been able to teach the non-human primate to move a complex robotic arm using mind control.
brain coral n. a living or fossil scleractinian coral of the family Faviidae, forming large spheroidal masses with surface grooves that resemble the convolutions of a human brain; cf. brain stone n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > genus Meandrina > member of
brain stone1681
brain coral?1711
meandrite1802
meandrine1950
?1711 J. Petiver Gazophylacii VII.–VIII. Table 68 Common American Brain Corall... So call'd for its likeness to humane Brains.
1889 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1888 303 The brain coral (Diploria) and various gorgonians develop here in great profusion.
1936 F. S. Russell & C. M. Yonge Seas (ed. 2) vii. 162 The well-known Meandrina or Brain-coral.
2004 Sport Diver Aug. 100/2 Divers are guaranteed an encounter with..the largest brain coral ever recorded in the Caribbean.
† brain crack n. Obsolete a whimsical or eccentric notion.
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the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [noun] > capriciousness > a caprice or whim
fantasya1450
wantonness1531
humour1533
worm?a1534
will1542
toy?1545
whey-worm1548
wild worm1548
freak1563
crotchet1573
fancy1579
whim-wham1580
whirligig1589
caper1592
megrim1593
spleen1594
kicksey-winsey1599
fegary1600
humorousness1604
curiosity1605
conundrum1607
whimsy1607
windmill1612
buzza1616
capriccioa1616
quirka1616
flama1625
maggota1625
fantasticality1631
capruch1634
gimcrack1639
whimseycado1654
caprich1656
excursion1662
frisk1665
caprice1673
fita1680
grub1681
fantasque1697
whim1697
frolic1711
flight1717
whigmaleery1730
vagary1753
maddock1787
kink1803
fizgig1824
fad1834
whimmery1837
fantod1839
brain crack1853
whimsy-whamsy1871
tic1896
tick1900
1853 W. M. Thackeray Eng. Humourists ii. 101 What would Sir Roger de Coverley be without..his charming little brain-cracks?
1912 Proc. Amer. Medico-psychol. Assoc. 19 138 An amused tolerance of those with ‘brain cracks’ is far from the mark we should set to obviate their birth.
brain damage n. impairment of the functioning of the brain due to injury or disease.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [noun] > disorders of brain > other brain disorders
brain damage1864
mind-blindness1888
satellitosis1906
syringobulbia1908
Alzheimer's disease1911
kernicterus1912
pseudotumour1914
brain death1928
punch-drunk1928
Sturge–Weber syndrome1935
Alzheimer1938
Creutzfeldt–Jakob1939
Alzheimer1940
Schilder's disease1940
hypsarrhythmia1952
kuru1957
laughing death1957
Minamata disease1957
myelinolysis1959
spongiform encephalopathy1960
CJD1975
old-timer's disease1983
mad —— disease1990
1864 Lancet 26 Nov. 604/2 Thus from different ‘quantities’ of brain damage we have different degrees of loss of the power of expression.
1906 W. H. Thomson Brain & Personality ii. 38 These experimental deductions have been further confirmed by observations of the effects of local brain damage caused in man by injuries or disease.
1951 Pediatrics 7 212 Several clinical reports have described the association of insulin hypoglycemia in juvenile diabetes with psychiatric disturbances or brain damage.
2009 Daily Tel. 12 Jan. 24/3 If Rose had had a hypo and it hadn't been treated immediately, she could have suffered permanent brain damage.
brain-damaged adj. affected by brain damage.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [adjective] > disorders of brain > other brain disorders
hardbound?a1425
bound1704
Wernicke1887
mind-blind1905
Alzheimer1911
Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome1934
brain-damaged1946
kernicteric1956
brain-dead1972
C-J1972
hypsarrhythmic1977
flatline1978
Creutzfeldt–Jakob1987
1946 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 59 706 Low W (whole response) and Z..are characteristic of some feebleminded, some brain-damaged, some depressed, some anxious, and some schizophrenic cases.
1959 Jrnl. Chronic Dis. 9 221 Aged mentally ill persons fall into several groups. The largest group of seriously disordered persons are the aged who are chronically ill, many of whom are brain damaged.
1983 Listener 1 Sept. 14/3 Our third child was born brain-damaged.
2005 R. J. Sawyer Mindscan iii. 31 Being afraid if I sneeze or bend over or do nothing at all that I might end up brain damaged or a quadriplegic or dead.
brain-dead adj. (a) having suffered brain death; (b) slang (originally U.S.) lacking in (esp. intellectual) vigour; feeble-minded, stupid, vapid; (also) enervated, moribund.
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the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > [adjective]
unwittyc1000
heartlessa1382
meana1387
conceitless?c1425
insensuat1508
insensate1528
insensible?1531
miskenning1533
unsensible1560
witless1562
unfraught1587
unconceiving1593
stupid1595
small-knowing1598
surd1601
ununderstanding1611
unapprehensible1613
unperceiving?1623
unapprehensive1624
inapprehending1652
incomprehensive1652
inapprehensive1653
impenetrative1684
blind1692
uncomprehensive1694
unpenetrating1701
unmeaning1704
vacant1712
gilly-gaupus1754
unacute1775
unapprehending1794
unpenetrative1795
unwitted1828
uncomprehending1838
irrecognizant1845
vacuous1848
incomprehending1881
mush-headed1884
wantwit1894
doofus1967
acerebral1968
brain-dead1972
goofus1981
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adjective] > lacking vigour, strength, or spirit
bloodlessc1225
feeble1340
languoring?c1425
languid1646
chlorotic1764
exanimate1841
limp1853
anaemic1898
brain-dead1972
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [adjective] > disorders of brain > other brain disorders
hardbound?a1425
bound1704
Wernicke1887
mind-blind1905
Alzheimer1911
Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome1934
brain-damaged1946
kernicteric1956
brain-dead1972
C-J1972
hypsarrhythmic1977
flatline1978
Creutzfeldt–Jakob1987
1972 Current Probl. Surg. 9 41 Management of the brain-dead donor requires constant surveillance in order to maintain the blood pressure and pulse rate.
