Brawn means physical strength and muscle power. Someone with brawn has the kind of strong body that can lift heavy objects, move furniture, or win at arm wrestling. A football player might be known for his brawn, while a construction worker uses brawn to carry materials around a job site.

The word often appears in the phrase brains and brawn, which points to an old idea that people are either smart or strong, but rarely both. That's not really true: plenty of people have developed both their minds and their muscles. Think of an engineer who also competes in weightlifting competitions, or a doctor who spends weekends rock climbing.

When someone relies on brawn over brains, it means they're using physical force to solve a problem instead of thinking it through. Imagine trying to open a stuck jar by just squeezing harder and harder instead of running it under hot water to loosen the lid. Sometimes brawn works perfectly well. Other times, a little thinking saves a lot of effort.

In some places, people also use brawn as another name for “head cheese,” a food made from meat scraps, usually from a pig's head.