brain

 
Pronunciation: /breɪn/

noun

  • 1an organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity: [as modifier]: a brain tumour
  • (brains) the substance of an animal’s brain used as food.
  • informal an electronic device with functions comparable to those of the human brain: an electronic brain
  • 2intellectual capacity: I didn’t have enough brains for the sciences [mass noun]: success requires brain as well as brawn
  • (the brains) informal a clever person who supplies the ideas and plans for a group of people: Tom was the brains of the outfit
  • a person’s mind: a tiny alarm bell began to ring in her brain

verb

[with object] informal
  • hit (someone) hard on the head with an object: she brained me with a rolling pin

Phrases

have (got) something on the brain

informal be obsessed with something: John has cars on the brain

Origin:

Old English brægen, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch brein