1981 Washington Post 15 Jan. d15/1 Dickstein says he considers Brenner's success remarkable ‘for a person who has been essentially brain-dead for years’.
1988 Times 26 Apr. 2/4 Mr Norman Tebbit..yesterday pronounced socialism as ‘brain-dead’ in Britain.
1994 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 Feb. b1/1 ‘If that stock were a human, it would have been declared brain dead; it flatlined,’ one retail broker said.
2000 Cutting Edge: Encycl. Adv. Technol. 197/1 Using life-support machines, the organs of brain-dead patients could be maintained alive within the body until..required for transplantation.
2005 N. Hornby Long Way Down 143 All these stupid brain-dead old bags in the audience booed us.
brain death n. (a) a death caused by disease of the brain (rare); (b) death of brain cells or tissue; (now usually) irreversible damage to the brain and brainstem resulting in loss of the ability to respond to stimuli and of cranial nerve reflexes and spontaneous muscular activity (including breathing), typically demonstrated by absence of electrical activity on an electroencephalogram.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [noun] > disorders of brain > other brain disorders
brain damage1864
mind-blindness1888
satellitosis1906
syringobulbia1908
Alzheimer's disease1911
kernicterus1912
pseudotumour1914
brain death1928
punch-drunk1928
Sturge–Weber syndrome1935
Alzheimer1938
Creutzfeldt–Jakob1939
Alzheimer1940
Schilder's disease1940
hypsarrhythmia1952
kuru1957
laughing death1957
Minamata disease1957
myelinolysis1959
spongiform encephalopathy1960
CJD1975
old-timer's disease1983
mad —— disease1990
1928 Brain 51 475 The death in a paralytic attack is not only a ‘brain death’ but also a ‘spirochætal death’.
1956 Radiation Res. 4 304 The upper limit of the dosage range associated with acute intestinal radiation death is the lowest dose which causes brain death in less than the time needed for intestinal death.
1964 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 12 Oct. 113/2 Medicolegal texts do not mention the consideration of brain death by EEG.
1989 Farm Jrnl. Oct. b4/3 Then you have six minutes after a person stops breathing before brain death occurs.
2003 A. A. Kiessling & S. C. Anderson Human Embryonic Stem Cells v. xiv. 195 The major religions consider that humanhood ceases upon brain death.
brain-derived neurotrophic factor n. a protein found in the brain and certain other tissues which is necessary for the survival and function of neurons; abbreviated BDNF.
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1983 H. Thoenen et al. in Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quantitative Biol. 48 ii. 683/1 Should the molecule of interest be poorly antigenic (as seems to be the case for the brain-derived neurotrophic factor described above) other techniques can be used.
1997 Economist 1 Feb. 103/2 Clinical trials showed that its main product—brain-derived neurotrophic factor—did not work as a treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease.
2001 Science 5 Oct. 36/1 Levels of several important regulators of early brain development, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, were elevated in children who were later diagnosed with autism.
brain drain n. colloquial the emigration of highly trained or qualified people, regarded as detrimental to a country's economy or society.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > migration > emigration > [noun] > loss of qualified people by emigration
brain drain1960
1960 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 21 Dec. 15/1 (heading) East Germans try to stop brain drain.
1963 Evening Standard 7 Jan. 1/2 Nearly one quarter of Britain's best young scientists and technologists are being magnetised to jobs in North America. About 10 per cent are settling there. This is the shock finding of experts who have spent months investigating the ‘brain drain’ across the Atlantic.
2002 K. Matinuddin Nuclearization S. Asia iv. 86 Bhutto also announced at that meeting that a pool of 100 scientists would be created and service conditions for them would be made so attractive as to prevent the brain drain from the country.
† brain-dressed adj. Obsolete treated with a liquor prepared by boiling deer brains.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [adjective] > dressed or softened
brain-dressed1851
waxed1852
fat-liquored1903
1851 S. A. Barker in Ann. Rep. Board of Agric. Ohio 318 Fasten to the edges of this hoop, evenly around, a brain-dressed deer skin, place it in the kettle and pour the oil on slowly.
1887 Harper's Mag. June 61/2 These [deerskin leggings] were prepared of brain-dressed skins that perfectly turned the rain and dew.
brain fade n. originally Motor Racing loss of concentration or alertness caused by fatigue, esp. after a long period of driving; an instance of this; cf. fade n.1 4.
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1968 Washington Post 23 Sept. d10/3 Tatum, in his words, suffered ‘brake and brain fade’.
1999 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 5 Apr. 23 Ponting, who had played well again, suffered a brain fade and padded up to a straight one, Ambrose's fourth delivery with the new ball.
2002 Electronic Gaming Monthly Mar. 44/2 I must've traveled 50 miles before I got complete brain fade.
brain fingerprinting n. a forensic technique involving comparing a person's electroencephalographic response to crime-related stimuli (containing information presumed familiar to the perpetrator) with his or her response to unrelated or neutral stimuli.
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2000 Ottawa Sun 8 Oct. 21/4 The brain fingerprinting test is designed to find out what a subject knows about a crime, says the former Harvard researcher..funded by the CIA.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 16 Jan. a7/4 In U.S. courts, the ‘brain-fingerprinting’ evidence from electroencephalography has been admitted as evidence despite scientific skepticism about its reliability.
brain fog n. an impediment to thinking clearly; inability to concentrate, remember, etc.
