grey matter

gray matter

Intelligence. In medicine, gray matter is tissue in the brain and spinal cord. Come on in—we could use your gray matter as we try to solve this problem.
See also: gray, matter
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

gray matter

Fig. intelligence; brains; power of thought. Use your gray matter and think what will happen if the committee resigns. Surely they'll come up with an acceptable solution if they use some gray matter.
See also: gray, matter
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

gray matter

Brains, intellect, as in If you'd only use your gray matter, you'd see the answer in a minute. This expression refers to actual brain tissue that is gray in color. Agatha Christie's fictional detective, Hercule Poirot, constantly alludes to using the little gray cells for solving a crime. [Late 1800s]
See also: gray, matter
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

ˈgrey matter

(informal) intelligence or mental powers: Mark hasn’t got much grey matter, but he tries hard.
See also: grey, matter
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • gray matter
  • record
  • any way
  • the matter at hand
  • be a matter of (doing something)
  • be a matter of something/doing something
  • it is a matter of (doing something)
  • no matter what
  • for that matter
  • no matter
References in periodicals archive
There were no significant correlations found between the remaining neuro-cognition tests' scores and imaging data on cerebral grey matter volumes.
The Grey Matter Platform solution is now available to Saviance's clients, which include several of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the pharmaceutical industry.
Using two different measurements, cognitive performance tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers measured the variations in the volume of grey matter.
In this study, we aimed to present our imaging findings of 20 schizophrenia patients and 16 matched healthy participants and study the correlation of grey matter volume differences with clinical variables.
Voxel-wise meta-analysis of grey matter changes in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Probably being urged in 1948-49 to "use your grey matter, boy", as the questions in maths got that extra bit tricky before the scholarship examination.
The results showed that people with high scores for affective empathy had greater grey matter density in the insula, a region found right in the 'middle' of the brain.
Conclusion: Linear correlation between susceptibility and iron content at HR and LR has demonstrated that low resolution QSM holds the consistency of susceptibility and does not affect the estimation of iron content in deep grey matter of brain.
Grey Matter offers a rare narrative insight into the "burden of surviving" for multiple sectors of the Rwandan population.
Evangelou, "Regional variations in the extent and pattern of grey matter demyelination in multiple sclerosis: a comparison between the cerebral cortex, cerebellar cortex, deep grey matter nuclei and the spinal cord," Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, vol.80, no.2, pp.182-187,2009.
Multi-generational exploitation of seafood by shore-based dwellers coincided with the rapid expansion of grey matter in the cerebral cortex, which characterizes the modern human brain.
Finley Lamb, from Wallasey, who celebrates his third birthday today has PVNH - periventricular nodular heterotopia - which is characterised by some of the brain's grey matter being in the wrong place.
"The results showed people who consume baked or grilled fish at least one time per week had better preservation of grey matter volume on MRI in brain areas at risk for Alzheimer's disease."
Grey matter is the layer of brain tissue where mental processing occurs.
They discovered a strong connection between the number of Facebook friends and the amount of "grey matter" in the amygdala, the right superior temporal sulcus, the left middle temporal gyrus and the right entorhinal cortex.