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brain

brain [ brayn ]


noun  (plural brains)
Definition:
 
1. organ of thought and feeling: the controlling center of the nervous system in vertebrates, connected to the spinal cord and enclosed in the cranium. It consists of a mass of nerve tissue and nerve-supporting and nourishing tissue neuroglia, is the center of thought and emotions, and regulates bodily activities.

2. center of invertebrate nervous system: a nervous-system center in some invertebrates that is functionally similar to the brain in vertebrates

3. mind: somebody's intellectual ability
He's got a good brain.

4. intelligence: somebody's natural intelligence ( usually used in the plural )
She's got brains as well as beauty.

5. somebody intelligent: somebody very intelligent ( informal )

6. most intelligent person in group: the person in a group who is considered the most intelligent and who devises plans or strategies for it ( informal ) ( usually used in the plural )
Lee's the brains of the family.



plural noun brains 
Definition:
 
animal's brain as food: the brain of an animal cooked and eaten as food



transitive verb  (past and past participle brained, present participle brain·ing, 3rd person present singular brains)
Definition:
 
hit somebody on head: to hit somebody violently on the head ( slang )

[ Old English brægen< W Germanic]

have something on the brain to be obsessed with something (informal)

pick somebody's brain to ask questions of somebody, in order to learn what he or she knows about something

rack your brains to try very hard to remember something or solve a problem

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