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1853 German Reformed Messenger 16 Mar. 1/1 A curious whirl and twirl of his fingers over his head, as if he were dispersing the brain-fogs and untwisting his ideas.
1938 Bks. Abroad 12 350/2 The reader experiences genuine relief when a berth on a freighter finally materializes for the boy, with a resultant clearing of his brain fog.
2007 C. Chow & J. Chow Hypoglycemia for Dummies (ed. 2) xvi. 260 Nutritious foods not only enhance your memory and learning but they may also help dispel brain fog.
brain food n. originally U.S. (a) food believed to be beneficial to the brain, esp. in increasing intellectual power; a foodstuff of this kind; (b) intellectual sustenance; something which stimulates thought or creativity.
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1856 Amer. Phrenol. Jrnl. June 128/2 No one can grow profound or clever solely by swallowing eggs and oysters; but let him habitually work his brain until its actual fatigue calls for such sustenance, and then satisfy the cravings of nature, and it is safe to say that an increased degree of cerebral stamina and agility will be the consequence; whereas with brain-work, but without brain-food, exhaustion must follow.
1856 Amer. Phrenol. Jrnl. June 129/2 it will readily be seen that some intermixture of more expensive brain-foods with the course of diet it recommends, is indispensable.
1872 Galaxy Apr. 555/2 You knew British literature to be the brain-food of America.
1928 P. Bowles Let. in In Touch (1994) 3 The great majority of persons insist upon their brainfood's being refined, and go so far as to claim that the pure inspiration is worth nothing until refined.
1992 New Scientist 22 Feb. 47/3 Dr Grierson was unloved by her parents, is cold, can't cook and insists on feeding children macrobiotic brain food which Fred sicks up.
1998 New Scientist 25 July 62/3 Definitely a book to dip into and reflect on—a superior form of brainfood for the beach this summer perhaps?
brain gain n. [after brain drain n.] colloquial the immigration of highly trained or qualified people, regarded as beneficial to a country's economy or society.
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1964 Times 18 Feb. 1/7 (advt.) This week ‘Engineering’..reviews the brain gain as well as the brain drain.
2009 T. E. Williams et al. Coming Shortage of Surgeons iv. 50 What has happened in these 35 years or so has been a brain gain on the part of American medicine.
brain gym n. (also with capital initials) (a proprietary name for) a programme of physical (or occasionally mental) exercises intended to improve cognitive functioning; (also) a facility offering activities or equipment of a type intended to improve cognitive functioning.
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1902 News-Democrat (Uhrichsville, Ohio) 20 May (advt.) The boy's brain ‘gym’.
1985 P. E. Dennison & G. E. Dennison Personalized Whole Brain Integration 59 For ‘brain gym’ we just have fun, moving the arms and legs in all positions and moving the eyes in all directions.
1987 San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News 1a As for coast-to-coast brain gyms, he said, ‘I fear that people don't have the focus on improving their minds and intelligence that they do on their physical bodies.’
1995 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 17 May 32 Use simple ‘brain gym’ exercises—like a cross-marching activity, left hand reaching across to right knee and vice versa—at least twice a day to wake up your right side of the brain.
2001 M. Chivers Pract. Strategies Living with Dyslexia vi. 43 It is claimed that Brain Gym can help students with dyslexia and dyspraxia by improving reading, writing, co-ordination and concentration.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. (Electronic ed.) 28 Mar. a1 Some scientists consider brain gyms simply the latest gimmick to trade on the public's fear of age-related dementia.
brain lock n. colloquial (chiefly North American) a mental block; (an instance of) mental paralysis; cf. brain freeze n. 2.In quot. 1885 used as a humorous surname.
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1885 Vassar Misc. (Vassar Coll., N.Y.) 15 82 ‘By the way, Miss Brainlock, have you ever read any Kant?’ Miss B: ‘No, but I read “Don't”, when it first came out.’]
1934 Bridge World Mar. 7/2 I wrestled with my problem to no avail... I laid it aside for fear of going stale and developing brain-locks.
1987 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 27 Oct. 1 c I didn't do it... I got a brain lock or whatever.
2007 S. Lyng & R. Matthews in K. Hannah-Moffat & P. O'Malley Gendered Risks iv. 79 The type of fear that produces a paralysis of action or what edgeworkers often refer to as ‘brain lock’.
brain mantle n. [after German Hirnmantel (1831 or earlier)] now rare the cerebral cortex.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > regions of brain
mesencephal1839
mesocephale1839
mesencephalon1846
prosencephalon1846
mesocephalon1857
midbrain1864
metencephalon1867
brain mantle1874
thalamencephalon1875
procerebrum1884
metepencephalon1885
thalamencephal1891
telencephalon1893
rhombencephalon1895
pretectum1961
1874 Chicago Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. 1 496 Spread out above this is the ‘brain-mantle’ (Hirnmantel) or cortical layer of the cerebral hemispheres.
1894 H. Ellis Man & Woman v. 105 The cerebrum, or brain-mantle.
1984 Clin. Neurol. & Neurosurg. 86 66/1 Such defects..arose from some noxious event interfering with normal morphogenesis through focal destruction of the brain mantle.
brain mass n. (a) mass or weight of brain tissue; (b) the entire brain regarded as a material object; (c) a localized area of tumour or other abnormal tissue within the brain.
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the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [noun] > as material object
brain mass1834
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [noun] > material quantity of
brain mass1834
1834 Medico-chirurg. Rev., & Jrnl. Pract. Med. 20 57 The subject thus developing itself is not true and healthy brain mass.
1895 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 24 462 Enlargement of the anterior portion of the brain mass gives rise to important gravitation changes affecting the base of the skull.
1974 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 71 4884/1 Remarkable advances have been made recently in localizing brain masses and other pathologies from radiographs without the introduction of contrast material.
