BRAIN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Brain

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noun

Brain n.

(Anat.) 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. Note: In the brain of man the cerebral lobes, or largest part of the forebrain, are enormously developed so as to overhang the cerebellum, the great lobe of the hindbrain, and completely cover the lobes of the midbrain. The surface of the cerebrum is divided into irregular ridges, or convolutions, separated by grooves (the so-called fissures and sulci), and the two hemispheres are connected at the bottom of the longitudinal fissure by a great transverse band of nervous matter, the corpus callosum, while the two halves of the cerebellum are connected on the under side of the brain by the bridge, or pons Varolii.

(Zool.) The anterior or cephalic ganglion in insects and other invertebrates.

The organ or seat of intellect; hence, the understanding; as, use your brains. " My brain is too dull." Note: In this sense, often used in the plural.

The affections; fancy; imagination. (R.)

A very intelligent person. (informal)

The controlling electronic mechanism for a robot, guided missile, computer, or other device exhibiting some degree of self-regulation. (informal)

To have on the brain, to have constantly in one's thoughts, as a sort of monomania. (Low)

no-brainer a decision requiring little or no thought; an obvious choice. (slang)

Brain box or Brain case, the bony or cartilaginous case inclosing the brain.

Brain coral, Brain stone coral (Zool.), a massive reef-building coral having the surface covered by ridges separated by furrows so as to resemble somewhat the surface of the brain, esp. such corals of the genera Maeandrina and Diploria.

Brain fag (Med.), brain weariness. See Cerebropathy.

Brain fever (Med.), fever in which the brain is specially affected; any acute cerebral affection attended by fever.

Brain sand, calcareous matter found in the pineal gland.

verb

Brain v. t. (past & past part. brained; pres. part. braining)

To dash out the brains of; to kill by beating out the brains. Hence, Fig.: To destroy; to put an end to; to defeat. "There thou mayst brain him." "It was the swift celerity of the death... That brained my purpose."

To conceive; to understand. (Obs.) "'T is still a dream, or else such stuff as madmen Tongue, and brain not."

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Etymology of 'Brain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Brain" Quotes from Famous Books

... though but of short continuance. As soon as I was laid down, all the fatal consequences of my adventure presented themselves to my imagination. I could not sleep. I saw all the horrors of my misfortune, without being able to find any remedy; in vain did I rack my brain; it supplied me with no expedient. I feared nothing so much as daybreak; however, it did come, and the cruel Brinon along with it. He was booted up to the middle, and cracking a cursed whip, which he held in his hand, 'Up, Monsieur le Chevalier,' ...

— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... shall hence sustain A thousand raptures in my brain; Joys, full of soul, all strength, all eye, That cannot fade, that ...

— The Banks of Wye • Robert Bloomfield

... took down a gun from the wall and began to clean it. His hands had the fumbling, indefinite movements, the obscure action, directed by a brain already begun to crumble. His industry with the gun was of a part with the impotent dawdling in the garden. His eyes would seek for the rag or the bottle of oil in a dull, glazed way, and, having found them, he would forget the reason of his quest. ...

— Judith Of The Plains • Marie Manning

... of magician and high-priest, almost a deity, whose life and death are but little known, appears to have possessed an encyclopaedic brain. From him is derived the doctrine of the four elements, for whereas the philosophers who preceded him gave as the sole source of things—some water, others air, others fire, others the earth, he regarded them all four equally as the primal elements of everything. He believed that the world is swayed ...

— Initiation into Philosophy • Emile Faguet

... seemed no more my fellow-creatures than dead bodies would be, so that I did not dare to travel unless I was assured of being alone. And even it seemed that I too was not a reasonable creature, but only an animal tormented with some strange disorder in its brain which sent it to wander alone, like ...

— The Island of Doctor Moreau • H. G. Wells

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