brained

1. 1
   adjectivefigurativelyin compounds

   Having a brain of the kind, quality, or number indicated by a preceding word, as in 'hare-brained' or 'large-brained'.

   Critics dismissed the proposal as the work of some hare-brained committee.

   Science fiction writers love inventing many-brained creatures with strange mental powers.

   Note

   A combining adjective, built from brain plus -ed, that almost never stands alone: it needs a first element to say what sort of brain is meant. Literal uses count or measure (large-brained, many-brained). Figurative ones judge a mind, as when Joe Bageant in 2010 mocks a "squirrel brained" woman. A hyphen before the noun keeps the compound clear and separates it from the verb form, which shares the spelling.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of brain.

   In the brawl, one sailor brained another with an empty bottle.

   The intruder was brained by a falling beam before he could reach the door.

   Note

   One form does both jobs: he brained the intruder; he was brained by a falling beam. The verb is mostly violent. It means to dash out someone's brains or simply strike them on the head, and figuratively to put an end to something. A humorous, nonstandard use means 'to think effectively', and an obsolete one meant 'to conceive in the mind'. Both are rare beside the blow.

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