2005 Oecologia 145 47/2 It is difficult to determine whether the relationship between diet and gestation length and its effect on brain mass is due to the energy supplied by a richer diet.
brain path n. an established route along which nerve impulses travel within the brain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > action of nervous system > [noun] > nerve-path
nerve path1867
brain path1877
nerve route1879
path1881
pathway1885
1877 All Year Round 22 Dec. 471/1 I fancy that if my idle mind worked at all, the brain paths of memory led me to some loved association in England.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xvii. 8 As the currents vary, and the brain-paths are moulded by them, other thoughts with other ‘objects’ come.
1925 C. Fox Educ. Psychol. 143 Fall back on brain-paths to account for the phenomena of memory.
2003 Computational Biol. & Chem. 27 121/1 It seems that the sense of smell is often underestimated, and its impact actually may be overwhelming, directly influencing ancient, primitive brain paths.
brain sand n. [after German Hirnsand (1791 or earlier)] small calcified concretions situated within or near the pineal body; = acervulus n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [noun] > substances of
medulla?a1425
pith1594
acervulus cerebri1791
brain sand1831
oleophosphoric acid1839
wetware1963
1831 J. F. South tr. A. W. Otto Compend. Human & Compar. Pathol. Anat. ii. §20. i. 389 Brain-sand, acervulus, also in animals, viz. in the fallow-deer.
1949 H. W. C. Vines Green's Man. Pathol. (ed. 17) iii. 40 They are very liable to become calcified, and they then constitute one form of ‘brain-sand’ which is so often met with in these situations.
2005 Jrnl. Neurol. Sci. 238 Suppl. S495/1 Histological methods..were used to study epiphysis morphology and distribution of the brain sand (corpora arenacea, acervulus).
brain scan n. an examination of the brain using any of various radiological scanning techniques, used esp. as a diagnostic aid or in physiological investigations.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > radiography or radiology > scanning > [noun] > image or record produced by > of specific part
renogram1951
brain scan1959
1959 E. R. King in C. F. Behrens Atomic Med. (ed. 3) xxii. 595 Our laboratory uses either As74 or Cu64 whichever we happen to have available, when a brain scan is requested.
1985 O. Sacks Man who mistook Wife xv. 127 I obtained a brainscan, and this showed that she had indeed had a small thrombosis or infarction in part of her right temporal lobe.
1995 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 13 July e1/3 Although brain scans are costly, they are safe and readily available and may disclose a tumor.
brain scanner n. a machine used to perform brain scans.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > radiography or radiology > scanning > [noun] > equipment used in
scanner1951
scintiscanner1953
brain scanner1957
scintigraph1957
body scanner1959
photoscanner1959
imager1962
1957 Radiology 68 259 (title) An automatic brain scanner for use with gamma-ray-emitting isotopes.
1986 Economist 26 Apr. 16/2 The magnets used in brain scanners owe much to those developed for past accelerators.
2003 P. H. Matthews Linguistics: Very Short Introd. ix. 123 With brain scanners, it is now..possible to observe where they [sc. brains] are active as experiments are conducted.
brain scanning n. the performance of a brain scan; frequently attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > radiography or radiology > scanning > [noun] > of specific part
brain scanning1960
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > radiography or radiology > scanning > [adjective] > of specific part
brain scanning1960
1960 Radiation Res. 12 441 Although it might not be very adequate in the liver, [it] would give improved lateralization information in brain scanning.
1974 R. M. Kirk et al. Surgery xiv. 270 Brain scanning after introducing a radioactive substance intravenously..is an extremely useful and painless technique.
1998 A. Pease & B. Pease Why Men don't listen & Women can't read Maps (1999) iii. 52 With brainscanning equipment, we can see which part of the brain is handling a particular task.
† brains-carrier n. (also brain-carrier) Obsolete a person who is relied upon for judgement, knowledge, or intellect; the cleverest person (in a group, etc.).
ΚΠ
1828 Mus. Foreign Lit. & Sci. Sept. 404/2 The idea that a statesman ought to possess a resplendent genius, is unsound and mischievous... When the society, like an indolent gentleman, takes a brains-carrier instead of a steward, all the disorders of ill-governing and over-governing are sure to ensue.
1865 R. H. Copperthwaite Turf & Racehorse 126 I found myself in his stable with the purchaser, who did not profess to be a judge, accompanied by his brains-carrier, who considered himself a nonpareil in such matters.
1899 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 11 Apr. 4/2 The new men are the very cream of the country, for the most part the brains-carriers of their districts.
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 230 It was strange that his mother had had no musical talent though Aunt Kate used to call her the brains carrier of the Morkan family.
1924 Observer 16 Nov. 12/5 Its brain-carriers and thought-makers are its definitely Socialist intelligentzia.
† brain-shed n. Obsolete (a) the scattering of brains in battle; (b) expenditure of mental effort.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > [noun] > braining
braining1440
brain-shed1856
1856 C. Rogers Mod. Sc. Minstrel II. 38 Woe the brain-shed, woe the unsparing Marrow-showering of the brave!
1857 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem (1858) I. xxiii. 83 The subordinates have resisted in a way that ended in blood and brain-shed.
1902 Musical Standard 5 July 10/1 There will be much pamphleteering and ‘brainshed’ about Richard Strauss before the world is many years older.
brain skull n. the skull; (in later use) spec. the cranium or neurocranium.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > [noun]
head boneeOE
head paneOE
panOE
brainpanOE
skull?c1225
harn-pan1340
brain skulla1400
calvairc1420
pot of the head?a1425
pan-bone1545
cranew1555
pannicle1590
pericranium1590
cranion1611
poll1721
braincase1726
brain-box1789
pericrane1804
cobbra1832
cranium1842
neurocranium1907
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 22 (MED) Summe [bones] defenden þe principal lymes from harm, as þe brayn scolle..þe brayn.
