BRAIN

Meaning of BRAIN in English

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a blood/brain/liver etc disorder

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She suffers from a rare brain disorder.

a blood/nerve/brain/muscle etc cell

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No new brain cells are produced after birth.

a bullet enters sb's chest/brain etc

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There was a scar where the bullet had entered his shoulder.

a bullet is lodged in sb's chest/brain etc (= is stuck in that part of the body )

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Surgeons are trying to remove a bullet lodged in his neck.

a skin/brain/lung etc disease

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The fumes have caused skin diseases among the villagers.

addle sb’s brains/wits

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All that drink has addled his brains!

brain damage

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Potts suffered severe brain damage in the crash.

brain drain

brain dump

brain fingerprinting

brain haemorrhage

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He died of a massive brain haemorrhage .

brain scan

brain teaser

brain tumour

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a brain tumour

brain/liver/nerve etc damage

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If you drink a lot of alcohol it can cause liver damage.

heart/knee/brain etc surgery

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She is now fit again after knee surgery.

imprint sth on your mind/memory/brain etc

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The sight of Joe’s dead body was imprinted on his mind forever.

lung/brain etc tissue

suffered...brain damage

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Potts suffered severe brain damage in the crash.

the human mind/brain

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Distances in space are too great for the human mind to comprehend.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

human

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The emergence of the information-processing capacity of the human brain is clearly a major transcendence in this sense.

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Environmentalists fear the gasoline additive prematurely ages the human brain .

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The human eye and brain are much happier reading short to medium length unjustified lines although books are conventionally justified.

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The global mind is the union of computer and nature-of telephones and human brains and more.

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Chomsky holds that the acquisition of language is internal to the human mind / brain .

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The biochemistry of the human brain affects the impact of television.

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The human brain shows a degree of complexity of a different order.

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In short, the overwhelming probability is that the structure of the human brain is designed to provide phenomenal experiences.

large

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All would lead to more computing capacity and larger brains .

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It was still in the fridge, a large cold brain of pasta.

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A large brain relative to body size is an almost universal foetal characteristic of vertebrates, and certainly of mammals.

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These advanced primates had large brains and eyes at the front of the face that gave them stereoscopic forward vision.

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Or that a rhino's nose system is larger than its brain ?

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Fruit eating primates have relatively larger brains than those that eat leaves.

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Sphingomyelin is found in large amounts in brain and nerve tissue.

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Whales have the largest brains on earth.

left

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Extreme positions, however, whether of the right or left brain , are unbalanced, out of harmony and therefore potentially unhealthy.

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Even sign languages depend on the left brain , just as do oral languages and reading.

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In fact the left brain seems to be bored with spaces.

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It would really be newsworthy if I had seen the left side move while the left brain was being stimulated.

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Does my left brain tell the truth to my right brain, or can it lie to it?

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It now appears that most left-handers have language in the left brain , just like right-handers.

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More recently, however, interest in the left and right brain is due to work involving split-brain patients.

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Broca also had an example of where language might live within the left brain .

right

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The opposite is naturally true too, the right brain controlling the left-hand side of the body.

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Yet lateralization of spatial skills to the right brain is not the reverse.

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The right brain noted something amiss ... Meanwhile, Yeremi's logical tech-side dreamed.

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If all this language is in the left side of the brain , what are corresponding areas of the right brain doing?

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Extreme positions, however, whether of the right or left brain , are unbalanced, out of harmony and therefore potentially unhealthy.

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There must be a whole shelf of books claiming to tell you how to tap the right brain .

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To the right brain , spaces and objects, the known and the unknown, the nameable and the unnameable are all the same.

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Laughing and smiling, unlike other sequential face movements, are more readily disturbed from the right brain than the left.

■ NOUN

cell

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Perhaps there are special brain cells which we possess that chimpanzees do not.

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Like cocaine and amphetamine, alcohol directly stimulates certain brain cells .

