cudgel (one's) brains

cudgel (one's) brains

To try very hard to comprehend, solve, think of, or remember something. I was up all night cudgeling my brains for a way to pay off all my debts. She cudgeled her brains to remember the man's name.
See also: brain, cudgel
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

cudgel your brain (or brains)

think hard about a problem.
This expression was used by Shakespeare in Hamlet: ‘Cudgel thy brains no more about it’.
See also: brain, cudgel
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • cudgel
  • cudgel your brain
  • rack one's brain, to
  • make (something) clear (to one)
  • make clear to
  • be across (something)
  • be across something
  • brains
  • beat one's brains (out), to
  • crush (something) out of (someone or something)