1827 R. Emmons Fredoniad 101 Bleed from the heart, or through the brain-skull wound.
1873 R. R. Noel Physical Basis Mental Life 35 Some of the bones gradually close entirely, and become united after birth, others remain connected by sutures, which enable the brain skull more readily to expand.
1934 Man 34 158 In that stage of growth the facial skull is already beginning to outweigh the brain skull.
2005 G. J. N. Trenité Rhinoplasty xx. 201 In proportion to the brain skull, the facial skull in neonates is much smaller than in the adult.
† brain-squirt n. Obsolete rare a childish attempt at reasoning.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > lack of reasoning, illogicality > [noun] > instance of
reason1589
circularity1610
brain-squirt1654
flaw1667
alogism1679
pseudo-argument1872
illogicality1873
1654 G. Goddard in T. Burton Diary (1828) (modernized text) I. Introd. p. lxviii They were but bugbears and brain-squirts.
† brain-stage n. Obsolete rare a person's imagination.
ΚΠ
1848 Fraser's Mag. July 114/1 What the little imp, who managed this puppet-show on Argemone's brain-stage, may have intended to symbolise thereby..and whether he got up the interlude for his own private fun.., are questions we must leave unanswered.
brainstem n. [after German Hirnstamm (1824 or earlier)] the series of unpaired neural structures situated between the brain and the spinal cord; esp. the medulla oblongata, midbrain, and pons.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > brain-stem
brainstem1874
brain axis1887
1874 Chicago Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. 1 496 We would have left above the spinal cord proper, what is called in the system of Meynert, the ‘brain-stem’, (Hirnstamm) or in more common language, the ‘peduncles’ of the brain.
1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. vi. 142 When we are ‘doing nothing’ the cortex is all the time inhibiting the postural centres in the brain-stem from producing rigidity.
1946 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 6 July 3/1 Heller and others, found the cortex of animals inexcitable, but evoked convulsions from the brainstem, particularly from the medulla oblongata.
1997 J. Leggatt tr. J. D. Bauby Diving-bell & Butterfly 12 A cerebro-vascular accident put my brain-stem out of action.
brain stone n. now rare = brain coral n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > genus Meandrina > member of
brain stone1681
brain coral?1711
meandrite1802
meandrine1950
1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis iii. iii. 280 Another [coral], with Double Waves... And Waves both double and more winding than in the former; much resembling those of a Mans Brain. From whence, this sort, most properly, are called Brain-stones.
1758 W. Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall 240 The fossil corals..such as brain-stone.
1855 C. Kingsley Glaucus 34 A beautiful madrepore or brainstone on your mantelpiece, brought home from some Pacific coral-reef.
1955 College Art Jrnl. 14 385/1 Among the items were: meteorite, calcite crystal,..brain stone., [etc.].
brain-stuff n. (a) medicine or food for the brain; (b) the product of thinking; ideas.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > idea, notion, or concept > [noun]
thoughtOE
thingOE
conceita1393
imagea1393
concept1479
conception1526
suppositiona1529
idee1542
idea1585
conceivement1599
project1600
representationa1602
notion1607
phantasma1620
conceptus1643
species1644
notice1654
revolution1675
representamen1677
vorstellung1807
brain-stuff1855
ideation1876
think1886
artefact1923
construct1933
mind1966
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations for treating specific parts > [noun] > for the head > for the brain
brain-stuff1855
1855 R. R. Madden Literary Life & Corr. Countess of Blessington II. 543 It follows that the novel-reading public are satisfied with these brain-stuffs of their hard-worked author.
1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways I. i. 26 A great modern writer..groaned over his puppetry, that he dared not animate them..with the fires of positive brain-stuff.
1911 W. Owen Let. 21 Nov. (1967) 97 The borrowed-brainstuff which I imbibed to help me through the Exam.—Sanatogen.
1933 H. G. Wells Shape of Things to Come v. § 8. 426 The abundant release of brain-stuff, the mental plenty which has resulted from the organization of material plenty.
1948 E. H. W. Meyerstein Let. 9 Nov. (1959) 352 Ethel Smyth..used his brainstuff as a libretto for her cantata.
1984 W. Lycan in B. K. Matilal & J. L. Shaw Anal. Philos. in Compar. Perspective (1985) 89 Thoughts are representors in the brain, made of brain stuff; bits of language are representors out in the open air, made of sound waves or ink marks.
brain sugar n. Biochemistry any sugar present in brain tissue; (in early use) spec. galactose (now rare or disused).
ΚΠ
1890 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 57 57 A paper..showing the identity of the brain-sugar, cerebrose, with the well-known carbohydrate, galactose.
1948 W. Pigman Chem. Carbohydrates iii. 93 d-Galactose... Synonyms. Cerebrose, ‘brain-sugar’.
2001 Biochemistry 40 3759 Glycan analysis has shown that prion protein contains at least 52 different sugars..[consisting] of a subset of brain sugars.
brain surgeon n. a neurosurgeon; (humorously) a person with a high level of intelligence or expertise; frequently in negative constructions (cf. rocket scientist n. (b) at rocket n.5 Compounds 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > surgeon > [noun] > performing specific operations > others
bone-setter?1518
circumciser1535
bronchotomist1670
acupuncturist1839
tenotomist1842
orthopaedist1853
plastic surgeon1863
resectionist1863
cephalotomist1869
amputator1882
brain surgeon1888
tracheotomist1891
neurosurgeon1925
face-lifter1928
plastician1928
psychosurgeon1945
orthopod1960
transplanter1970
1888 Columbus Med. Jrnl. 6 140 Their report was chiefly entrusted to Mr. Victor Horsley, their secretary, a successful brain surgeon.
1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities v. 108 The kid's a follower. He's no brain surgeon, but he's no hard case, either.