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The sequelae of hypertonicity are believed to result largely from changes in brain cell size.

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For instance, while brain cells do die and are not replaced, their loss is not an explanation for senility.

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All of a sudden I know two things: why they were on the same brain cell , and how psychiatry works.

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This in turn changes the way in which certain developing brain cells connect up with one another.

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Then, the mice were killed and scientists counted their brain cells , looking for differences between the former littermates.

damage

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After watching some of Ali's films, a London neurologist said he was convinced Ali had brain damage .

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There are suggestions that with long-term use, fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine can cause subtle brain damage .

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In extreme cases they can suffer brain damage or die.

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Lead poisoning can cause kidney damage , injury to the central and peripheral nervous system and brain damage in particularly aggravated cases.

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She continued to have fits and suffered serious and permanent brain damage .

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All have returned to normal without permanent damage , although hyponatremia occurring during surgery has resulted in death or permanent brain damage.

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Early diagnosis and treatment prevents brain damage and liver cirrhosis.

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Little recognized that the cause was an abnormal birth which produced brain damage and secondary spasticity of the limbs.

disease

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Still partially paralysed by the brain disease Guillain-Barre syndrome, he can only speak with the aid of an artificial voice box.

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Some children will develop brain disease which will produce changes in mental behavior.

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If the functional psychoses are not ordinary brain diseases , then what are they?

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I thought it was a biologically based brain disease .

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Look, you know they can give you brain diseases , don't you.

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Patients who have organic brain disease are more likely to have an abnormality than those who do not.

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Perhaps gene therapy could prevent the mutation of the prion gene that causes hereditary brain disease .

disorder

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Parkinson's disease is a degenerative brain disorder that causes tremors and muscle rigidity among other symptoms.

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Once isolated, the mutant gene will be the second gene known to increase the risk for the brain disorder .

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For Francesca, who's almost 3, suffers from a brain disorder which triggers off convulsive fits.

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It is considered one of the most significant developments in the fight against many brain disorders and diseases.

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Voice over Doctors are baffled by the cause of Francesca's brain disorder .

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Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that can cause, among other things, visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions and distorted thinking.

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The deaths linked to Zyban include heart attacks, suicides, brain disorders and asthma attacks.

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I had a hangover that was mutating into some kind of brain disorder .

drain

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He could not argue, looking at Imperial, that there has been a major brain drain of senior staff.

haemorrhage

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Miss Diane died of a brain haemorrhage after a sharp difference of opinion with the producer about salary.

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He survived a serious brain haemorrhage in 1955 and in the same year became rector of Thelveton in Norfolk.

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Health assessments will also be made of Forster and his wife, who has suffered a brain haemorrhage .

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Nigel had had a brain haemorrhage .

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Having survived peritonitis and a brain haemorrhage on top of an inoperable cancer, who was to speculate?

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She had even saved his life in 1978, when he sank into a coma after suffering a brain haemorrhage .

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The doctor had told me that it was probable that he would die from either an infection or a brain haemorrhage .

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The neurologist diagnosed a possible brain haemorrhage , and had Rose admitted to a specialist hospital in London.

injury

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James Brady is just one of hundreds of experts and survivors at a top level conference on brain injuries .

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The risk of serious brain injury with a concussion is very, very low.

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Acquired dyslexia involves a loss of reading ability as a result of brain injury .

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And an even more serious brain injury .

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Deborah Wearing's husband has a severe brain injury .

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Her husband, Michael, suffered brain injury when the family car was hit by a train nine years ago.

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Services there are wider, with brain injuries about to be recognised in law.

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Heavy blows to the head resulted in brain injury .

scan

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The brain scan , the chest scan, the throat and bone scans all said the cancer had gone.

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He was pulled from the game after the hit, and sent to a hospital for a brain scan .

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We took him to hospital and he had various tests and a brain scan .

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Ansah was carried off with concussion at Luton on Saturday, but had a precautionary brain scan and reported fit this morning.

