Collocations for brain - noun

human | left, right
The left brain controls the right-hand side of the body.

cell, tissue | region | function, process | activity | damage, disease, disorder, failure, haemorrhage, illness, injury, tumour | scan | surgeon, surgery

in the/your ~
Doctors tried to reduce the swelling in his brain.

on the/your ~
He was found to have a blood clot on his brain. | (figurative) He''s got football on the brain (= thinks about nothing but football).

blow your brains out
While cleaning his shotgun he had accidentally blown his own brains out.

fertile, fine, good, great, quick | muddled, tired
My tired brain couldn''t cope with such a complex problem.

analytical

rack
We racked our brains but we couldn''t come up with a solution.

pick sb''s
(= ask sb for information because they know more about a subject than you) I need to pick your brains: what can you tell me about credit unions?

take
It doesn''t take much brain to work out that both stories can''t be true.

function, tick over, work
It''s important to keep your brain ticking over.

reel
His brain reeled as he realized the implication of his dismissal.

register sth
The stopping distance includes the time taken for the brain to register the need to stop.

power (also ‘brainpower’)

~ behind
the brains behind the robberies

brains and brawn/brains and not brawn, etc.
They relied on brains rather than brawn (= intelligence, not strength).

have a brain for sth
She has a good brain for mathematics.