2003 Evening Herald (Plymouth) (Nexis) 24 Nov. 8 Lady brain surgeons are indeed rare and their contributions to neurosurgery are to be welcomed.
brain surgery n. surgery performed on the brain, neurosurgery; (hence humorously) something requiring a high level of intelligence or expertise (frequently in negative constructions, implying that something is not difficult); cf. rocket science n. at rocket n.5 Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > [noun] > types of surgery generally
plastic surgery1837
self-surgery1863
oral surgery1866
electrosurgery1870
Listerism1880
morioplasty1880
brain surgery1881
tachytomy1898
neurosurgery1904
radiosurgery1929
psychosurgery1936
microsurgery1959
microsurgery1960
cryosurgery1962
day surgery1968
work1968
biosurgery1969
psychic surgery1975
telesurgery1976
1881 United Service Mag. June 228 The coloured candidate for brain surgery was not however, so dull as he appeared.
1971 Nature 23 Apr. 524/1 Brain surgery which may affect language mechanisms is being contemplated.
1973 C. Bird Everything Woman needs to Know v. 101 ‘It isn't brain surgery,’ I told my mother. ‘What's wrong with bluffing? Most men do.’
1978 Chicago Tribune 14 May d4 It [sc. management of a business] isn't easy, but it isn't brain surgery either.
2002 Time 15 Apr. 77/2 The setup is a little more involved, but it's still not brain surgery.
brain-teaser n. a difficult problem; a puzzle, often one designed as a challenge or for amusement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > puzzle, enigma, riddle > [noun]
riddleOE
purposec1350
problema1382
propositiona1382
conclusion1393
divinailc1430
opposal?a1439
riddling?c1475
wordc1480
why1532
dark, hard sentence1535
enigma1539
remblere1599
puzzlement1646
gripha1652
puzzler1651
riddlemy riddlemy1652
puzzle1655
crux1718
teaser1759
puzzleation1767
conundrum1790
poser1793
riddle-me-ree1805
stumper1807
tickler1825
sticker1849
brain-teaser1850
grueller1856
question mark1870
brain-twister1878
skull-buster1926
mind-bender1968
1850 Eliza Cook's Jrnl. 22 June 115/2 Possessing a large fund of Anglo-Latin brain teazers.
1896 R. G. Knowles & M. Morton Baseball iv. 41 The next score looks like a brain-teaser in trigonometry—0. a. 2.
1923 H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood iv. 105 While you're puzzling over that brain teaser, I'll get back to Judy.
1966 C. S. Ogilvy & J. T. Anderson Excursions Number Theory vi. 82 Here are some of the super brain-teasers that Sierpinski asks us to ponder.
2001 Sun 27 Jan. 48/4 This is the world's best brainteaser, The Sun's clueless crossword.
brain-teasing adj. intellectually challenging; puzzling, thought-provoking.
ΚΠ
1828 C. White Almack's Revisited I. iii. 64 He..had gone through all the brain-teazing squares, cubes, and rhomboids of collegiate instruction.
1911 T. S. Spivey Seven Sons of Ballyhack vii. 102 What is your latest brain-teasing proposition?
1997 N.Y. Times 5 Dec. b10/2 An august math professor..posts special, brain-teasing problems for his students.
brain trick n. (a) a clever invention or stratagem (obsolete); (b) a delusion or illusion; a way in which the brain operates; a trick played by the brain; (c) an exercise for the brain; a puzzle.
ΚΠ
1604 J. Marston Malcontent ii. iii. sig. D A most fine braine trick.
a1652 R. Brome City Wit v. sig. F3v, in Five New Playes (1653) But in despite of the Justice that provok'd me, my Conscience a little turns at these brain-tricks.
1857 Putnam's Monthly Mag. May 538/2 At last, you return to your abhorred den..and to the foul blankets, and a false sleep full of brain tricks.
1898 Black Cat July 9 All on account of a queer little brain trick, Mrs. Starr blighted her husband's life and her own.
1901 O. Wister Philos. 4 (1903) i. 14 That's merely the same kind of toy-shop brain-trick you gave us out of Greek philosophy yesterday.
1907 C. Scaramanga-Ralli Strange Story of Falconer Thring i. ii. 17 It is some queer brain-trick or the spontaneous recognition of a forgotten dream; it is hard to say which.
2005 J. Goode Sci. of Wine (2006) iii. xxi. 179 This clever brain trick makes us want the sorts of foods that we need at a given time.
2009 Targeted News Service (Nexis) 1 July The first part of the book covers topics ranging from brain tricks to making ice cream.
brain tunic n. rare = meninx n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > [noun] > membranes
meninx1545
brain tunic1831
1831 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 8 20 In that short period inflammation of part of the brain tunics had reached the maximum of intensity of which the sero-fibrous membranes are susceptible, short of disorganization.
1989 B. Sain Alcohol Addiction iii. 78 It is precisely these vessels which determine the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid and the pressure on the brain tunics, as well as on themselves.
brain-twister n. chiefly U.S. = brain-teaser n.; also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > puzzle, enigma, riddle > [noun]
riddleOE
purposec1350
problema1382
propositiona1382
conclusion1393
divinailc1430
opposal?a1439
riddling?c1475
wordc1480
why1532
dark, hard sentence1535
enigma1539
remblere1599
puzzlement1646
gripha1652
puzzler1651
riddlemy riddlemy1652
puzzle1655
crux1718
teaser1759
puzzleation1767
conundrum1790
poser1793
riddle-me-ree1805
stumper1807
tickler1825
sticker1849
brain-teaser1850
grueller1856
question mark1870
brain-twister1878
skull-buster1926
mind-bender1968
1878 W. C. Russell Auld Lang Syne I. iv. 60 This fiction declares that the happiest time of life is schoolboy time... A man need not be in a bad temper to deny this, recalling the kicks and tasks, the surly ushers, the tooth-splitting Greek, the brain-twisters of Euclid.
