Brain
[breɪn] or [bren]
Definition
(noun.) that part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers; enclosed within the skull; continuous with the spinal cord.
(noun.) mental ability; 'he's got plenty of brains but no common sense'.
(noun.) the brain of certain animals used as meat.
(verb.) kill by smashing someone's skull.
(verb.) hit on the head.
Typist: Yvette--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The whitish mass of soft matter (the center of the nervous system, and the seat of consciousness and volition) which is inclosed in the cartilaginous or bony cranium of vertebrate animals. It is simply the anterior termination of the spinal cord, and is developed from three embryonic vesicles, whose cavities are connected with the central canal of the cord; the cavities of the vesicles become the central cavities, or ventricles, and the walls thicken unequally and become the three segments, the fore-, mid-, and hind-brain.
(n.) The anterior or cephalic ganglion in insects and other invertebrates.
(n.) The organ or seat of intellect; hence, the understanding.
(n.) The affections; fancy; imagination.
(v. t.) To dash out the brains of; to kill by beating out the brains. Hence, Fig.: To destroy; to put an end to; to defeat.
(v. t.) To conceive; to understand.
Checked by Carmen
Definition
n. the term applied to that part of the central nervous system which in vertebrated animals is contained within the cranium or skull and in the invertebrata to the nervous ganglia near the head end of the body: the seat of the intellect and of sensation: the intellect.—v.t. to dash out the brains of: (Shak.) to conceive of.—n. Brain′-cor′al the popular name of certain kinds of coral so called from their general resemblance to a brain.—p.adj. Brained having brains.—n. Brain′-fe′ver a loose popular term which includes congestion of the brain and its membranes delirium tremens and inflammation of the brain substance itself.—adjs. Brain′ish (Shak.) brain-sick hot-headed furious; Brain′less without brains or understanding: silly.—n. Brain′-pan the skull.—adj. Brain′-sick diseased in the understanding deranged.—adv. Brain′sick′ly (Shak.).—n. Brain′-sick′ness.
Checked by Adelaide
Unserious Contents or Definition
To see your own brain in a dream, denotes uncongenial surroundings will irritate and dwarf you into an unpleasant companion. To see the brains of animals, foretells that you will suffer mental trouble. If you eat them, you will gain knowledge, and profit unexpectedly.
Editor: Mervin
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. An apparatus with which we think what we think. That which distinguishes the man who is content to be something from the man who wishes to do something. A man of great wealth or one who has been pitchforked into high station has commonly such a headful of brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on. In our civilization and under our republican form of government brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
Checked by Brits
Unserious Contents or Definition
The top-floor apartment in the Human Block, known as the Cranium, and kept by the Sarah Sisters—Sarah Brum and Sarah Belum, assisted by Medulla Oblongata. All three are nervous, but are always confined to their cells. The Brain is done in gray and white, and furnished with light and heat, hot or cold water, (if desired), with regular connections to the outside world by way of the Spinal Circuit. Usually occupied by the Intellect Bros.,—Thoughts and Ideas—as an Intelligence Office, but sometimes sub-let to Jag, Hang-Over & Co.
Checker: Walter
Examples
- Can't, indeed,' rejoined Bob Sawyer, 'I wouldn't mind a brain, but I couldn't stand a whole head. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Yes--yes--the end is not so difficult; if I had only a brain active enough to ferret out the means of attaining it. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- It is more laborious to accumulate facts than to reason concerning them; but one good experiment is of more value than the ingenuity of a brain like Newton's. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- It was the unhappiness of a fine brain that seeks employment. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Why should the brain be enclosed in a box composed of such numerous and such extraordinarily shaped pieces of bone apparently representing vertebrae? Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- His brain was right; how was his heart? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Such a creature as a reptile has in its brain a capacity for experience, but when the individual dies, its experience dies with it. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These people were people like ourselves, with brains as busy and moody and inconsistent, and with even less training and discipline. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Led by a woman with her brains between her thighs and a foreigner who comes to destroy you. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- But he had more brains and more inner dignity and outer insolence and humor than any man that he had ever known. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- It will do my brains good to have that mop taken off. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- You've got no brains. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- So far from it, answered the mask, with mysterious earnestness, that, after what has passed, were you to discover me I would blow my brains out. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Oh, he dreams footnotes, and they run away with all his brains. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- To a feather-brained school-girl nothing is sacred. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- In these streets he met Anitus, the king of the country, and brained him with his club, which was the fashion among gentlemen in those days. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- But you forget: I have not been accustomed to look on Miss Fanshawe in the light of a feather-brained school-girl. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Inputed by Hilary