brains

Noun

brain (countable and uncountable, plural brains)

1. The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull, consisting of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem, which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
   • The Ueynes are ſpred foorth throughout the whole bodie, howbeit from one welhead, that is to ſay from the Liuer: ſo be the Sinews, howbeit from the Brayne; So likewiſe are the Heartſtrings, howbeit from the Heart.1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., Philippe de Mornay], “That there is but Onely One God”, in Philip Sidney, Arthur Golding, transl., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, […]...

   Synonyms:

   encephalon, harns

   1. A part of the brain, especially associated with particular mental functions, abilities, etc.
      • The left brain, or that which supplies and animates the right side of the body, is the most active brain, as a general rule.1892, Benjamin Ward Richardson, The Asclepiad, London, page 357
   2. (obsolete) skull; head
      • caused the young Princess, the King's only Daughter, to be taken and thrust into a large velvet Sack, and her Brains to be knockt out with great Bars1690, “Preface to the Reader”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies, London: Randal Taylor, page ii
2. (informal) Mind.
   • I have too much on my brain today.
3. (in plural) Intellect.
   • "We provided a lot of brains and a lot of heart to the response when it was needed," says Sandra Sanchez, director of AFSC's Immigrants' Voice Program in Des Moines.2008 Quaker Action (magazine) Rights trampled in rush to deport immigrant workers, Fall 2008, Vol. 89, No. 3, p. 8
4. (informal) An intelligent person.
   • She was a total brain.

   Synonyms:

   brain surgeon, brainbox, brainiac, deep thinker, Einstein, egghead, genius, intellectual, mind, rocket scientist

See all 17 meanings of brain