1922 John Martin's Big Bk. for Little Folk 256 Fascinating brain twisters never so hard as to discourage nor so easy as to fail of sustained interest.
1942 R. G. Collingwood New Leviathan xvi. 116 This is a famous brain-twister planted upon the world by Kant and Fichte.
1974 J. Marschak Econ. Information, Decision, & Predict. I. i. xvii. 357 But the ‘brain-twister’ puzzle at the end of the weekly paper will present these three objects in such a way that even a well-rested, college-educated reader may fail to recognize the identity between x and z.
1994 Minnesota Monthly Nov. 53/1 Besides juggling toys (torches, rings, knives), the store carries boomerangs, puzzles, brain-twister games, dominoes and darts, wind socks, and a wide assortment of flags.
2007 T. Stouffer Compl. Idiot's Guide World of Harry Potter iv. xi. 158 Rowling also mentions Golpalott's Third Law, which is a brain twister: ‘The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components.’
brain vibration n. (a) a (supposed) telepathic vibration emanating from the brain (cf. brain wave n. 1a) (now historical); †(b) an electrical discharge in the brain (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > stimulation > [noun] > types of
stimulation1733
alcoholization1836
galvanization1860
brain vibration1864
barotaxy1906
microstimulation1946
reafference1953
self-stimulation1961
1864 Amer. Presbyterian & Theol. Rev. Apr. 287 The doctrines of animal spirits and of brain vibrations were turned to similar applications in their time.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. v. 129 Then the last brain-vibration would discharge downward into the motor tracts.
1905 A. R. Wallace My Life II. 309 Thought or brain-vibrations, may be carried by the ether to other brains.
1974 Isis 65 177 A letter appeared in Nature in 1880 signed ‘M.’ in which the author wondered if brain vibrations transmitted through the ether might explain the established facts of thought transference, clairvoyance, and mesmerism.
brain war n. a battle based upon intelligence; a battle of the wits.
ΚΠ
1661 O. Felltham Resolves (rev. ed.) 109 Policy is but a fight of wit, a brain-war.
1869 R. Browning Ring & Bk. II. xi. 302 Eminence, My fight is figurative, blows i' the air, Brain-war with powers and principalities, Spirit-bravado, no real fisticuffs!
1999 Orange County Reg. (Nexis) 15 Apr. Swarms of high school students frolicked to jazz music in the grass courtyard of the West Coast Anaheim Hotel on Wednesday evening, eager to start the brain wars.

Derivatives

ˈbrainlike adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [adjective]
brainlike1798
cerebral1816
encephalic1828
cerebriform1834
cerebric1839
cerebroid1854
branular1857
retinocerebral1891
cerebrovascular1935
1798 C. Abbot Flora Bedfordiensis xxiv. 270 Brain-like Star-jelly.—T. albida. Sitting, jelly-like, of various shapes, whitish.
1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. i. 141/2 Cerebral substance..replaced by a brain-like matter.
1868 A. Gray Field, Forest, & Garden Bot. (1870) 311 Naked seed resembling a thin fleshed drupe or when dry a nut, with no cup around it, as large as a nutmeg , which it resembles also in the brain-like interior structure.
1922 C. Rea Brit. Basidiomycetae 18 Receptacle foliaceous, brain-like, or tubercular, gelatinous, soft, fertile over the whole surface.
1990 Sciences July–Aug. 49/2 Using digital computers to simulate the networks, investigators have made brainlike programs that can learn to recognize handwritten letters and do other tasks once widely considered beyond the capabilities of machines.
2009 B. Sendhoff et al. (title) Creating brain-like intelligence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

brainadj.

Brit. /breɪn/, U.S. /breɪn/, Scottish English /bren/
Forms: Middle English brayn (north-west midlands); Scottish pre-1700 brane, pre-1700 brayn, pre-1700 brayne, 1700s– brain.
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: brain-wood adj.
Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps shortened < brain-wood adj. Compare earlier brain n. and later brainish adj.
Chiefly Scottish. Now archaic.
Furious, mad.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 286 If any..Be so bolde in his blod, brayn in hys hede.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xi. xvii. 73 He walxis brayne in furour bellicall.
1788 J. Skinner Christmass Bawing in Caledonian Mag. Sept. 503 He was his ain hauf-brither, I wat my sell he was fou' brain, And how cou'd he be ither?
1824 Child Vyet in N. Countrie Garland 30 There was no pity for that two Lords, Where they were lying slain, Al was for Lady Maiserey, In that bower she gaed brain.
1925 G. Greig & A. Keith Last Leaves 209 An' he's awa to his lady As fast as he could gang, But when he went to his lady, She was like to gang brain.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

brainv.

Brit. /breɪn/, U.S. /breɪn/
Forms: Middle English–1500s brane, Middle English–1500s brayne, 1500s–1600s braine, 1500s– brain.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: brain n.
Etymology: < brain n.In early use translating post-classical Latin excerebrare excerebrate v.
1.
a. transitive. To dash out the brains of; to kill by dashing out the brains. Frequently hyperbolically.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > kill [verb (transitive)] > by braining
braina1382
cervylle1483
to-brain1490
to dash a person's brains out1565
to blow a person's (also one's) brains out1730
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. lxvi. 3 That sleth a beste, as that brayne [L. excerebret] a dogge.
a1450 ( tr. Vegetius De Re Militari (Douce) f. 90 (MED) Hondslingeres and stafslingeres wiþ stones..braynede þese olyfauntes.