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Yet another picture shows her in hospital having a brain scan .

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Shame he's not a proctologist-he could have given Fat Barry a brain scan .

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Clearly a brain scan was needed.

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Eight more people are also believed to be suffering from the condition following either brain scans or tonsil tests.

stem

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The Gateway itself is situated deep in the brain stem .

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The cerebellum, atop the brain stem , has many more, thanks to so many little granule cell neurons.

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The internal state of the organism is monitored by means of receptors, mostly situated in the brain stem .

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His head injury had damaged his brain stem .

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This input is fed to certain parts of the brain stem and filtered.

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There is another diffusely broadcasting group of neurons scattered along the centerline near the surface of the brain stem .

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For a diagnosis of brain stem death irremediable structural brain damage should be present.

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Two thumbtack-size patches of neurons located on the brain stem are particularly loaded with adenosine receptors.

tissue

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More recently reductions in two other brain peptides, cholecystokinin and somatostatin have also been described in the brain tissue of schizophrenics.

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But once converted into prions, they turn deadly, destroying the brain tissue .

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A biopsy of brain tissue detected the presence of toxoplasmosis, which is relatively harmless in people with normally functioning immune systems.

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To be sure, scientists have created disease by inoculating animals with brain tissue from infected animals.

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She tried to regroup her scattered brain tissue , pulling back pieces of her mind before they were lost for ever.

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We are talking about the brain tissue of an aborted foetus whose gestation period has to be between 10 and 11 weeks.

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Over years, the prions relentlessly multiply, clumping together in brain tissue until the damage becomes apparent.

tumour

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The autopsy report registered death as the result of a brain tumour .

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Daniel Stoneman has defied the doctors who gave him a one-in-10 chance of survival from a rare brain tumour .

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Contributors Mary Relling did pharmacological studies of antimetabolites and identified their relation with risk of brain tumour .

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Sadly, he died of an aggressive brain tumour just three months after I was diagnosed.

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Atwater had become increasingly incapacitated by an inoperable brain tumour during the last year of his life.

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He died in Weihsien 21 February 1945 of a brain tumour .

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Janet, 33, suffering from a brain tumour , has just finished a course of the drug Temozolomide.

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A bruised rib was taken for heart trouble, a headache for an incipient brain tumour .

tumours

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They also hope to raise funds for vital research into brain tumours .

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Andrew Walter analysed risk factors for brain tumours in previous relevant protocols.

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Therefore, systemic glucocorticoids may have a protective effect against brain tumours .

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Underlying genetic characteristics and treatment variables may be associated with an increased risk of radiation-associated brain tumours .

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None of the other children studied had evidence of brain tumours .

■ VERB

affect

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And finally there is meditation which is the specific thought designed to affect and train the brain .

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But you should remain in control of what agents you take to affect your brain .

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Overall, the evidence suggests that IgE-mediated allergy probably can affect the brain , either directly or indirectly.

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But without a doubt, caffeine affects the rest of the body as powerfully as it affects the brain .

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Or else, possibly, the thallium was starting to affect his brain .

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Many neurologic disorders affecting the brain stem, cerebellum, and spinal cord posterior column may cause dizzy sensations.

blow

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The bullet took him right between the eyes, blowing his brains out through the back of his head.

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In a few years you will blow your brains out, a bankrupt.

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There was a mercury pool for losers to reflect in while they blew their brains out.

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At that range she knew the gun would blow out her brains .

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Reading my dreams felt like a cool breeze blowing through my brain .

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Hunting rabbits with hawks is surely better than blowing their brains out with shotguns.

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The accused said that he would blow the victim's brains out if he was not quiet.

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No wonder the scribblers on the hustings have so much stale garbage blowing around their brains .

pick

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Being the nosy type, I thought I'd pick his brains .

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In some office in the Pentagon, they are waiting to pick his brains .

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It is a helpful behaviour to use whenever you need to pick some one else's brains .

