Word.ws English Dictionary

picking someone's brain

picking someone's brain is the present participle and gerund of pick someone's brain.

Meaning of pick someone's brain

Verb

pick someone's brain (third-person singular simple present picks someone's brain, present participle picking someone's brain, simple past and past participle picked someone's brain)

  1. (idiomatic) To seek information from someone knowledgeable; to ask questions of someone.
    • After I spent a couple of hours picking his brain, his scheme started to make sense.

Questions about picking someone's brain

What is picking someone's brain the present participle and gerund of?
Picking someone's brain is the present participle and gerund of pick someone's brain.

Words near picking someone's brain in the dictionary

  1. picking quarrels
  2. picking quarrels and making trouble
  3. picking quarrels and provoking trouble
  4. picking quarrels and stirring up trouble
  5. picking sides
  6. picking someone's brain
  7. picking the wrong horse
  8. picking through
  9. picking up
  10. picking up on
  11. picking up one's crumbs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: picking someone's brain (page history and authors); pick someone's brain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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