Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

brain-picking

American  
[breyn-pik-ing] / ˈbreɪnˌpɪk ɪŋ /

noun

Informal.

  1. the act of obtaining information or ideas by questioning another person.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of brain-picking

1950–55; from the verb phrase pick someone's brains; see -ing 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Such promiscuous brain picking revealed in due course the near vacuum where Nixon's own position should have been."

From Time Magazine Archive

Those things Tom said to me in the car, all mixed up with guilt over what happened with Scott the other night: the dream was just my brain picking all that apart.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

Throughout the day, CEO's routinely talk to other corporate leaders as friends, acquaintances, for brain picking and G2, market probing in the course of business.

From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Schwartau, Winn

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.