brain bucket

English

Alternative forms

• brain-bucket

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

brain bucket (plural brain buckets)

1. (idiomatic, sometimes humorous) A protective helmet, as worn, for example, by a motorcyclist, bicyclist, or soldier in combat.
   • 1956 August 13, “Education: Pigs Aren't Pigs”, in Time:

     The Air Force not only makes up words and phrases (e.g., brain bucket for crash helmet) . . . .

   • 1987 July 7, Susan Bickelhaupt, "Tour de France Packed Solid," Boston Globe, Sports p. 33:

     Roy Knickman of 7-Eleven said he fears more crashes today and will not keep his helmet far from sight. "I always wear my brain bucket," he said.

   • 2003 July 6, Alex Berenson, “Ideas & Trends: Born to Be Wild, but at a Cost”, in New York Times, retrieved 1 October 2012:

     Riding a 500-pound motorcycle in the middle of 3-ton Ford Expeditions and 40-ton trucks is dangerous, with or without a brain bucket or a leather jacket.

2. (dated) The skull.
   • 1856, Frederick W. Saunders, “A Yarn in The Long Boat”, in Ballou's Monthly Magazine, volume 4, number 4, page 326:

     [H]e fetched me such a clip on top of my brain-bucket as to drive all my senses clear down into my boots.

   • 1880, Daniel Wise, chapter 6, in Oscar's Boyhood; or, The Sailor's Son:

     "[B]ut come, Ed, haven't you got your brain-bucket mended yet, so that you can tell us a story?"

Synonyms

• (skull): brainbox, braincase, cranium

References

• “brain bucket”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.