brainbox

noun

brain·​box ˈbrān-ˌbäks 

variants or brain box

plural brainboxes or brain boxes

informal

1

a

: cranium, braincase

Your brain box is about to whack the pavement—hard!

—Consumer Reports, July/August 1996

b

: mind, brain

And why did everyone insist on reminding him of his ex-wife? Because all it did was bring her right back into his head again, back into the old brainbox, where she'd always done the most damage.

—Robert McCarthy, Zoetrope: All-Story, Spring 2005

2

chiefly British : a very intelligent person

I was good at school; I was a total brain box. At a small town school, being brainy was not necessarily an asset.

—Karine Polwart, quoted in The (London) Times Educational Supplement, 15 Feb. 2013

Word History

First Known Use

1789, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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