English

Alternative forms

• brain-pan
• braynepan [16th c.]

Noun

brainpan ‎(plural brainpans)

1. (now chiefly Canada, US, colloquial) The skull. [from 10th c.]
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 2, First Folio 1623, IV.9:

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

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

     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.’