brainstorm

Meanings

1. To investigate something, or solve a problem using brainstorming.
2. To participate in a brainstorming session.
3. To think up (ideas); especially, to do so creatively.

1. A sudden thought, particularly one that solves a long-standing problem.
2. A session of brainstorming, investigating a problem to try to find solutions.
3. An unexpected mental error.
4. Alternative form of brain storm (“activity in the brain, such as a seizure or convulsion”).

Etymology

From brain + storm. In the sense of "problem-solve", devised as a method of group creative problem-solving by advertising executive Alex F. Osborn and his employees, who coined the term based on the image of using "the brain to storm a problem". First use appears c. 1945. In the sense of "seizure, convulsion, brain activity", from the unrelated idea that it resembles a storm in the brain. First use appears c. 1861.