brain
♦♦ brain /br'eɪn/ (brains)
1 [N-COUNT]
Your brain is the organ inside your head that controls your body's activities and enables you to think and to feel things such as heat and pain.
Her father died of a brain tumour.
2 [N-COUNT] usu poss N
Your brain is your mind and the way that you think.
Once you stop using your brain you soon go stale...
Stretch your brain with this puzzle.
= mind, intellect
3 [N-COUNT]
If someone has brains or a good brain, they have the ability to learn and understand things quickly, to solve problems, and to make good decisions.
I had a good brain and the teachers liked me.
4 [N-COUNT] usu pl, the N behind/of n
If someone is the brains behind an idea or an organization, he or she had that idea or makes the important decisions about how that organization is managed. (INFORMAL)
Mr White was the brains behind the scheme...
Some investigators regarded her as the brains of the gang.
5 [PHRASE] V inflects
If you pick someone's brains, you ask them to help you with a problem because they know more about the subject than you. (INFORMAL)
Why should a successful company allow another firm to pick its brains?
6
to rack your brains: see rackbrain dam|age
[N-UNCOUNT]
If someone suffers brain damage, their brain is damaged by an illness or injury so that they cannot function normally.
He suffered severe brain damage after a motorbike accident.brain death
[N-UNCOUNT]
Brain death occurs when someone's brain stops functioning, even though their heart may be kept beating using a machine.brain drain
[N-SING]
When people talk about a brain drain, they are referring to the movement of a large number of scientists or academics away from their own country to other countries where the conditions and salaries are better.brain teas|er (brain teasers)
also brain-teaser
[N-COUNT]
A brain teaser is a question, problem, or puzzle that is difficult to answer or solve, but is not serious or important.
= puzzle
1 [N-COUNT]
Your brain is the organ inside your head that controls your body's activities and enables you to think and to feel things such as heat and pain.
Her father died of a brain tumour.
2 [N-COUNT] usu poss N
Your brain is your mind and the way that you think.
Once you stop using your brain you soon go stale...
Stretch your brain with this puzzle.
= mind, intellect
3 [N-COUNT]
If someone has brains or a good brain, they have the ability to learn and understand things quickly, to solve problems, and to make good decisions.
I had a good brain and the teachers liked me.
4 [N-COUNT] usu pl, the N behind/of n
If someone is the brains behind an idea or an organization, he or she had that idea or makes the important decisions about how that organization is managed. (INFORMAL)
Mr White was the brains behind the scheme...
Some investigators regarded her as the brains of the gang.
5 [PHRASE] V inflects
If you pick someone's brains, you ask them to help you with a problem because they know more about the subject than you. (INFORMAL)
Why should a successful company allow another firm to pick its brains?
6
to rack your brains: see rackbrain dam|age
[N-UNCOUNT]
If someone suffers brain damage, their brain is damaged by an illness or injury so that they cannot function normally.
He suffered severe brain damage after a motorbike accident.brain death
[N-UNCOUNT]
Brain death occurs when someone's brain stops functioning, even though their heart may be kept beating using a machine.brain drain
[N-SING]
When people talk about a brain drain, they are referring to the movement of a large number of scientists or academics away from their own country to other countries where the conditions and salaries are better.brain teas|er (brain teasers)
also brain-teaser
[N-COUNT]
A brain teaser is a question, problem, or puzzle that is difficult to answer or solve, but is not serious or important.
= puzzle