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It's a colorful world - gray matter

Colorful idioms used in English
This page ©2000 by Nicholas E. Miller



Colorful English!
Word or Phrase: Part of Speech: Idiom or General?: Usage? Restricted?
gray matter noun 1) general
2) idiom
1) wide
2) fairly wide
No
Meaning:
1) the tissues and nerve cells that make up the brain and spinal cord, which are brownish gray
2) brains, as in intelligence
Example(s):
First meaning
Gray matter is the material encased by the cranium.
Second meaning
I don't know about that new guy, his lights are on but nobody's home. I think he is a little short in the gray matterdepartment.

Note: In the first sense it is some what medical, but used by many people.