to burst the heart: said of grief or violent emotions. Also of persons, to burst one's heart. So to burst one's brain: to take or occasion…

†to break one's mind (heart): to deliver or reveal what is in one's mind (obsolete). to break news, to break a matter, to break a secret: to make…

So to break one's brain, mind, wind (cf. broken-winded, adj.). Obsolete.

to beat the brains, to beat the head, etc.: to think persistently and laboriously. Cf. cudgel, v.

transitive. to rack one's brain (also brains, wit, memory,etc.): to make a great effort to think of or remember something.

figurative. To devise plans laboriously, ‘cudgel one's brains’, debate or deliberate earnestly (upon, on, at, of); with upon, sometimes, To…

intransitive predicated of the brain, etc. Obsolete.

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 o…

to bother one's brains (also brain): to take the time or trouble to consider something; to concern oneself. Chiefly in negative contexts. Frequently…