rack one's brain

English

Combination of rack (“medieval torture method”), and brain, thus meaning “to cause the mind extreme discomfort”.

Variants include rack one's wit (1583) and rack one's memory,[1] as well as cudgel one's brain / cudgel one's brains.

rack one's brain (third-person singular simple present racks one's brain, present participle racking one's brain, simple past and past participle racked one's brain)

(figuratively) To struggle to think of or remember something.
I have been racking my brain all day trying to think of a birthday present for her.

struggle to think of something

Chinese:
Mandarin: 絞盡腦汁／绞尽脑汁 (zh) (jiǎojìn nǎozhī)
Czech: lámat si hlavu (cs)
Dutch: zich suf piekeren
Esperanto: cerbumi (eo)
Finnish: miettiä päänsä puhki
French: se creuser la tête (fr), se creuser les méninges (fr), se creuser la cervelle (fr), se casser la tête (fr)
German: sich den Kopf zerbrechen (de)
Hungarian: töri a fejét (hu)
Icelandic: brjóta heilann
Italian: scervellarsi (it), arrovellarsi, lambiccarsi il cervello, spremersi le meningi
Japanese: 脳漿を絞る (nōshō o shiboru)
Polish: łamać sobie głowę (pl), zachodzić w głowę (pl)
Portuguese: quebrar a cabeça (pt)
Russian: лома́ть го́лову (ru) impf (lomátʹ gólovu)
Spanish: devanarse los sesos, romperse la cabeza
Turkish: kafa patlatmak (tr)
Walloon: si tuzer moirt (wa), si casser l' tiesse (wa)

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