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He reads and digests material on a vast range of topics and picks the brains of most of the leading authorities.

rack

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Which left Fabia racking her brains to think of how next best to get through to the woman.

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There was a silence while they both racked their brains .

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She sat back in the seat as she racked her brain before coming to just one conclusion: Harry Martin.

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Harry racked his brains for another moment, then gave up.

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There was a silence in the room as we all simultaneously racked our brains for a missing disease.

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He racked his brains , but did not come up with a solution.

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Rachel racked her brains , trying to remember what Jamie had said of him - ruthless, living only for his ambition.

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I waved back, racking my brains to remember who she was.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a fertile imagination/mind/brain

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Even now no-one seems quite certain whether this was a fact, a half-fact or the product of a fertile imagination.

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He is said to have been convivial, widely knowledgeable, with a fertile imagination and a whimsical sense of humour.

a fevered imagination/mind/brain

a nimble mind/brain/wit

beat your brains out

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Why should you beat your brains out fighting the environmentalists?

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Seven hours of beating your brains out when you weren't feeling all that hot to begin with.

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Shall we beat their brains out in court?

blow your/sb's brains out

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Hunting rabbits with hawks is surely better than blowing their brains out with shotguns.

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In a few years you will blow your brains out, a bankrupt.

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The bullet took him right between the eyes, blowing his brains out through the back of his head.

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There was a mercury pool for losers to reflect in while they blew their brains out.

flash through sb's mind/head/brain

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Each time I see one of these cocoons hanging from a tree, all of these marvels flash through my mind.

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Her body seemed determined to ignore the danger signals now at last flashing through her brain.

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It flashed through my mind that I was close.

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The image of the guard in his elaborate flowering prison flashes through her head.

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The one occasion which was flashing through Yanto's mind at this moment involved just three of the local water babies.

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The only idea that flashed through my head was that some one had broken into the house and was attacking Master Yehudi.

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The past twenty-two months flashed through my mind like film run at high speed, and suddenly I felt rather tired.

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This was staggering new information, and all kinds of ideas were flashing through our minds.

mind/brain candy

pick sb's brains

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The workshop is designed so that new managers can pick the brains of managers with more experience.

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You know all about tax law - can I pick your brains for a minute?

rack your brains

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Desperately, Irvin racked his brains, but there was nothing he could tell them.

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She racked her brains, trying to remember what David had said.

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They sat in silence, racking their brains for the name of the road.

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I've racked my brains, but at my age there are precious few left to rack.

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I waved back, racking my brains to remember who she was.

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Rachel racked her brains, trying to remember what Jamie had said of him - ruthless, living only for his ambition.

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There was a silence in the room as we all simultaneously racked our brains for a missing disease.

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Which left Fabia racking her brains to think of how next best to get through to the woman.

scramble sb's brains

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This amount of LSD is enough to scramble anyone's brains.

the brain drain

water on the brain/knee

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The youngster was destined to follow many of his ancestors by dying from the family curse hydrocephalus water on the brain.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

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Branson has an excellent business brain .

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If you had any brains at all, you wouldn't ask such a stupid question.

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Louis was the brain in our class.

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My brain worked fast as I tried to decide what to do.

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Some of the best brains in the country are here tonight.

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Ted's got more money than brains.

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The brain has trillions of cells.

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The doctors have found a tumor in his brain .

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

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A tumour or trauma in one side of the brain causes a loss in the field of vision on the other side.

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An algorithm purporting to match what is presumed to be operating in a human brain would need to be a stupendous thing.

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As our discussion of the brain revealed, alcohol affects nearly everything it touches.

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But the brain is surrounded by the skull, and all that escaped blood takes up space, squeezing the brain.

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Doctors feared an air rifle pellet had pierced his brain when the joke went horribly wrong.

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His brain is completely scrambled tonight.

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They also accept that the brain has certain innate dispositions, if only the disposition to be reinforced by particular stimuli.

II. verb