# brain

Pronunciation: US say "BRAYN" /bɹeɪn/; UK

## Noun

1. The control center of the nervous system, located in the skull, responsible for perception, thought, memory, emotion, and action.
   - Simple: The organ inside your head that controls thinking, feeling, and moving.
   - _Oxygen deprivation can cause the brain to suffer permanent damage within minutes._
   - _Researchers scanned each patient's brain to locate the affected region._
2. A person's mind: the seat of thought, awareness, and ideas. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A person's mind, where thoughts and ideas happen.
   - _That strange image has been stuck in my brain all day._
   - _With the exam tomorrow, my brain is too full of formulas to let me sleep._
3. Mental or intellectual ability, often in the plural brains; the capacity to reason, learn, and understand, in general or for a particular task.
   - Simple: The ability to think, learn, and understand things, in general or for a certain job.
   - _Solving the riddle took more brains than brawn._
   - _He relied on his brain rather than his strength to win the contest._
4. A region of the brain, especially one linked to particular mental functions or abilities.
   - Simple: A part of the brain that handles a certain kind of thinking or feeling.
   - _The limbic brain governs much of our emotional response._
   - _Studies of the social brain reveal how we read other people's intentions._
6. A highly intelligent person. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A very clever or smart person.
   - _Only a real brain could have cracked that code so quickly._
   - _The new hire turned out to be a brain who solved problems no one else could._
5. The person who supplies the intelligence or planning behind an effort or organization. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The person who does the thinking or planning for a group.
   - _He was the brain behind the company's most successful product launch._
   - _Everyone knew the quiet accountant was the brains behind the robbery, though he never left his office._
8. The calculating part of a machine or computer, named by analogy with the human brain.
   - Simple: The part of a machine or computer that does the thinking or calculations.
   - _The drone's brain processes data from a dozen sensors at once._
   - _Engineers replaced the machine's brain with a faster processor._
10. Oral sex; sexual stimulation performed with the mouth. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A sex act done with the mouth.
   - _They argued because he expected brain every single night._
   - _She said she'd give brain only if he treated her right._

## Verb

7. To think effectively or clearly. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: To think clearly and well.
   - _It's far too early in the day for me to brain properly._
   - _After the long flight, she simply couldn't brain anymore._
9. To strike someone hard on the head, sometimes hard enough to kill them by crushing the skull.
   - Simple: To hit someone very hard on the head, sometimes so hard that it kills them.
   - _The robber tried to brain the guard with a crowbar._
   - _He brained the intruder with a heavy candlestick._

## Verb

11. To conceive of something in the mind; to understand it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To understand or imagine something in your mind.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To destroy something; to put an end to it.
- (noun) A removable top compartment of a backpack that straps over the top opening.

## Origin

From Middle English brayn, from Old English bræġn ('brain'), from Proto-Germanic *bragną, probably ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'skull, brain'. It is related to Dutch brein, West Frisian brein, and Low German Bregen.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/brain (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).