1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes ii. xxxvii. 156 Thenne shall they of the towne brayne hem with stones.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lv Lothsome it was to behold how some Frenchmen wer..brained with polaxes.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. iv. 22 And I were nowe by this rascall I could braine him with his Ladies fanne.
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 45 Hee desperately brained himselfe.
1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 31 He was most cruelly murder'd, by being brain'd like an Ox.
1715 A. Pope Key to Lock (ed. 2) 6 Of secret Jesuits swift shall be the Doom, Thy Pestle braining all the Sons of Rome.
1786 J. H. Tooke Επεα Πτεροεντα Advt. 103 The abject instruments of my civil extinction..appeared to me to make my exit from civil life as degrading as if I had been brained by a lady's fan.
1827 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 711/2 The maister will brain me, I wyte, for staying sae lang clavering till ye.
1848 E. Bennett Renegade xix. 128 He rushed on after new victims, braining and scalping all that came within his reach.
1884 Ld. Tennyson Becket v. ii. 201 Methought they would have brain'd me with it, John.
1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song iv. 217 He said that the Germans had broken loose, fair devils, and were raping women and braining bairns all over Belgium, it was hell let loose.
1962 ‘C. Marchant’ Heritage of Folly i. 28 I'll take off me boots, Maggie would brain me if I went in with me boots on.
2001 L. Erdrich Last Rep. on Miracles at Little No Horse v. 86 With a giant's swing, she brained the creature on the side of the house, and then knelt with her knife and gutted it in the yard.
†b. transitive. figurative. To destroy completely. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > bring to ruin or put an end to
undoc950
shendOE
forfarea1000
endc1000
to do awayOE
aquenchc1175
slayc1175
slayc1175
stathea1200
tinea1300
to-spilla1300
batec1300
bleschea1325
honisha1325
leesea1325
wastec1325
stanch1338
corrumpa1340
destroy1340
to put awayc1350
dissolvec1374
supplanta1382
to-shend1382
aneantizec1384
avoidc1384
to put outa1398
beshenda1400
swelta1400
amortizec1405
distract1413
consumec1425
shelfc1425
abroge1427
downthringc1430
kill1435
poisonc1450
defeat1474
perish1509
to blow away1523
abrogatea1529
to prick (also turn, pitch) over the perka1529
dash?1529
to bring (also send) to (the) pot1531
put in the pot1531
wipea1538
extermine1539
fatec1540
peppera1550
disappoint1563
to put (also set) beside the saddle1563
to cut the throat of1565
to throw (also turn, etc.) over the perch1568
to make a hand of (also on, with)1569
demolish1570
to break the neck of1576
to make shipwreck of1577
spoil1578
to knock on (in) the head (also rarely at head)1579
cipher1589
ruinate1590
to cut off by the shins1592
shipwreck1599
exterminate1605
finish1611
damnify1612
ravel1614
braina1616
stagger1629
unrivet1630
consummate1634
pulverizea1640
baffle1649
devil1652
to blow up1660
feague1668
shatter1683
cook1708
to die away1748
to prove fatal (to)1759
to knock up1764
to knock (or kick) the hindsight out or off1834
to put the kibosh on1834
to cook (rarely do) one's goose1835
kibosh1841
to chaw up1843
cooper1851
to jack up1870
scuttle1888
to bugger up1891
jigger1895
torpedo1895
on the fritz1900
to put paid to1901
rot1908
down and out1916
scuppera1918
to put the skids under1918
stonker1919
liquidate1924
to screw up1933
cruel1934
to dig the grave of1934
pox1935
blow1936
to hit for six1937
to piss up1937
to dust off1938
zap1976
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) v. i. 393 It was the swift celeritie of his death..That brain'd my purpose. View more context for this quotation
†2. transitive. To conceive in the brain. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > think or have in mind [verb (transitive)]
holdOE
thinkOE
makea1400
carry1583
entertain1583
lodge1583
conceit?1589
reflect1611
braina1616
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > conceive, form in the mind [verb (transitive)]
readOE
thinkOE
bethinkc1175
makea1400
imaginec1400
conceive?a1425
suppose1586
conceit1591
ideate1610
braina1616
forma1616
engross1632
cogitate1856
conceptualize1873
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) v. v. 240 Such stuffe as Madmen Tongue and braine not. View more context for this quotation
†3. transitive. To provide with a brain. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [verb (transitive)] > provide
brain1882
1882 W. B. Weeden Social Law Labor 94 Both the labor and capital must be headed, brained, as it were, with thought.

Derivatives

† brainer n. Obsolete a person who dashes out another's brains; also of a thing.
ΚΠ
1830 Fraser's Mag. Feb. 45 There's Thurtell, the brainer, in whom not a few take a Far greater interest than in Cincinnatus.
1842 T. De Quincey Mod. Greece in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 127/2 Not only the stone must be a bouncer..but it ought to be..a good brainer, viz. splinting, jagged.
ˈbraining n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing by specific method > [noun] > braining
braining1440
brain-shed1856
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 47 Braynynge or kyllynge, excerebracio.
1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades iii. 54 With brayning be he sped, And for his gilte, let of his ympes the braines be also shed.
1687 C. Mather Mil. Duties 18 The Braining of this Giant is of as much Importance perhaps as any one thing in your Warr-fare.
1836 Museum of Foreign Lit. 1 359/2 I contemplated..the diabolical pleasure that the braining of the wretch would give me.
1871 Daily News 26 May 5/6 Denouncing becomes fashionable, and denouncing is followed in the French natural sequence by braining.
1991 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 15 Sept. a1 It was the first of hundreds of direct actions to stop everything from the braining of baby seals to the discharge of toxic sludge.
2004 L. Ellinghausen in A. Hager Age of Milton 329 The villain D'Amville's accidental braining of himself with an axe must be seen as the King of Kings carrying out His own revenge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.eOEadj.c1400v.a1382
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