Meaning & use
pick his brain
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
To ask a knowledgeable person questions in order to learn from their expertise or get ideas.
Grammar: Takes a possessive matching the person: pick her brain, pick their brains.
Patterns
- pick someone's brain
- pick someone's brain about something
I'd love to pick his brain about how he started his business.
She asked if she could pick my brain over coffee before her interview.
The students lined up to pick the professor's brain after the lecture.
Word forms
| third person singular | picks his brain |
|---|---|
| past tense | picked his brain |
| -ing form | picking his brain |
Common combinations
- pick someone's brain about
- Can I pick your brain about visas?
- mind if I pick your brain
- Do you mind if I pick your brain for a minute?
- pick the brains of
- He picked the brains of several mechanics before buying.
- love to pick his brain
- I would love to pick his brain on marketing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- consult
- Consult is more formal and suggests a planned meeting, while pick his brain is casual and often a quick chat.
- ask for advice
- Ask for advice is plain and neutral; pick his brain suggests drawing out detailed knowledge.
- tap into
- Tap into describes using a source of knowledge or skill, often without a conversation, while pick his brain needs one.
Word family
- brain noun
- the organ for thinking, also used for intelligence
- brainstorm verb
- to produce ideas in a group
- brainy adjective
- informal word for very intelligent
Commonly confused: pick his brain or pick up?
pick his brain vs pick up
Pick up can mean to learn something casually, but it does not involve asking an expert directly.
Practice
My cousin is a pilot, so I asked if I could ______ about training.
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom is pick someone's brain, meaning to ask them questions to learn. Pick on, off and at are different phrasal verbs that do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pick his brain”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.