/ˈɹæk jɔː(ɹ) ˈbɹeɪnz/
English idiom, everyday. To be stuck and unable to work something out.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Rack your brains
?
Everyday and neutral, fine in speech and writing. It’s usually in the continuous form for a struggle that’s still going on (“I’ve been racking my brains all morning”) or in the past with what you were looking for (“I racked my brains for an answer”). The possessive changes with the person: “rack his brains”, “rack our brains”.
Also said rack your brain, wrack your brains
Rack your brains
in real sentences
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I racked my brains for an answer.
Tatoeba, sentence by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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I’m racking my brains to find a solution.
Tatoeba, sentence by _undertoad, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Rack your brains
come from?
English Wiktionary explains it as the torture rack plus the brain: you stretch your mind until it hurts. Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words, cited there, dates a related form, “rack one’s wit”, to 1583, with “rack one’s memory” and “cudgel one’s brains” as cousins.
Mistakes learners make with Rack your brains
Writing “wrack your brains” is common even among native speakers, but Wiktionary marks that spelling as proscribed. The image is the rack, the medieval torture device.
Other English idioms like Rack your brains
Spot a mistake in Rack your brains
?
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