arch. [f. BRAIN sb. + PAN.] That which contains the brain; the skull.
c. 1400. Maundev., xxii. 234. The Brayn Panne of a ded Man.
1535. Coverdale, Judg. ix. 53. A woman cast a pece of a mylstone … and brake his brane panne.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 167, ¶ 3. To settle my Head and cool my Brain-pan.
1872. Hardwick, Trad. Lanc., 205. The skull of a fossil elephant … commonly believed to be the brain-pan of an enormous giant.
b. transf. (Cf. head, noddle, skull.)
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642). It is a starveling conceit of Innovating brain-pans.
