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brain

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brain

 

  5  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Brain  \Brain\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Brained};  p.  pr  &  vb  n. 
  {Braining}.] 
  1.  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  --Shak. 
 
  It  was  the  swift  celerity  of  the  death  .  .  .  That 
  brained  my  purpose.  --Shak. 
 
  2.  To  conceive;  to  understand.  [Obs.] 
 
  ?T  is  still  a  dream,  or  else  such  stuff  as  madmen 
  Tongue,  and  brain  not  --Shak. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Brain  \Brain\,  n.  [OE.  brain,  brein,  AS  bragen,  br[ae]gen;  akin 
  to  LG  br["a]gen,  bregen,  D.  brein,  and  perh.  to  Gr  ?,  the 
  upper  part  of  head,  if  ?  =?.  [root]95.] 
  1.  (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 
 
  2.  (Zo["o]l.)  The  anterior  or  cephalic  ganglion  in  insects 
  and  other  invertebrates. 
 
  3.  The  organ  or  seat  of  intellect;  hence  the  understanding. 
  ``  My  brain  is  too  dull.''  --Sir  W.  Scott. 
 
  Note:  In  this  sense  often  used  in  the  plural. 
 
  4.  The  affections;  fancy;  imagination.  [R.]  --Shak. 
 
  {To  have  on  the  brain},  to  have  constantly  in  one's  thoughts, 
  as  a  sort  of  monomania.  [Low] 
 
  {Brain  box}  or  {case},  the  bony  on  cartilaginous  case 
  inclosing  the  brain. 
 
  {Brain  coral},  {Brain  stone  coral}  (Zo["o]l),  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 
  {M[ae]andrina}  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  brain 
  n  1:  that  part  of  the  central  nervous  system  that  includes  all 
  the  higher  nervous  centers;  enclosed  within  the  skull; 
  continuous  with  the  spinal  cord  [syn:  {encephalon}] 
  2:  mental  ability;  "he's  got  plenty  of  brains  but  no  common 
  sense"  [syn:  {brainpower},  {learning  ability},  {mental 
  capacity},  {mentality},  {wit}] 
  3:  that  which  is  responsible  for  one's  thoughts  and  feelings; 
  the  seat  of  the  faculty  of  reason;  "his  mind  wandered";  "I 
  couldn't  get  his  words  out  of  my  head"  [syn:  {mind},  {head}, 
  {psyche},  {nous}] 
  4:  someone  who  has  exceptional  intellectual  ability  and 
  originality  [syn:  {genius},  {mastermind}] 
  5:  the  brain  of  certain  animals  used  as  meat 
  v  1:  hit  on  the  head 
  2:  kill  by  smashing  someone's  skull 
 
  From  V.E.R.A.  --  Virtual  Entity  of  Relevant  Acronyms  13  March  2001  [vera]: 
 
  BRAIN 
  Berlin  Research  Area  Information  Network  (network) 
 
 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  BRAIN,  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.




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