brainpan

See also: brain-pan

English

Alternative forms

• brain-pan
• braynepan [16th c.]

Etymology

From Middle English brayn panne, from Old English bræġnpanne, corresponding to brain +‎ pan.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪnpan/

Noun

brainpan (plural brainpans)

1. (now chiefly Canada, US, colloquial) The braincase; the skull. [from 16th c.]
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ix]:

     Many a time but for a Sallet, my braine-pan had bene cleft with a brown Bill.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Yet, whether thwart or flatly it did lyte, / The tempred steele did not into his braynepan byte.

2. (now chiefly Canada, US, colloquial) The brain or mind. [from 17th c.]
   • 1822, Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel:

     ‘And a hard word it is,’ said Richie, ‘as my brainpan kens to this blessed moment.’

Synonyms

• harnpan
• skull